A Taiwanese-trained biomedical engineer has gained international renown with a breakthrough in creating a new generation of biotracers.
A paper by Lin Cheng-an (林政鞍), an assistant professor at Chung Yuan Christian University’s Department of Biomedical Engineering, which described a new method of synthesizing fluorescent gold nanoclusters for molecular imaging inside the human body, was carried in last year’s ACS Nano, a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Chemical Society.
The article ranked third in terms of the click-through rate in the journal’s nanotechnology-related papers last year.
The paper also attracted the attention of Nature, one of the world’s most prestigious science journals, which published an interview with him in its March 25 issue.
“It marked the first time that the world’s top science journal has carried an exclusive interview with a young Taiwanese scientist,” National Science Council (NSC) Deputy Minister Chen Cheng-hong (陳正宏) said. “It is an honor for our academic sector.”
In January, Lin was awarded this year’s Young Investigator Award from the International Society for Optical Engineering for his achievements in using nanotechnology to develop new materials for biotracer production.
Lin said biotracers are an important tool to track and mark cells in biomedical research. At present, quantum dots are the preferred material for cellular imaging because of their stability and brightness relative to organic dyes, but they still have major drawbacks. They cannot be used in humans because they contain toxic ions, such as cadmium.
However, Lin said the biotracer he developed using fluorescent gold nanoclusters is more suitable for molecular imaging inside the human body because the nanoparticles are smaller and gold is a bioinert and biocompatible material.
“It will allow us to track cells — for example, an antibody that is a marker for cancer — over a long period of time,” Lin said, adding that the material could be used in biophotonics, biomedicine and molecular biotechnology.
Lin said the new material still needed research in areas such as biosafety and biocompatibility. Other issues, such as how to flush it out of one’s system, also need to be resolved before it can be used in humans on a clinical basis.
Lin said he was collaborating with Yeh Hung-yi (葉宏一), a cardiologist at Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taipei, to use the nano-biotracer to mark stem cells taken from humans and inject them into the deformed rear limbs of mice to help them recover.
The 33-year-old is a locally trained scientist who obtained his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in biomedical engineering from Chun Yuan Christian University.
In his interview with Nature, Lin said he originally studied the biological effects of ultrasound stimulation. Under his mentor Walter Chang’s (張恆雄) encouragement, he decided to focus his efforts on nano-biotechnology in 2002 when the NSC began promoting a national nanotechnology program.
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