Chung-Hao Lu

About

Chung-Hao Lu holds two posts inside the NUWA group at once: Director of NUWA Lab, which is the laboratory where cycles are actually executed, and Chief R&D Officer of NUWA Biomedical INC., the arm that turns laboratory practice into technique and trained people. In assisted reproduction these are usually different careers — one runs a working lab against a schedule of retrievals and transfers, the other works on method development — and the pairing makes the role a technical decision-making position rather than a bench job.

Academic training is a Ph.D. from the National Taiwan University Institute of Biotechnology, specializing in embryology, preceded by a Master’s in Physiology from the Department of Animal Science at National Chung Hsing University. Between those two points sits the only overseas research posting of this career: doctoral work on embryonic stem cells at RIKEN, Japan’s Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, in its embryology and development group.

The laboratory career began in clinical settings. Roles were embryologist at the Reproductive Medicine Center of Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taipei, researcher in the Department of Medical Research at the same hospital, and researcher in molecular biology and human genetics at Tzu Chi University working on embryo gene transfer. Moving from transgenic technique in a research institute to routine embryo handling in a working fertility center is the less common direction, and it explains the emphasis on quality systems in the current role.

Beyond NUWA, Chung-Hao Lu convenes the Embryology Institute at National Taiwan University, holds an assistant professorship designated by the Ministry of Education, and has directed a Ministry of Science and Technology research grant.

Clinical Expertise

• Embryology and micromanipulation: insemination or ICSI, culture and morphological assessment all happen on the bench, and this is the layer that decides whether a cycle produces a transferable embryo. The doctoral field here is embryology itself.
• Laboratory management and development: as lab director, responsibility covers daily operations and staffing; as chief R&D officer, it covers technique. Together the two roles own the laboratory’s technical direction, including the AI time-lapse culture platform and the error-verification system the clinic describes.
• Gamete and embryo cryopreservation: NUWA’s lab works with vitrification, and published thaw outcomes are a direct function of handling and monitoring discipline rather than of the freezing machine alone.
• ART laboratory quality management: membership of the Taiwanese Society for Reproductive Medicine’s laboratory quality management committee is a role in inspecting process and standards, not just meeting them at one site.
• Training and workforce development: convening the Embryology Institute at National Taiwan University, set up with the university to train embryologists through coursework and laboratory practice, plus a designated assistant professorship.

Why Choose Dr. Lu

The lab is led by an embryology doctorate. Fertility outcomes for patients over 38, or with few embryos to work with, are heavily determined by culture conditions and selection judgment. A director whose own doctorate is in the discipline, rather than a physician supervising a lab, is a distinction a patient can act on when asking questions about laboratory specifications.

Two roles, one person. Director of the working laboratory and chief R&D officer of the biotech entity means the same individual decides what gets tried in the lab and what gets developed. For a patient this shortens the distance between a technique existing and a technique being used in a cycle.

Stem cell and transgenic background. Doctoral research at RIKEN on embryonic stem cells, then embryo gene transfer work at Tzu Chi University, are manipulations at the single-cell level. That training is the hardest form of the same manual skill used in biopsy and injection.

A seat on the quality committee. Laboratory quality management within Taiwan’s reproductive medicine society is standard-setting and inspection work. It is a view of how other laboratories perform, which is the comparison patients rarely get to make themselves.

Academic appointment outside the clinic. The Embryology Institute convener role and the Ministry of Education assistant professorship are both tied to training the next group of embryologists, including through the Embryo Academy the clinic set up with National Taiwan University.

Professional Affiliations

Committee membership in the Asia Pacific Initiative on Reproduction (ASPIRE) embryology section and in the Taiwanese Society for Reproductive Medicine’s ART Laboratory Quality Management Committee. Academic positions: convener of the Embryology Institute at National Taiwan University and assistant professor designated by the Ministry of Education. Prior appointments include project director of a Ministry of Science and Technology research grant.

Degrees: Ph.D., Institute of Biotechnology, National Taiwan University; Master’s in Physiology, Department of Animal Science, National Chung Hsing University. Research posts: RIKEN Institute of Physical and Chemical Research in Japan (embryonic stem cell doctoral research), Mackay Memorial Hospital Reproductive Medicine Center and Department of Medical Research, and Tzu Chi University’s molecular biology and human genetics group.

Suitable For

Patients scrutinising embryology laboratory standards: the question of what incubation, imaging and grading protocol a clinic uses has a substantive answer here, because laboratory specification is the job rather than an adjacent one.

Repeated retrievals building up an embryo cohort: patients accumulating embryos across several cycles before transfer depend on consistent culture and reliable vitrification, since every sample has to survive until the cohort is complete.

Long-term egg and embryo cryopreservation: storage years rather than months puts the burden on monitoring of the liquid nitrogen system and on thaw procedure, both of which sit under laboratory direction.

Cycles requiring PGT-A chromosome screening: biopsy timing, handling and the coordination with the genetic laboratory are bench decisions, and the laboratory director is the person accountable for them.

Rare genetic conditions needing laboratory support: conditions that call for PGT-M or unusual culture and assessment demands pull in the R&D side of the role, where methods are developed rather than only repeated.