A multidisciplinary team from Chiayi County’s National Chung Cheng University (CCU) won a silver medal for developing the Carindex — a device that detects tooth decay — at the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Competition hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) last week.
The CCU Taiwan team was awarded a silver medal based on criteria that included validity, collaboration and human practices, according to iGEM’s Web site.
The judges also nominated the team — out of 310 participating teams — for a best entrepreneurship award.
Photo: Tseng Nai-chiang, Taipei Times
Elementary-school students in Taiwan visit the hospital every six months for an oral exam subsidized by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, but these six months can be a window for tooth decay, CCU team student leader Iris Chen (陳詩詠) said.
Inspired by this situation, 16 students from nine departments joined under the leadership of CCU Department of Biomedical Sciences associate professor Lee Cheng-i (李政怡) to develop an instrument to detect tooth decay at home, Chen said.
“Users of the Carindex dental caries-detecting device provide a saliva sample and wait for data to be generated from the interaction between their saliva and a special litmus paper. An hour and a half after the data are uploaded to the cloud, [users] can use a mobile app to find out their risk of developing cavities. Data from previous evaluations can be used to form a trend graph. [Carindex] can determine a risk level and remind users to go to the hospital for a checkup,” team member Eric Huang (黃裕軒) said.
The iGEM Competition is an international competition for students in the field of synthetic biology. The competition requires students to develop products that solve everyday problems.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and