The Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections of Chang Gung University made remarkable achievements again!
Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections / Office of Technology Development and Industry Liaison
The Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections of Chang Gung University developed the "New Coronavirus Neutralizing Antibody Detection Technology". This technology was not only successfully transferred to Formosa Biomedical Technology Corporation for mass production at the end of 2020, but it also won the silver award of the “Technology Transfer Award” of the 2021 Taipei Biotech Awards, as well as the "Outstanding Technology Transfer Contribution Award" of the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2021.
The Taipei Biotech Awards is known as the Biotech Oscar. The Taipei Biotech Awards has four categories, including the "Go Global Award", the "Interdisciplinary Excellence Award", the "Technology Transfer Award" and the "Innovation Award". The number of applications this year went up to 137 in total, the highest number of all years. A total of 22 applications competed for the Technology Transfer Award. In the end, the Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections excelled and won the silver medal.
In recognition of researchers and teams that have been actively involved in technology transfer and performed well in research and development, the Ministry of Science and Technology reviewed the applications based on the "Effectiveness", "Market Size", "Competitiveness" and "Industrial Investment" dimensions and awarded the best team with the "Outstanding Technology Transfer Contribution Award". A total of 56 cases, the highest number of all years, from universities and research institutions nationwide participated in this competition. In the end, only 12 cases were selected for the award. The Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections stood out from the rest of the teams, once again making a great achievement and demonstrating the highly effective cooperation between Chang Gung University and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in research and development as well as technology transfer.
Led by Distinguished Prof. Shin-Ru Shih, director of the Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections of Chang Gung University, the Center has developed the "New Coronavirus Neutralizing Antibody Content Detection Technology" to detect and accurately quantify the efficacy of protective antibody in neutralization of the new coronavirus. After the new coronavirus infection or vaccination, our body will produce neutral antibodies to protect the human body from viral infection. This technology uses the serum of people infected by the new coronavirus, through BSL-3 testing, to uncover the efficacy of neutralizing antibodies. With this set of data combined with the analysis of the available samples and antibody efficacy, the Center has remarkably contributed to the epidemic prevention system of Chang Gung University. This technology has been transferred to the Formosa Biomedical Technology Corporation, and then successfully commercialized after obtaining the emergency use license from the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration. This technology could help other countries reduce the time and cost of developing related vaccines and antibody drugs. Furthermore, it could also effectively curb the spread of the epidemic and protect human health.
The Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections aims to provide real-time contributions to the prevention, control and treatment of emerging virus infections without borders. Through a close network of international cooperation in research on viruses that are prone to mutation and cause outbreaks, the Center has created detection platforms, uncovered pathogenic mechanism, and developed antiviral drugs and vaccines. Since its establishment, the Center has experienced new enteroviruses, new influenza and other large-scale and small-scale outbreaks. In addition to identifying the pathogens of the outbreaks, the Center also quickly distributed the virus strains, antibodies and other reagents to countries around the world. The Center has been dedicated to joint research and development of related strategies for prevention and treatment in order to combat the epidemic. In the basic research of emerging viral infections, the Center focuses on the study of host-virus interaction, from which to find out the target of treatment, and then to develop antiviral drugs and vaccines. In addition, the Centre also trains a number of talents who hold important positions in universities or biotech pharmaceutical companies to assist the industry in the research and development of epidemic prevention-related products. The Center is taking advantage of its international influence to enhance the global visibility of its partners. It can be expected that Center will be able to do its part in the prevention and treatment of virus-related infections.
On behalf of the Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections, Director Shin-Ru Shih (left in the photo) received the silver award of the “Technology Transfer Award” from Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je (right in the photo). (The photo was provided by the Department of Economic Development, Taipei City Government.) |
The R&D team of the Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections |
A detection set of the new coronavirus neutralizing antibody content detection technology (The photo was provided by the Formosa Biomedical Technology Corporation.) |