Announcements - Taiwan-Canada partnership delivers insight into disease, diagnostics and drug discovery

March 18, 2010 — Ottawa, Ontario

International collaboration opportunities are growing in the emerging field of glycosciences, following a successful workshop held in November 2009 in Taiwan.

Glycoscience is the study of complex carbohydrates, especially their relationships with protein and lipids. Understanding these building blocks of the body and mind can provide insights into the nature of diseases such as bacterial meningitis, viral influenza and brain disorders.

The bilateral Canada-Taiwan glycoscience workshop was the brainchild of Dr. Chi-Huey Wong, President of Academia Sinica Taiwan, following his visit to several NRC institutes in 2008 as part of the Taiwan National Science Council (NSC)-National Research Council (NRC) Eminent Researcher Program.

Taiwan's NSC and Canada's NRC have maintained close exchanges after the two bodies inked a memorandum of understanding in 1997 to bolster bilateral research collaboration. Since 2001, the NRC Institute for Biological Sciences (NRC-IBS), along with other NRC institutes, have participated in five joint research projects. NRC-IBS is now involved in a joint nanotechnology research project that is leading to IP generation and increasing NRC's profile of excellence in research at the international level.

The focus of the workshop was infectious disease diagnostics, synthesis and drug discovery. Headed by NRC Vice President Dr. Roman Szumski, 10 experts from Canada participated, with a group of 11 Taiwanese researchers that included NSC Minister Lou-Chuang Lee and Academia Sinica President Chi-Huey Wong.

The two-day workshop involved high-standard contributions from NRC scientists from various institutes (NRC-IBS, NRC Biotechnology Research Institute, NRC Steacie Institute for Molecular Sciences, and NRC Industrial Materials Institute) and from Taiwanese scientists from universities and Academia Sinica.

Participating scientists discussed possible ways to develop further collaborations and several areas for collaboration in glycosciences between NRC and Taiwan were identified. A number of joint proposals will be put forward in 2010 if funds are made available. A material transfer agreement project with key researchers in Academia Sinica in Taiwan and NRC-IBS has already been established to make use of Academia Sinica's ability to screen small molecule inhibitors for treatment for influenza virus based on inhibitors of glycans involved in host-pathogen interactions.

The primary objective of the NRC-IBS Strategy is to improve health and wellness of Canadians by discovering and translating novel solutions for preventing, diagnosing and treating infectious and neurodegenerative diseases. One of the key NRC-IBS strategic goals is to increase global recognition of NRC-IBS and NRC generally in scientific excellence and technology development by engaging international partners and stakeholders.

NRC-IBS strengths behind this vision are its internationally recognized expertise in the glycobiology of bacteria (prokaryotic glycobiology) and its work at the forefront in applying genomics and proteomics to neurosciences and infectious diseases research.

Innovative integrated approaches are being developed for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of disease by bringing together NRC-IBS competencies in neurosciences, glycosciences, drugs that affect the immune system (immunomodulaton), bacterial pathogenesis and antibody engineering; and partnering with the NRC's strengths in the physical sciences and engineering portfolios.

NRC-IBS has gained international stature in the field of infectious diseases by being able to successfully translate its research into tangible benefits for Canadians. One of its main research areas is understanding the role of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates (carbohydrates plus a protein or a lipid) and their associated biosynthetic enzymes in normal biological function and disease.

The workshop was organised and coordinated by Dr. Jean-Robert Brisson from IBS and Ms. Lorena Maciel from the NRC International Relations Office. Their collaboration and negotiations with our Taiwanese partners ensured the delivery of a successful event.