The nation’s first brain bank opened in Taipei yesterday, with Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) expressing his hopes that it would also make Taiwan a bellwether in neuroscience in Asia.
National Taiwan University’s (NTU) College of Medicine yesterday hosted a plaque unveiling ceremony for the Taiwan Brain Bank, which was attended by Chen, National Health Research Institutes president Sytwu Huey-kang (司徒惠康), NTU vice president Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳), Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) and Taiwan Brain Bank Association chairman Hsieh Sung-tsang (謝松蒼).
“Many chronic diseases affecting the nation’s increasingly aging population — such as dementia and Parkinson’s disease — are related to the brain,” Chen said.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
“The establishment of the Taiwan Brain Bank would help scientists study various cerebral diseases, which could help prevent people from getting them and enable medical experts to begin patients’ treatment early,” he said. “This would also make Taiwan a bellwether in brain science in Asia.”
The brain bank belongs to the nation, not NTU, Chang said.
“Today is only the beginning, and the brain bank cannot sustain itself with the budget allocated to the medical school alone. We are calling for long-term financial support from the government,” Chang said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
In the past, the focus of neuroscience was studying data gathered through neuroimaging, Hsueh said, adding that the brain bank would allow neuroscientists to analyze brains directly.
“We understand that funding is needed to maintain the operations of the brain bank, so part of the technology budget would be used for this purpose. Another challenge would be to encourage voluntary donations of brains, which requires joint cooperation of the medical community and different patient groups,” Hsueh said.
“People need to know the importance of organ donations and give their consent to donate while they are alive. Their families should also give their consent,” he said.
There are about 150 brain banks worldwide, Hsieh said, adding that having brain banks is an indicator of prosperity.
“Unlike brain banks in other countries that were established by the government, the Taiwan Brain Bank was initiated by patients and their relatives who wanted to contribute by donating their brains for research,” Hsieh said.
Hsieh began leading a workforce to establish the brain bank in 2017, when they faced the challenge of finding a legal basis for such an institution. The problem was resolved after the Ministry of Health and Welfare issued interpretations of relevant regulations.
The brain bank also spent three years training its personnel and installing relevant facilities before it was officially established yesterday.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS