Dr. Yau-Huei Wei graduated in June 1974 from the Department of Agricultural Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. He joined the laboratory of the late Professor Tsoo E. King in September 1976 and earned his PhD degree in 1980 from the Department of Chemistry, State University of New York at Albany, New York, USA. He returned to Taiwan after working for one year as a postdoc at the Departments of Chemistry and Physics, SUNY-Albany. He was appointed as an associate professor during 1981–1985 at the Department of Biochemistry, National Yang-Ming Medical College, Taipei, Taiwan. He was promoted to full professor in 1985 and served as the chairman of the department until 1991. He also served as the Director, Common Instrumentation Center (1986–1989) and the Dean of Student Affairs (1989–1991) of the college. Dr. Wei was appointed as the Director General, Department of Life Sciences, National Science Council, Executive Yuan, Taiwan, 2001–2005. He was the Dean of Academic Affairs (2006–2007) and Distinguished Professor (2007–2009), National Yang-Ming University. Dr. Wei was appointed as the founding President of Mackay Medical College in August 2009, a post he will maintain until 2013. He was elected as the President of Asian Society for Mitochondrial Research and Medicine (2005–2008) and the President of Taiwan Society for Mitochondrial Research and Medicine (2006–2011). Since 2006, Dr. Wei has been a member of the editorial board of Biochimica et Biophysica Acta-General Subjects.

Dr. Wei's major research has focused on “Molecular and cellular biology studies of mitochondrial diseases, cancer and age-related diseases” and “The cross-talk between mitochondria and the nucleus and metabolic shift in cellular differentiation and aging”. He was among the few investigators to demonstrate that mitochondrial function decline and mitochondrial DNA mutations are important contributory factors of human aging. His research team was one of the earliest groups to demonstrate that oxidative stress and oxidative damages elicited by mitochondrial DNA mutations contributes to the pathophysiology of many mitochondrial disorders. In the past few years, Dr. Wei and his students have established that mitochondrial biogenesis and respiratory function as well as antioxidant enzymes are upregulated in the process of differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells. His team has elucidated the molecular mechanism of the metabolic shift from anaerobic glycolysis to oxidative metabolism during stem cell differentiation. Dr. Wei and his colleagues and students have published in SCI journals about 300 research papers and about 25 review articles in the fields of bioenergetics, free radical biology and medicine, molecular medicine, mitochondrial medicine, male infertility, and aging research. He is the Managing Guest Editor of this Special Issue that contains 15 papers presented at the 5th ASMRM International Conference, which was held in China on November 6–8, 2008.