Taiwan Proteomics Society An Organization Affiliated with HUPO

Taiwan Proteomic Society (TPS)1 was established in 2003. Andrew H.-J. Wang, currently the vice-president of Academia Sinica, Taiwan, organized the very first society member meeting in Taipei. Approximately 40 founding members participated in the first meeting. The main focus of the meeting was to promote awareness of emerging research on proteomics to the scientific communities in Taiwan and to create educational infrastructure for college-level students in learning basic knowledge in proteomics. The meeting was successfully echoed by his colleagues and the Ministry of Education, resulting in proteomics courses taught in many universities and a textbook published in Chinese on proteomics prepared by a cooperative effort from scientists in Taiwan. During May 15th–17th in 2004, TPS hosted its first conference, 3rd International Proteomics Conference 2004 (IPC’03) held jointly with 1st Taiwan Proteomics Conference and 2nd AOHUPO Congress (1). The conference was a joint meeting organized by TPS and AOHUPO. Interestingly, the conference was held in 2004; yet termed as IPC’03 because it was supposed to happen in 2003 but was delayed due to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in southeastern asia. In the past five years, there has been a rapid development of proteomic sciences in Taiwan. Sixteen research institutes and universities have now implemented proteomic facilities (see Fig. 1 for their geological locations), all with capabilities and capacities in offering services such as two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and protein identification by mass spectrometry. A major investment at national academy of Taiwan, Academia Sinica, was funded by core facilities for the National Research Program for Genomic Medicine (NRPGM), National Science Council (NSC), Taiwan, equipped with the participants of the NRPGM projects state-of-the-art instrumentation required for modern proteomics research activities. National Science Council has been the largest funding agency for scientific research in Taiwan and sponsored by the government. NRPGM was launched in 2001 as a national priority program to allocate research resources in the field of genomic medicine in Taiwan. Another notable proteomics facility is invested by Industrial Technology Research Institute in Hsinchu City, a non-profit Research and Development organization engaging in applied research and technical services in Taiwan. The high-throughput protein analysis facility now supports the intramural projects of Industrial Technology Research Institute focusing on stem cell differentiation and liver tissue development. Fig. 1. Geological locations of universities and research institutions equipped with proteomics facilities in Taiwan. In 2007, there were two major conferences sponsored by the TPS. One was held at the National Chung Hsing University in Taichung as a local activity in the central Taiwan with an emphasis on agricultural applications. The National Chung Hsing University began as an agricultural college 87 years ago, and it is the most prominent educational institution on agriculture in Taiwan. The other one was arranged with National Cheng Kung University in Tainan as the official annual society meeting. The National Cheng Kung University is the largest state-run national university in the southern Taiwan and is gearing for rapid growth in research capacity with a stimulant funding package provided by the state administration, promoting academic excellence and developing world class research centers by the Ministry of Education. The conference, Taiwan Proteomics Society International Conference 2007 (TPSIC 2007) was held during December 4th–6th with a record high number of registered participants, more than 400 domestic attendees from various scientific disciplines and 8 renowned overseas scientists as invited speakers. They came to the ancient city in Taiwan, Tainan, to discuss many aspects of proteomics –from mass spectrometry-based techniques, proteome informatics, post-translational modifications, glycomics, phosphoproteomics, and structural proteomics to biomarker discovery, clinical proteomics, and system biology. The number of participants and depth of the conference themes were impressive, reflecting an ever-growing interest of this new technology and its wide applications in biology, diseases, biotechnology, and agriculture. Since 2007, TPS decided to host two scientific meetings every year to promote proteomics in this small yet highly populated island country. “Scientific meetings and education, in addition to capital investment, are keys to the future growth of proteomics in Taiwan”, viewed by Shui-Tein Chen, the President of Taiwan Proteomics Society. The leadership and dedication of Dr. Shui-Tein Chen, as well as contributions made by all colleagues of TPS, have cultivated the grand success of this organization. This year (2008), the first meeting took place on June 4–5th at Tzu Chi University in the eastern side of Taiwan Island. The second meeting, Frontiers in Protein Proteomics will be held at Academia Sinica in Taipei and co-sponsored by Taiwan-Japan Bilateral Technology Interchange Project. TPS now has more than 500 registered members –a remarkable 10-fold growth in its membership since its foundation in 2003. The number of publications related to proteomics contributed from Taiwanese scientists is also growing. A survey completed in May 2008 for their publications in the three prestigious journals, Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, Journal of Proteome Research, and Proteomics (including Proteomics-Clinical Applications), indicated that Taiwanese scientists are involved with 108 articles published in these journals. Among the 108 articles, two thirds of them were published in the last two and a half years. Witnessing the activities intrigued by TPS in pace with those by HUPO, most scientists in Taiwan are now very much optimistic with their future opportunities in proteomics sciences. Beginning with a small meeting in 2003, TPS has so far made its significant impact to Taiwanese for embracing the rapidly evolving proteomics technology.