※Distinguished Professor Wang Guozhen is on the right, Distinguished Professor Chang, Chien-Chung is on the second right, on the second left is General Manager at Protrustech Co., Ltd, Huang Chun-Ta.

New concept of epidemic prevention: antibodies detection instead of detecting viruses! Taiwanese scientists and General Manager at Protrustech Co., Ltd Huang Chun-Ta, Distinguished Professor Chang, Chien-Chung from Graduate Institute of Biomedical Engineering of National Chung Hsing University, and Distinguished Professor Wang Guozhen of the Mechanical Engineering department led a team to develop a signal enhancement chip with a three-dimensional plasma hotspot (3D-PHS), which can successfully detect COVID-19 viruses, antibodies and antigens.

However, it was successfully published under the title "A multiscale 3D hotspot-rich nanostructured substrate for biomolecular detection of SARS-CoV-2" of Applied Physics Reviews in the world's top journal ranked No. 1 in the field of physics, was also selected as a featured paper.      

Chang, Chien-Chung said “Recall the time when epidemic was very serious, if the customs at the airport checked whether incoming passengers had antibodies, would it be more meaningful than testing for the virus? By directly tracking if passengers have antibodies, we can know whether they still have immunity. Do they need to be re-injected? Do they need to be under quarantine? There is no need to discuss which vaccine is the most effective. It is the most direct evidence. This concept of epidemic prevention can be extended to a wide range of applications, even for influenza viruses.

"Currently, only a drop of blood serum can be used to obtain the fingerprint of antibody protein molecules." Distinguished Professor Chang, Chien-Chung said that the three-dimensional plasma hotspot (3D-PHS) signal enhancement chip invented by the team can provide rich 3D hotspots and equal surface plasmon resonance.  Therefore, it can enhance signals tens of millions of times, including Raman signals, which is an excellent method for measuring molecular fingerprints.

The invention of this chip has obtained a Taiwan patent and a U.S. patent which all jointly held by Protrustech Co., Ltd. and National Chung Hsing University. (U.S. patent is still applying now.) And won the 2023 Invention Award Platinum Award. This chip has successfully applied for two big testing projects, including agricultural (pesticides, orchid viruses) and biomedical testing (drugs, bilirubin, germs,cancer cells), etc. The related results won the National Innovation Award and also this year’s Future Innovation of Science and Technology Award.

Huang Chun-Ta, general manager at Protrustech Co., Ltd., said that we have invested considerable resources in the development and application of instruments, and have successfully entered the medical field from the measurement of semiconductors, materials, organic matter, etc. The breakthrough in detection technology resulted from the invention of the chip, which was jointly developed with academia. We cooperated with technical and research team from Chang, Chien-Chung, a tenured distinguished professor in the Institute of Medical Engineering of National Chung Hsing University, and obtained the invention patent. At the same time, with the assistance of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, we also drew up mass production plan for chips. Future planning is producing chips by GMP factory to meet regulatory requirements, truly enter the medical field, and expand into international markets.