The Council of Agriculture yesterday unveiled the results of preliminary research in studies that could aid stem cell research on Parkinson’s Disease, increase milk and dairy production during summer and turn cow dung into fuel.
In the first project, green fluorescent protein, which is cloned from jellyfish, is implanted into embryonic stem cells of pigs to trace their effect on stem cell transplants, said Yang Jenn-rong (楊鎮榮), an assistant researcher at the council’s Livestock Research Institute physiology division.
This offers valuable insight into stem cell research and regenerative medicine, Yang said.
Stem cells, which are found in most multi-cellular organisms, are known for their ability to renew themselves through mitotic cell division and differentiating into an array of specialized cell types under certain conditions to repair or replace cells lost through wear and tear or diseases.
Although the project only began in 2005, Yang said that his division had been working on pig embryonic stem cells for much longer.
“The fluorescent stem cell marker is a non-intrusive ‘reporter cell’ that offers a way for confirming that our stem cells are capable of going through mitotic cell division and differentiating into nerve stem cells and mature nerve cells,” he said.
These functions are vital to the research of possible treatments for Parkinson’s Disease as well as spinal cord injuries — the focus of the division’s research, Yang said.
“Though similar markers have been developed abroad, our marker has proven to be especially stable,” Yang said.
“While other markers may fail to maintain visibility after a few cell divisions, ours have sustained more than 100 divisions over the past two years and are still very bright,” Yang said.
The second project, part of the institute’s efforts to address the global energy crisis, focuses on transforming farm animal feces into fuel, institute chief Koh Meeng-ter (郭猛德) said, adding that it had now obtained a fuel that could be used in boilers.
“By employing thermal-chemical transfer, we have now differentiated animal feces into 20 percent fuel and 80 percent liquid fertilizer,” Koh said.
He said that more distillation would be needed to upgrade the fuel into vehicle fuel.
Though the patented technology can now only produce 10ml to 15ml of fuel from 1kg of pig feces, and 15ml to 20ml per kg of cow dung, Koh said that with research the institute was confident it could increase the yield.
Moreover, “if the operation is carried out on a larger scale, the technique could be cost-effective in the future,” he said.
The institute also showcased its initial success in producing quality embryos of Holstein dairy cattle from its best cows, which in turn would be implanted into the wombs of several “surrogate heifers,” or young cows that have not had a calf.
“Cattle breeding in dairy animals during the hot months is usually harder than in cooler months [November to April] because of several reasons: low appetite, delayed release of eggs, and if a fertilized egg is produced, it may be damaged by the heat,” said Yang Te-wei (楊德威), another assistant researcher.
As such, the institute launched a project to handpick good quality cows, mate them over the cool months and freeze or store the embryos “for the summer months,” Yang Te-wei said.
“Each selected cow produces several embryos, which in turn would be implanted into a number of other cows or heifers,” Yang Te-wei said.
“The technique has two major advantages: Quality calves can be improved because of the cow selection process, and pregnancies in the hot months can be carried out more successfully.”
Using the store-and-implant technique, pregnancy rates during the summer months for cows have risen to 30.8 percent and for heifers to 50 percent, compared with a low 13.6 percent at one point, Yang Te-wei said.
“This means that more milk and dairy products can be produced over the summer months,” he said.
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