Academia Sinica conference showcases latest biotech research

 Publication Date：09/29/2011Academia Sinica's 2011 Life Science Technology Conference held in Taipei Sept. 28 introduced the institute's latest biotechnology-related research achievements in medical treatment, diagnostics and testing, vaccines and agriculture. A total of 26 innovations were presented during the gathering. Among them was a novel dual-function compound designated as T1-11, which was isolated from a Chinese herb and whose dual function was determined in tests on mice to effectively activate the adenosinergic system and subsequently delay the progress of Huntington's disease.Chern Yi-juang of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences said this research achievement was the result of the joints efforts of Academia Sinica, the National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine and National Taiwan University's Department of Chemistry.Meanwhile, Liang Shu-mei of the Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center presented research findings that fibrillar proteins can in low concentrations effectively inhibit cancer tumor cell invasion and migration, the latter of which she said often results in the failure of cancer treatment and death of cancer patients.Other presentation topics included integrated electro-fluidic circuits for microfluidic pressure sensing, a dual-polarity mass spectrometer, identification of novel anaplastic lymphoma kinase mutations in lung cancer, the construction of an enzyme production platform via synthetic biology, and novel compounds for the treatment of thalassemia and sickle cell disease. Academia Sinica said the annual conference is held to facilitate technology transfer and licensing, as well as cooperation between industry and researchers. It pointed out that technology transfer is an important strategy for the institute in supporting the domestic development of advanced science and technology.