History
The Establishment of the Institute of Oral Biosciences
Message from Founding Director Yu-Yuan Hsiao
The Department of Dentistry at the College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, has been established for over forty years, and the Graduate Institute of Dental Sciences has been present for ten years. The Graduate Institute of Dental Sciences is a research-oriented institute focused on clinical research. However, for dentistry, the institute is not limited to advanced clinical research; basic medicine, dental research, and teaching should also be the essential goals of the institute. Moreover, dental education in advanced Western countries exists at the scale of dental schools, and even in mainland China, there are several university dental schools or medical university dental schools. Based on this understanding, colleagues from the Department of Dentistry and the Graduate Institute have been continuously working towards the establishment of a dental school. One of the directions of this effort is to strengthen the faculty resources that should be in place under the structure of a dental school.
Therefore, training faculty members that focus on dental education is the most important and the initial preparatory work that needs to be completed. The Institute of Oral Biological Sciences is therefore precisely the teaching and research unit that cultivates such talents.
The positioning of oral bioscience should be the combination of dental basic science and basic life science. Therefore, the life sciences of various tissues and organs in and around the oral cavity should be the scope of research for this institute. Based on this concept, research in biochemistry, physiology, biology, anatomy, histology, microbiology, immunology, and even material science should be included.
The faculty we aim to recruit will be similar to those in various institutes of the medical school. They will, of course, be outstanding specialists in various fields but do not necessarily need to have a background in dentistry or medicine. Students also do not need to hold a medical school degree; graduates from science, engineering, and agriculture colleges are equally welcome. Additionally, the research and teaching focus of the institute's faculty should still center on oral and facial tissues, with materials science research focusing on biomedical materials and materials science and engineering. Strictly speaking, the positioning of the Institute of Oral Bioscience at the National Taiwan University College of Medicine has not yet been determined, which allows more flexibility and room for development.
The Institute of Oral Biosciences has thus recruited three faculty members. One of them is Dr. Chun-Pyn Shen, an alumnus of our department, specializing in molecular biology. Another is Dr. Chi-Hsiang Chen, a graduate of the Department of Zoology at National Taiwan University, with expertise in neurophysiology, who had completed his postdoctoral training at MIT. Dr. Chen returned to Taiwan in early September 1997 and joined the research team. The third is Dr. Kuo-Long Lou, who specializes in structural biology, having completed his PhD and postdoctoral training at the University of Basel, Switzerland, and postdoctoral research at the University of Calgary, Canada. Dr. Lou also returned to Taiwan in early 1999. These talented researchers were selected through interviews, presentations, and voting by the departmental faculty evaluation committee, and are considered outstanding talents. Their return will undoubtedly bring groundbreaking developments to the institute's teaching and research. Additionally, the existing young and talented faculty in biological sciences from our department and the Institute of Clinical Dentistry, such as Lein-Tuan Hou, Mark Yen-Ping Kuo, Chun-Pin Lin, Chun-Pin Chiang, Li-Deh Lin, Kang-Yee Wang, and Jean-San Chia, will have the opportunity to create new research avenues within this institute. With these talents, the expectations for this institute will not be in vain.
The establishment of an institute is a long and arduous journey. I have long been involved in the planning of proposals for the addition of institutes by multiple department chairs, and I am well aware of the numerous setbacks and hardships they faced in their efforts to establish the institute. The experiences of Director Kun-Chee Chen, Director Hsueh-wan Kuan, Director Liang-Jiunn Hahn, and Director Chi-Chuan Hsieh are all etched in my memory. Prior to the establishment of the institute, the selection of the director required the careful consideration and support of Dean Po-shen Hsieh, Director Chi-Chuan Hsieh, and several selection committee members. I would also like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude through the pages.
The new institute has been established. As Dean Hsieh emphasized at the celebration of its founding, how to develop the institute's affairs and create a future for graduates is a question worthy of our dedicated efforts and careful consideration. We hope that under the guidance of our teachers, a good research and learning environment will be formed. We also hope that our alumni can provide valuable insights and that young alumni will consider applying to our institute, working together towards the development of basic dental science and the goal of establishing a dental school.
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