The IBC researchers have focused on the studies of fundamental biochemical mechanisms and the development of biochemical technologies. Areas that have been actively studied by our researchers include 1.Molecular and Cellular Biology, 2.Proteomics, 3.Glycosciences, 4.Chemical Biology and 5.Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics.
In recent years, the IBC researchers have developed two major research themes: (1) Biochemical basis of posttranslational regulation and cell signaling network and (2) Structural and mechanistic basis of protein function and drug design. Several research core facilities have been established for supporting the two research themes, including proteomics and mass spectrometry, structural biology (NMR and x-ray), biophysics, peptide synthesis and cell image. Throughout these studies, the institute aims to pursue quality and excellence in research with a deep commitment to promote collaboration among fellow scientists.
Significant Research Achievements
The IBC has played a leading role in several competitive research areas. In the recent five years, about 500 research papers have been published in renowned international journals, including Science, Cancer Cell, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Molecular Cell, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, EMBO Journal, Blood, PNAS, Plant Cell, Journal of Cell Biology, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Molecular and Cellular Proteomics , etc. Several patents have been issued, demonstrating our significant contributions to biotechnology development. In addition, the IBC researchers have served as editors or editorial board members for international journals and received prestigious academic awards.
↑ Calcium ions can be chelated by the hydroxylated tetrahydrofuran ring of acetogenins, which resulted in formation of hydrophobic acetogenin/Ca2+
complexes that can aid the cations in penetrating cell membranes and in elevating the intracellular calcium level.
↑ Hypoxia triggers ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis of PML tumor suppressor through HIF-1-induced transactivation of KLHL20. Targeting PML to the Cul3-KLHL20 ligase requires PML phosphorylation by CDK1/2 and prolylisomerization by Pin1. This HIF-1-induced, KLHL20-mediated PML destruction participates in a feedback mechanism to maximize HIF-1 induction by hypoxia, thereby potentiating tumor hypoxia responses.
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Division of Life Sciences
The Institute of Biomedical Sciences (IBMS) was founded in February 1981 with the opening of a Preparatory Office and was formally established in December 1993. Its mission is to elucidate disease mechanisms through basic research and use this knowledge for clinical applications in order to improve public health. Currently there are 57 full time researchers staff, 8 joint research members, 94 postdocs, 300 graduate students, 370 research assistants, 100 administrative and supporting staffs. Dr. Fu-Tong Liu, a physician-scientist, is our current director.
Research Projects
Currently, the IBMS investigators are engaging in research in seven general areas: epidemiology and genetics, cell biology and signal team-work is emphasized in the transduction, cancer, cardiovascular disease, infectious diseases and immunology, neuroscience and structural biology.
In this post-genomic era, team-work is emphasized in the research of investigators at the IBMS. The investigators at the IBMS not only collaborate with each other to form groups but also establish program projects with colleagues from other institutes inside and outside of Academia Sinica for efficient research. sWe are focusing our efforts on exploring disease genes and risk factors, generating mouse models for human diseases, developing disease markers and new drugs, elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying cell transformation and cancer metastasis, understanding the processes of virus and parasite infection, characterizing the cause and pathology of neural and cardiovascular diseases and using NMR, MRI and computational methods to determine the structures of proteins and living organisms.
Some of our research groups joined international consortiums: (1) to uncover the multiple genomic sites that may harbor breast cancer genes, (2) to map the human genetic diversity in Asia through the HUGO Pan-Asian SNP Consortium and (3) to use genetic and clinical data to formulate a universal algorithm that can better predict warfarin dosage to avoid bleeding complication.
Significant Research Achievements
The recent review (2011) of the 8 Institutes of the Life Science division of Academia Sinica, the reviewers pointed out that under the leadership of Dr. Yuan-Tsong Chen and more recently, Dr. Fu-Tong Liu, IBMS has made impressive progress. This is reflected not only by the publications in high-impact journals but also the emergence of mission-oriented, coherent research groups. IBMS is now recognized as a premier center for translational medical research. The work on Stevens Johnson Syndrome/
Toxic Epidermal Necrosis in relationship to HLA is a truly impressive success story, exemplifying the best of translational research. Such studies have mobilized the Taiwan medical community to work together to solve important health issues and placed IBMS on the world stage of genomic medicine. The arrival of Dr. Liu has brought new prospects of extending the already strong research in glycoscience at AS to translational medicine, eventually making IBMS and AS a world leader in glycomedicine.
On the average, each IBMS principal investigator publishes two to three scientific articles in international journals each year, with an average impact factor of 5. Several discoveries made in recent years by IBMS investigators have been published in first-rate journals and made headlines in local and international media. Numerous IBMS principal investigators have received the Outstanding Research Award or the Special Research Award of the National Science Council, the Academia Award of the Ministry of Education, the Junior Research Investigators Award or the Academia Sinica Investigator Award of Academia Sinica and other awards conferred by private foundations. These figures rank the IBMS as one of the leading research institutes in the field of biomedical sciences in Taiwan.
Institute of Biomedical Sciences
886-2-2789-9000 886-2-2785-3569 http://www.ibms.sinica.edu.tw
↑ Daxx is signaling molecule in apoptotic pathway and also acts as a transcriptional corepressor.
↑ Mouse models of Huntington's disease have auditory dysfunction and aggregate of mutant Huntingtin in the cochleae.
↑ The identification of subjects carrying the HLA-B*1502 allele and the avoidance of carbamazepine therapy in these subjects was strongly associated with a decrease in the incidence of carbamazepine-induced adverse drug reaction.
Division of Life Sciences Academia Sinica
Foreword Division of Life Sciences
Institute of Molecular Biology
886-2-2789-9222 886-2-2782-6085 http://www.imb.sinica.edu.tw
The Preparatory Office of the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) was founded in December of 1982, under the leadership of Professor Paul O. P. Tso. Scientists started their intensive research on July 1, 1986 under the directorship of Dr. James Wang. Drs. Ru-Chih C. Huang, Ray Wu and Chien Ho served as interim directors from 1987 to 1990. Dr. C. C.
Wang of UCSF assumed the directorship from 1991 to 1994. In the meantime, the institute completed its preparatory status and officially established itself as an institute on March 1, 1993. Dr. James C.-K. Shen served as the director from 1995 to January 2004. Dr. Meng-Chao Yao assumed the directorship beginning February 2004.
Research Projects
At the Institute of Molecular Biology, research is being conducted at the molecular and cellular levels in diverse fields of biology. Main themes of research interest at the institute include:
1. Nuclei Acids and Chromosome Biology 2. Developmental Biology and Neurobiology 3. Structural Biology
4. Plant Molecular Biology
5. Interaction between Virus and Its Host 6. Biochemistry and Cellular Physiology
↑ Global Identification of E3 ligase substrates by GPS profiling. ↑ The RNase T dimer has an ideal architecture for binding a duplex with a short 3' overhang to produce a digestion product of a duplex with a 1-to-4 nucleotide 3' overhang, depending on the last base pair composition in the duplex region and the sequence of the 3' overhang.
↑ Valosin-containing protein and neurofibromin interact to regulate dendritic spine density
Significant Research Achievements
The goal of the institute has been to use molecular and structural biology as a tool to obtain advancements in biological research. Major efforts have been focused on chromosome biology, developmental biology and neuroscience. Major research results of IMB Principal Investigators have been published in internationally renowned journals such as Cell, Nature, Science, Nature Chemical Biology, Journal of Clinical Investigationi, EMBO J., PNAS, Plant Cell, Molecular and Cellular Biology, PLos Biology, etc.
These results are not confined to basic research but are also closely related to the development of biotechnology.
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Division of Life Sciences
The Genomics Research Center (GRC) of Academia Sinica was founded in January 2003, with major emphasis on the discovery and validation of disease targets and development of innovative technologies and therapeutic strategies. The current focus of GRC’s research is on the understanding of genes associated with diseases and their functions. Through new discoveries, cutting-edge diagnosis tools and innovative therapeutic strategies are expected to be developed. After the founding Director, Dr. Chi-Huey Wong, was elected the President of Academia Sinica, Dr. Chung-Hsuan Chen assumed the directorship and continues to work on building a strong research team since 2007.
translational research.
Major research efforts are focused on the following programs:
1. Chemical Biology: The main thrust is to develop chemical and biological approaches to solve problems in living systems. Major efforts are directed toward identification and validation of important targets associated with cancer and infection, protein misfolding diseases, and understanding of the function of these targets at the molecular level.
2. Medical Biology: The major focus is on translational medicine, molecular regulation and biomarkers of cancer and normal stem cells, and immunobiology. The ultimate goal is to develop new diagnostics and therapeutics with small molecules, biologics and cell-based approaches, so as to bridge the gap between laboratory research and clinical medicine.
3. Physical & Computational Genomics: The major goals are (1) technology and instrumentation development, aiming to develop new tools with improved sensitivity and resolution for use in studying the dynamics of complex biological systems; (2) computational bioinformatic technology development, aiming to pursue functional and evolutionary genomics as well as structural informatics.
The GRC has established a Biotechnology Incubation Center to help nurture start-up companies advance the commercialization of the discoveries made at Academia Sinica. It aims to improve infrastructure and technology toward a prosperous pharmaceutical and biomedical device industry, resulting in new job opportunities and superior economic growth in Taiwan.
Significant Research Achievements
1. Potent immune-modulating and anticancer effects of NKT cell stimulatory glycolipids.
2. Discovery of cancer-enriched oligosaccharides in breast cancer stem cells and the involvement of fucosyl transferases in their biosynthesis, revealing a resolution for breast cancer vaccine
3. Success in oligosialic acid synthesis, bringing totally synthetic antibacterial vaccine one step closer
4. Development of glycan array and its applications for profiling cancers and influenza, and bioenergy technology
5. Unveiling the structures of influenza coat proteins and bacterial membrane protein, along with developing potent new antimicrobial drugs by enzyme engineering, for finding next-generation vaccines or antibiotics to conquer drug-resistant problem
6. Development of Tamiflu phosphonate cogeners and glycolipid adjuvant with concise and flexible synthesis process
7. Installation of the ultra-high throughput drug screener, conducting high-throughput screening assays and providing drug candidate related information
8. Successful synthesis of heparan sulfate octasaccharide inhibiting the infection of herpes simplex type 1 virus
9. Discovery of the lung stem cell in SARS infection
10. Investigation on hepatocellular carcinoma and hepatitis B virus, the correlation of women with hepatitis B virus infection and its carcinogenic jeopardy, and the risk analysis in long-term HCV predictors and hepatocellular carcinoma
11. Derivation of stem-like multipotent cells from acinar cell transdifferentiation and identification of glycosphingolipids associated with early differentiations of human embryonic stem cells, leading to new regeneration therapeutic strategies
12. Discovery of the key mechanisms of epigenetic regulation by histone demethylase RBP2 and oncogenesis through modulation of DNA methyltransferase function by N-alpha-acetyltransferase 10
13. Pioneering immunotherapy against glycolipid proven effective for childhood neuroblastoma
14. Development of novel charge-monitoring laser-induced acoustic desorption mass spectrometry for measurement of cell and microparticle mass distribution and quantitative measurement of nano-/microparticle endocytosis
15. Completion of the genomics comparison between human and chimpanzee and Demonstration of gene family size conservation as a good indicator of evolutionary rates
Research Projects
The scientific pursuits in GRC with great potential to be among the world-leading research include cancer and infectious disease research, new drug design based on structure study of membrane protein, carbohydrate chemistry and biology, high throughput drug discovery, evolutionary bioinformatics, biological mass spectrometer development and fast biomarker search. Increased efforts will be placed on the pursuit of fundamental scientific advances through interdisciplinary programs and the extension of basic discoveries to