During a ceremony commemorating the establishment of the Asia-Pacific Microbiota Consortium, a National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University academic yesterday said that he hoped there would be more collaboration between organizations in Taiwan and Japan, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia on microbacteria research and potential academia-industrial partnerships.
The university’s College of Medicine vice dean Wu Chun-ying (吳俊穎), the consortium’s president, said the global market value for microbacteria research and its applications could reach US$1.37 billion by 2029.
The consortium hopes to establish a healthy ecology for cross-region, cross-field and cross-facility research collaborations on specimen examination and clinical information sharing, he said.
Photo courtesy of National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University
Studies on this subject are an evident global trend, and the establishment of the consortium hopes to spearhead microbacteria research in the Asia-Pacific region, Wu Chun-ying said.
How relevant microbacteria research is translated into industrial innovations would determine how Taiwan’s biotechnology industry would compete with others, he added.
There is a lack of clinical research on how microbacteria affected genetics, immunology, endocrinology, body inflammation, metabolism, food and drink consumption, and human psychology, said Professor Emad el-Omar, editor-in-chief of the monthly peer-reviewed medical journal Gut.
The US and Europe have a relatively mature academia-industrial research alliance on microbacteria, and the founding of an Asia-Pacific-based partnership would greatly improve research capacity in the region and the world’s goal to attain precision health, el-Omar said.
Asia University College of Medical and Health Sciences dean Wu Jiunn-jong (吳俊忠) said the National Science and Technology Council would be announcing a new project starting next year to translate existing microbacteria research into usable data that could help the industry develop innovative concepts and products.
The ceremony also featured talks on the formation of microbacteria and how they can be applied to diagnose various cancers, the relation between health and substances created via lactic acid metabolism, the relevance of gastrointestinal microbiota and the formation of fat, as well as the possible use of gastrointestinal microbiota for biological cures.
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