Lab Members

Tony was born and raised in Taiwan. He pursued his dual interests in biomedical science and mathematics by obtaining a BS degree in Mathematics, a MD degree from National Taiwan University, and then a MS degree in Biomathematics from UCLA. At UCLA, he worked with James Liao to engineer synthetic oscillators (bacteria that turns fluorescent proteins on and off like Christmas lights). The experience taught him the stochastic nature of biochemical reactions. He became fascinated by how cells and tissues can channel the noisy molecular interactions into reproducible cell functions and tissue morphology. In graduate school, he worked with Jim Ferrell and Julie Theriot to understand the regulatory circuits that allow precise cell cycle oscillation in frog embryo and efficient chemotaxis in human neutrophil. For his postdoc, he worked with Sean Megason and Carl-Philipp Heisenberg to study how multicellular patterns form robustly in the zebrafish spinal cord. After joining the Developmental Biology department at Washington University in St. Louis, his lab will continue to work at the intersection of developmental biology and physical sciences, with the goal to understand systems level principles of pattern formation and morphogenesis during embryo development. Besides science, Tony enjoys watching baseball and traveling. He is a loyal fan of the Taiwanese Brother Elephants baseball team. And his passion in traveling has taken him to more than 40 countries around the world.

Maddie was born and raised in Scituate- just south of Boston in eastern Massachusetts. Though she was eager to get out of Massachusetts during college, she ended up not too far from home, just on the other side of Massachusetts at Smith College. During her time at Smith, Maddie studied biology and neuroscience. She was introduced to Michael Barresi’s lab by her field hockey teammates. In the Barresi Lab, Maddie fell in love with zebrafish and DevBio while working to characterize the role of a novel ligand, Meteorin, as a possible midline signaling molecule required for early CNS development. Her love of development biology and specific interest in neuronal patterning and morphogen signaling motivated her to join Tony’s lab, after attending Tony’s virtual talk at the Society for Developmental Biology Meeting. As the new research technician, Maddie is looking forward to helping get the lab up and running, and eventually starting on a specific project. Outside of the lab, Maddie enjoys cooking, listening to podcasts and reading!

Chia-Teng Chang was born and raised in Taiwan. Though he was best at math and physics in high school, he studied animal science and Chinese literature due to his passion for biology and linguistics–both involve intricate mechanisms during evolution. While at National Taiwan University, he was inspired Dr. I-Hsuan Liu’s DevBio course and decided to join Dr. Liu’s lab. For his master’s, Chia-Teng studied germ cell migration in zebrafish and was fascinated by the beauty of microscopy. As a Ph.D. student at WashU, he is intrigued by how cells move and interact physically and chemically, so he joined the Tsai Lab and LSK Lab to study molecular signaling and mechanical forces in embryogenesis. Outside of the lab, Chia-Teng likes to play musical instruments (recorder, piano, and harmonica) and table tennis. Fun fact: his first piece of furniture in the states was a ping-pong table, not a mattress!

Wyndham was born and raised right here in St. Louis City. For his undergraduate work he attended George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where he earned a B.S in Biology with a second major in History. At GWU he encountered one of his favorite subjects, evolution and development, taught by Patricia Hernandez as comparative vertebrate anatomy. Originally interested in evolution, development, and ecology, he first worked for the University of Montana at the Flathead Lake Biological Station in systems ecology and later when back in DC at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center working on blue crab fisheries science. When an opportunity to work in a developmental biology lab appeared he came back to St. Louis and WashU after 10 years in DC to work in Lila Solnica-Krezel’s lab on the NIH’s Undiagnosed Disease Network. Modeling previously uncharacterized rare genetic diseases in zebrafish rekindled his love of vertebrate development. In the Tsai lab, Wyndham is interested in adhesion mediated patterning, using the zebrafish fin development as a comparative model for vertebrate limb development. When Wyndham is not in lab he enjoys running, reading history and philosophy, decaf lattes, and trying out new restaurants

Chen-Hao Plus Chiu was born and raised in Taiwan. He obtained his Bachelor and Master degrees in Biotechnology at Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan. In his past research, Plus has used zebrafish as an animal model to answer questions in human diseases, such as xenograft, angiogenesis, cardiac and kidney failure, and neuron degeneration. One of his dreams is to broaden his research vision and life experiences by doing research in the US. He is therefore very excited to join the Tsai lab and looking forward to studying cellular functions during tissue patterning and morphogenesis. In his spare time, Plus loves playing guitar and singing, he also likes outdoor activities such as surfing, skiing, and skating.

Jinghan was born and raised in Hebei Province in northern China and went to Zhejiang University for her undergraduate study. At that time, she began her journey in Biology. Just totally impressed by the beautiful tissue patterns, she decided to study developmental biology and joined Dr. Peng Xia’s lab at Zhejiang University in her sophomore year. She accumulated some experience in working with zebrafish there and found her interest in the role of mechanical force and how mechanical and chemical signals work together to enable those complex and accurate patterns. Based on her interest, she joined Tony’s lab as an undergraduate exchange student to study how cell adhesion assists in zebrafish spinal cord development. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and likes going outdoors on sunny days. By the way, now she is trying to be a good cook while there is still a long way to go.