The early days of the College of Biological Science and Technology

The biotechnology industry is a star industry in the world's most important development in the 21st century. Many major technology countries have invested resources and devoted themselves to the development of the biotechnology industry and the cultivation of biotechnology talents. Taiwan, which is active in technology development, has also attached great importance to the promotion of biotechnology and the cultivation of talents. From the Eight Major Technology Development Focus in Taiwan in 1990 and the Two Trillion and Twin Star Development Program in 1996 to the establishment of many national biotechnology parks, the government is not only investing huge amounts of funds every year. It is also encouraging universities and colleges to participate in the cultivation of a new generation of biotechnology R&D talents. In view of this, the National Chiao Tung University decided to integrate its excellent foundations in the development of relevant fields such as electronics, information, and science and technology to implement an interdisciplinary biotechnology talent training program. The training program aims to fully integrate the science and research in biology and engineering and formulate an interdisciplinary development of biotechnology that is geared toward the future. In 1992, with the Director of the Department of Applied Chemistry Professor Zhuang Zuo-Min serving as the Executive Director and NCTU President Chi-Fu Den serving as the Chair of the Preparatory Committee of the Institute of Biological Science and Technology, the Committee began its planning. To this end, they visited Academician Wu Cheng-Wen, then Director of the Academia Sinica Institute of Biomedical Sciences, who provided them with many suggestions and valuable opinions on the direction of development. In 1993, Academicians Pien-Chien Huang and Ru-Chih Chow Huang, who were then members of the Consultative Committee, introduced NCTU President Den to an outstanding talent in biotechnology, Professor Cheng Chang. At that time, Professor Yaw-Kuen Li from the Department of Applied Chemistry, who was trained in related research in the United States also participated in the founding of the Institute of Biological Science and Technology. In 1994, the Institute of Biological Science and Technology, which was named by Professor Zhuang Zuo-Min, was established under the College of Science. In the beginning when funding, human resources and administrative resources were inadequate, the Institute was fortunate to receive all kinds of support from Academician Pien-Chien Huang, Academician Ru-Chih Chow Huang, NCTU President Chi-Fu Den, Dean Chu De-San of the College of Science, the College of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the College of Applied Chemistry. It also successfully recruited its first faculty members: Institute Director Cheng Chang, Professor Ho Hsiao-Tai, Professor Lin Tiao-Yin, Professor Tseng Ching-Ping and Professor Yang Yuh-Shyong. Moreover, laboratories and offices were set up on the third floor of the Chu Ming Building. After the Institute of Biological Science and Technology was established, it was confronted with the issue of student sources. Therefore in 1995, Professor Cheng Chang began to plan the Department of Biological Science and Technology and formally recruited the first year of undergraduate students in 1999. In 2000, Professor Yang Yuh-Shyong and Professor Tseng Ching-Ping helped establish the Institute of Bioengineering with the goal of researching and developing genetic engineering and the production of protein drugs. In 2001, the nation’s first Institute of Bioinformatics was established. The focus of the Institute was interdisciplinary research and teaching. It integrated domains such as biology, information and engineering to cultivate bioinformatics and system biology talents who are adept at both theory and application and aimed to become a top international teaching and research institution.

One department three institutes in the College of Biological Science and Technology

 In 2003, under the promotion of NCTU President Chun-Yen Chang and Vice President Wen-Hsiang Tsai, the College of Biological Science and Technology was established. The Department of Biological Science and Technology, the Institute of Bioengineering, and the Institute of Bioinformatics were merged into the College, thus laying the foundation for "one college, one department, multiple institutes". After its establishment, the College actively promoted interdisciplinary teaching and research in biotechnology and life sciences. At the same time, the College collaborated closely with other colleges in NCTU, such as the College of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the College of Computer Science, the College of Science, and the College of Engineering in its teaching and research to train students in basic interdisciplinary biotechnology intelligence. Moreover, with the support of the University, 20 more professors were recruited. With the staff and teaching and research facilities in place, the biggest dilemma faced by the College at the beginning of its establishment was the inadequacy and incompatibility of space. During his term of office as the first Dean of College, Professor Simon Mao dedicated himself to acquire space. Furthermore, to provide the teachers and students with a safer environment for research and learning, he spared no effort to renovate the environment of the Bo’ai Campus.

In 2006, the Institute of Biomedical Sciences was established in response to the rise in genetic medicine and proteomics. To address the pathogenic mechanism of diseases and treatment principles, basic cell and molecular biomedicine knowledge were integrated and used as precursor in the development and application of biosensing, biochips and rapid screening technologies to provide rapid and accurate diagnosis and detection of diseases and pathogens. The Institute was committed to cultivating biomedical and biotechnology research talents who are adept in basic biomedical skills and research. It offered a series of basic and advanced courses to stimulate in students the ability to think logically and innovate in emerging biomedical related topics, strengthen their basic and advance learning ability in biomedicine, and provide a solid experiment and research training. In 2008, the Institute of Bioengineering and the Institute of Biomedical Sciences were merged to form the Institute of Molecular Medicine and Bioengineering to advance the fields of medical materials, drugs, testing, and diagnosis of diseases. In the same year, the Institute of BioMedical Informatics was also renamed the Institute of Bioinformatics and System Biology. The combination of professional teacher resources and sound curriculum for cultivating basic bioinformatics skills and concepts in students in the Department of Biological Science and Technology in the College of Biological Science and Technology has become a major curriculum design feature of the Department of Biological Science and Technology in the College of Biological Science and Technology.

In terms of student activities, a poster contest has been held since 2006. In the following year, it was co-organized with National Tsinghua University’s School of Life Sciences to strengthen academic exchanges and enhance the climate of scientific discussions for students in Chiao Tung University. In 2009, when Professor Lin Chih-Sheng was the director of the Department, Professor Li Chiao-Ching proposed leading the students to participate in the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition. Undergraduate students from the Department of Biological Science and Technology were recruited to form the competition team and trained. They went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States to participate in the competition, and won the silver medal in their first competition. Since then, participating in the iGEM has become a major yearly event for students in the Department of Biological Science and Technology. Moreover, in 2013, they won the Asian championship. In addition, the establishment of the Department student association, the publication of the Department journal and various laboratory activities have enabled students to learn from and interact with each other outside of class.

The credit for today’s College of Biological Science and Technology goes to its predecessors for their hard work and the various NCTU colleges and departments for their assistance. Their contributions have enabled the successful establishment of the College of Biological Science and Technology and its strong foundation. In the future, the competitiveness of the College of Biological Science and Technology will be harnessed to promote the integration of all kinds of talents in Bio-ICT so that they can sharpen each other and produce even more innovations.