The focus of research in my laboratory is to elucidate how neurons establish individual identity in the developing nervous system and why only specific neuron subtypes are vulnerable in the neurodegenerative diseases. We tackle these questions via studying non-coding RNAs and their roles during motor neuron generation and degeneration. My lab employs motor neurons generated from mouse and human embryonic (ES) and induced pluripotent (iPS) stem cells, as well as mouse animal models to investigate motor neuron development and disease. We have developed and generated a series of stem cells and animal models to study functions of microRNA and lncRNA by "gain-of-function" and "loss-od-function" approaches. Besides elucidating the basic molecular mechanisms underlying specification of neuronal diversity during CNS development, I apply the stem cell system to study motor neuron diseases. In particular, I am engaged in the establishment and study of patient specific iPS cell based models of Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). iPS cell derived motor neurons are used in my lab to perform deep sequencing from healthy and ALS motor neurons and to functionally characterize non-coding RNA pathology in motor neuron. I am also a core member of Neuroscience Program and RNA program in Academia Sinica, which provides strong and solid consortium to give advices and exchange the ideas for our projects. In summary, I have multidisciplinary approaches, from in vitro stem cells to in vivo mouse models, to study motor neuron development and degeneration.