Enrich the Study of Biomedical Research Equipment to Enhance the Energy Plan - the Building Plan of Time of Flight - Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer for Core Facilities of Biomedical Research

Modern medicine has become increasingly diverse in diagnosing diseases and their related treatments. Genomics, Proteomics and Metabonomics have demonstrated themselves as great tools in disease diagnosis and treatment. Metabonomics, a brand new field of the whole body function study, can explain the ultimate phenotype of the disease and is a vital subject of research. In addition, biomedical imaging has expanded from previously a single morphological structure to an integrated functional imaging and metabolic molecular imaging. Internationally, Metabonomics has become the center of focuses and attracted large research funding in this new field. Recent years several renowned universities around the globe like Harvard University, Cambridge University, and MIT have built the core facilities for metabolism research. Contrarily we have relatively few research facilities and resources in this field to establish a comprehensive system of biomedical network, not to mention about understanding of disease pathogenesis and the urgent development of new drugs. We, at the Taipei Medical University, would like to establish the Biomedical Mass Imaging Research Center (TMU-BMI Research Center) to fast fills this gap. Through our endeavors we believe we can secure a lead position and produce excellent research results. Presently the application of MS image analysis technology in biomedical applications is still in its infancy. Time of Flight - Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer（TOF-SIMS） has the ability not only to simulate the optical image of the sample but also to provide ionic microscope images to reveal the chemical composition of a specific location marked. Each pixel represents an atom or molecule in the spectrum. In order to promote the highly sensitive, convenient, fast and standardized image analysis mass spectrometry technology, BMI Research Center desires to combine the background of clinical and biomedical knowledge with up-to-date MS image analysis techniques and aims to become Asia's first mass imaging research center via its powerful capability of TOF-SIMS. The BMI center is expected to provide measurements and analysis services for scholars engaged in biomedical research, including both basic medical research and clinical applications. Finally, we desire to work closely with scholars in Taiwan in expecting to break through the current biomedical research obstacle, to benefit all mankind, and to establish a prestigious Metabonomics Research Center.