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.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the