A team of National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) researchers yesterday shared their findings on a microchip system for neurological disorders, saying it might help people with Parkinson’s disease.
The system is one of the projects funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology under its Academia-Industry Research Alliance project launched in 2017.
Deep brain stimulators are one of the options for treating Parkinson’s disease with electrical stimuli, but the surgery to place a stimulator in a patient’s brain can be difficult and dangerous, Chen Hsin (陳新), a professor in the university’s department of electrical engineering, told a news conference at the ministry in Taipei.
Photo: Chien Hui-ju, Taipei Times
Chen said he became interested in seeking solutions for Parkinson’s treatment after seeing what a family member who has the disease has gone through.
Current stimulators cannot be adjusted to release proper amount of stimuli according to individual needs, either, he said.
When he started to explore possible connection between engineering and biomedicine about 15 years ago, there was almost no crossover between the two disciplines, he said.
However, by working with chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp, NTHU and National Chiao Tung University electrical engineers and life science researchers as well as doctors from Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, his team developed a theranostic microchip that integrates neurological stimuli and recording, wireless electricity connection and data transmission functions, Chen said.
Measuring 5mm2, it is likely the world’s smallest biochip among those used in clinical practices, he said, adding that biochips being developed are not likely to be smaller.
The team has also developed the chip’s wireless stimuli controller, which has proved effective on experiments with mice and won a special prize in this year’s Computex development and innovation awards, he said.
The system is expected to enter clinical testing by 2022, he added.
Since 2017, the ministry has provided more than NT$116 million (US$3.73 million at the current exchange rate) to fund 56 projects related to integrated circuit design, manufacturing and packaging tests undertaken by eight universities, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Hsu Yu-chin (許有進) said.
More than 30 private companies have provided more than NT$230 million to support development efforts, Hsu said.
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is third in the world after the US and South Korea, but there is no knowing whether it might be outperformed by more nations, Etron Technology founder and chairman Nicky Lu (盧超群) said.
The industry needs more innovations and talent cultivation, he said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching