In response to the Taiwan government's active support of the biotechnology industry, National Taiwan University (NTU) developed the NTU SPARK Translational Research Program—modeled after the Stanford SPARK Program, the cradle of American biotechnology industry—to establish training modules, courses, and consultancies. This program, through the Taiwan Supra Integration and Incubation Center, trains personnels who are expected to enrich Taiwanese biomedical and translational medical device development. After only two years of implementation, two innovative medical devices are ready for release; these devices will impROVe the quality and efficiency of diagnosis, accelerate drug development, reduce costs, benefit patients, and revitalize Taiwan's biotechnology industry.

ITRC of NARLabs and NTU have jointly developed the MOVIS Portable In vivo Optical Imaging System to revitalize the medical devices industry. (Photo source: Office of Executive Vice President for Academics & Research of NTU)

The Disposable Chip Detection Technology and Multifunctional Imaging System: A Rapid Molecular Diagnostics System
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), a primary molecular diagnostic method, is time and cost intensive and requires professional technicians. These problems may be resolved using the “Disposable Chip Detection Technology and Multifunctional Imaging System.” It was jointly developed by an NTU nanobiomedical research group comprising the Instrument Technology Research Center (ITRC) of National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs) and the Material and Chemical Research Laboratories of Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) members, led by Professor Chii-Wann Lin from the Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Graduate Institute of Biomedical Electronics and Bioinformatics. Because of its smart design, this system achieves a four-fold reduction in the time required for immunoassays and more than a 12-fold increase in sensitivity compared with the traditional immunoassay method. This disposable chip detection technology can reduce testing costs considerably by impROVing the operation and reaction processes, thus making molecular diagnostics easier and more user-friendly. At present, this system is the leading optical biosensor among other competitors.

According to Professor Chii-Wann Lin, the three advantages of this novel innovative system are as follows:

1. Integration of micro-optical nanostructure technology and chip manufacturing increases the sensitivity of the surface plasmon chip by more than 12 times compared with that of previously developed plasmonic chips.
2. The chip contains aptamer probes that are highly specific for target proteins. This design eliminates time and cost intensive reaction steps such as labeling and antibody modification. Compared with that of ELISA, the operation time is reduced approximately four-fold, resulting in rapid detection.
3. Only a small sample volume is required for one test (20 μL). In addition, the biological reaction can be completed without any additional power—meaning that it requires minimal reagents and consumables—thus reducing the consumption of resources.

In addition to this diagnostics system, room temperature signal amplification technology ba

The Disposable Chip Detection Technology and Multifunctional Imaging System have been jointly developed by NTU, ITRI, and ITRC of NARLabs.

President Dr. Pan-Chyr Yang of NTU (in the middle) presenting the Disposable Chip Detection Technology and Multifunctional Imaging System along with the joint research team.
 

The MOVIS Portable In vivo Optical Imaging System prevents killing of study animals by enabling weak fluorescence imaging in vivo to accelerate drug development
The MOVIS Portable In vivo Optical Imaging System—jointly developed by NTU Medical School and ITRC of NARLabs, under the leadership of Professor Wen-Shiang Chen from the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of NTU—can search and locate florescence and luminesce present in animals through advanced optical instrument and image overlay technologies. It facilitates continuous observation of cancer cell proliferation and therapeutic effects in vivo. The core technology of MOVIS can be further applied to observe plant florescence, insects, zebrafish, and pathological sections. Moreover, it can reduce research and development costs for studies and avoid the death of study animals.

The system is small, only one-tenth of the size of current state-of-the-art instruments. Because of its portability and affordability, it can be customized to specification. The experimental efficiency of this system is high because of its convenient real-time monitoring and analysis functions. This system may have high market potential after product launch; furthermore, it may benefit research teams in clinical and basic medicine research.