[ISSUE CoM] Crosstalk in Children’s Health between TMU and CU for International Collaboration

In response to the visit to TMU of the representatives from Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University (CU) in February 2018, seven delegates of TMU in Child Health led by Professor Chao-Ching Huang visited CU in Bangkok on January 8-10, 2019 to attend the TMU-CU Joint Symposium and to visit King Chularlongkorn Memorial Hospital (KCMH). Before their arrival in CU, TMU delegates have experienced heartfelt welcome organized by Professor of pediatric dermatology Siriwan Wananukul. After opening remark by Dean Professor Suttipong Wacharasindhu, seven speakers from both universities delivered 14 talks in the fields of brain sciences, pediatric epilepsy, neonatology, pediatric gastroenterology and hepatology, pediatric oncology and hepatology, and virology in the TMU-CU Symposium.

As the first neurosurgeon specialized in brain surgery of children in Taiwan – Professor Tai-Tong Wong, the former President of International Society of Pediatric Neurosurgery, he gave two talks regarding his enriched experiences in pediatric epilepsy surgery in Taiwan and dedicated analysis of molecular classification and clinical variables of childhood medulloblastoma that induced big echo from Assistant Professor of pediatric neurology Tayard Desudchit and Associate Professor Krisanapan Bunyaratavei. Assistant Professor of pediatric neurology Yen-Lin Liu showed his excellence in childhood cancer epidemiology and cancer genomics into the risk stratification of neuroblastoma and other solid tumors that provide other fields for collaboration with pediatric oncologists in CU. Associate Professor of pediatric rehabilitation Sung-Hui Tseng shared her experience in improving the mobility of children with cerebral palsy that raised excited responses from the audience.

She discussed with Assistant Professor Krisanachai Chomotho after her talk but also later exchanged opinions with Dr. Pon Triratvorakul and Dr. Weerasak Chonchaiya for potential collaboration in child development by making good use of media, early detection and genomic assay of global developmental delay and intellectual disability, and establishment of an autism animal model for pharmacological intervention. Professor of neonatology Chung-Ming Chen introduced his mouse model to study prevention and treatment of bronchopulmonary dysplasia. He can provide opportunities of conducting clinical trials in intratracheal administration of surfactant/Budesonide and the effects of gut and lung microbiota in lung development of premature babies. Two pediatric gastroenterologists in TMU introduced their novel research findings. Associate Professor Shiuh-Bin Fang demonstrated his platforms for studying Salmonella virulence genes and discovering antibiotic resistance genes, including in vitro M cell model, ex vivo human intestinal organ culture, next-generation sequencing, and RNA sequencing. He also shared his experiences in academia-industry collaboration in the identification of a cocktailed probiotics for decolonizing vancomycin-resistant enterococci from human gut. Associate Professor Shih-Yen Chen showed his studies in molecular epidemiology of gastrointestinal viral infections and their clinical manifestations. Hopefully their expertise can bridge TMU and CU in the field of pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition as well as pediatric infection.

The enthusiastic crosstalk between speakers and the audience inspired interesting issues for potential collaboration. Following the fruitful joint symposium and successful academic visit, faculty in TMU and CU keep in touch for developing a genuine friendship and solidifying international collabora-tions in the near future. The harvests of the mutual collaboration will be hopefully exhibited in the next joint symposium between TMU and CU.