Yi-Wei joined the Alaoui Lab as an Assistant Specialist in 2013. She currently focuses on investigating the application of biomarkers in the diagnosis of lung cancer. Prior to joining the team, Yi-Wei received her Ph.D. degree in Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology and Genetics from University of Minnesota in 2012. She worked with Dr. Michael Koob on developing tools for engineering mammalian mitochondrial genomes. Her thesis project focused on transferring engineered mitochondrial genomes packaged in isolated mitochondria into mammalian tissue culture cells for analyzing specific sequence changes on mitochondrial function. She also has a M.S. from National Taiwan University in 2004.