As the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread worldwide and lockdowns are being extended, Taiwan's National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) is tapping into one of its cross-border collaboration projects that unites international and local medical experts to hammer out solutions that address new global post-pandemic challenges.
Remote collaboration has become a norm at the school led by its forward-thinking leaders and management teams. Despite a halt in face-to-face meetings, the switch was swift and painless not only because of its mature internet communication system but also its wide-reaching satellite operations which started in 2017 by setting up overseas research centers at its partnered universities in Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand as part of NCKU's annual overseas joint research program. In 2019, the centers focused on nano-materials, artificial intelligence, elderly care, infectious disease prevention, innovative industries, big data, digital dentistry, and smart medical care.
This year, the annual program continues to shine, with 8 teams comprised of 55 experts from four countries. Among which 27 are living outside Taiwan. The teams aim to find new solutions for dengue fever, biomass energy, severe illness prevention and treatment, energy storage systems, sustainable energy and materials, digital dentistry, and chronic wound care.
Prof. Hsiao-Wen Wang (王筱雯), NCKU’s vice president for international affairs and the general supervisor of NCKU's overseas research centers, told Taiwan News that the program upholds a problem-solving strategy toward global issues and challenges utilizing an interdisciplinary and integrated approach. It encourages outstanding senior scholars to coach students selected from participating schools by taking part in planning a research proposal for an extremely tough competition. The 8 winning teams are undoubtedly exceptional.
For example, a project between Prof. Oscar Guey-Chuen Perng (彭貴春) at NCKU’s Department of Microbiology & Immunology and Mahidol University (MU, Thailand) will integrate Prof. Perng’s lab results in dengue virus research with MU's dengue clinical data. Furthermore, studying the mechanisms by which the dengue virus contributes to leukemia's pathological process may lead to a new concept and trigger a new direction of dengue virus research. Students who participate in this study will learn basic biological knowledge and lab procedures including flow cytometry analysis and conducting enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA).
Another project proposed by Assoc. Prof. Hsien-Tai Chiu (邱顯泰) from NCKU's Chemistry Department and the NCKU BT&D2 team has successfully constructed international and long-term cooperative programs with research teams from the University of Malaya (UM, Malaysia) and MU to carry out collaborative research projects leading to benefits on either party. The UM team is composed of 10 principal investigator (PI) laboratories from the departments of Pharmacology, Chemistry and Life Sciences, and the Center of Natural Products Research and Drug Discovery. The MU team is constituted with 5 PIs, research associates, and graduate students from faculties of medicine, dentistry, and public health. They aim to develop clinical drugs and healthy food for the prevention and treatments of various diseases, especially those associated with aging, cancers, and metabolic syndrome. Through academic research, they are dedicated to promote healthcare and well-being in general interests and benefits and reduce social problems, especially in this aging society.
One other project is hosted by Prof. H. Sunny Sun (孫孝芳) at NCKU's Institute of Molecular Medicine. As the main concerns for pregnant women in Vietnam include issues of hygiene and pregnancy complications, Prof. Sun's team partnered with the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City (UMP, Vietnam) and they are expected to practically tackle these problems by careful planning of standard prenatal health care programs, antenatal care programs such as genetic tests using next-generation sequencing, and postnatal care programs and consulting systems for pregnant women and their families.
Source：Taiwan News
