With the global pandemic of coronavirus, biotechnology has become the focus of research because of the development of vaccines and drugs. National Taiwan University invited experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States and organized an online biotechnology workshop on the innovation and application of RNA technology and synthetic biology on August 19th. With the rapid development of biotechnology, a wide range of applications, including in food, medicine, agriculture, industry, and energy, etc. can be found in every aspect of our daily lives. The workshop, held at this time, happened to provide the participants with the latest development in biotechnology.
Professor Pai-Chi Li, VP of Office of Research and Development, National Taiwan University and Director of National Taiwan University Industry Liaison Office said in his welcome remarks: " Biotechnology plays an instrumental role in helping develop vaccine at a record time. On the other hand, we also know that the pandemic brought many questions to biotechnology, which inspires us to organize this workshop." The workshop started with two professors from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Professor Daniel G. Anderson from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Institute for Medical Engineering and Science is an expert in the development of innovative medical equipment, materials and therapies. In this speech, he talked about his recent research on nucleic acid delivery systems and how to apply them in RNA therapy and gene editing to develop vaccines for infectious diseases. Next, Associate Professor of Biological Engineering and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science talked about how to use synthetic biotechnology to develop faster, cheaper and more powerful therapeutics and diagnostics for future pandemics. He believed that DNA programming will continue to drive the emergence and optimization of new therapeutics modalities, and investment in breakthrough biotechnologies will prepare us for the unknowns.
In the second half of the seminar, Professor Chii-Wann Lin from the Department of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University, who also spans the fields of electrical engineering and medical, shared his research on optical biosensor with engineering aptamers for kinetics and diagnostics. Next, Assistant Professor Chu, Chung-Han from the Department of Chemistry, National Taiwan University shared how he combined bioinformatics and chemistry and discovered nine new antibiotics. The moderator, Professor Jing-Jer Lin, the associate vice president of Research & Development of National Taiwan University, said at the end of the seminar: "RNA has shown its great power during this epidemic, and the changes that synthetic biotechnology has brought to our lives are enormous. The research of the four speakers has shown us that biotechnology has infinite possibilities for the improvement of medicine and health in the future."
As the epidemic is not over, all parties are actively seeking solutions. This workshop meets the needs of the times, and both registration and participation are very enthusiastic. The brilliant speeches in the workshop and the earnestly discussions between the participants and the speakers are expected to bring new prospects and inspirations to the industry, as well as more collaboration opportunities among industry, university and research.