With the Coronavirus disease raging across the world, each country is striving to find a solution. In order to help resolve this crisis, Academia Sinica President James Liao chaired a meeting of the COVID-19 Open Science Platform on February 13, during which he proposed adhering to the spirit of open science: sharing sources, data, and methods to promote progress in academic research while corroborating findings from various disciplines.
During a lively discussion involving representatives from 15 domestic research institutes, it was decided to set up 13 sub-platforms for collaborative research in support of the development of detection methods, therapeutics, and a vaccine for COVID-19.
Research priorities include infection control, epidemiology, clinical characterization and management, detection methods (including viral RNA detection, viral antigen detection, and serum antibody detection), therapeutics (neutralizing antibody and small molecule drugs), vaccines, and SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis. In addition, research on social ethics and the law should be included so as to take full account of the impact of the COVID-19 virus.
Meeting participants from Academia Sinica included Vice President Fu-Tong Liu and representatives from the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Genomics Research Center, Biomedical Translation Research Center, Institute of Molecular Biology, Institute of Chemistry, and Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center. Participants from the government sector included the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control, Council of Agriculture, and Ministry of Science and Technology. Participants from the higher education sector included National Taiwan University, National Yang-Ming University, National Cheng Kung University, National Tsing Hua University, Chang Gung University, and National Defense Medical Center. Participants from other domestic research institutes included the National Health Research Institutes, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Development Center for Biotechnology, and National Laboratory Animal Center. Research institutes that have yet to partake in the Platform and share its resources are also cordially invited.
