全國中小學科展

2023年

由誘導性多功能幹細胞篩選新生抗原用於大腸直腸癌之抗癌應用

癌症治癒方式成效有限,在iPSC中找出具有潛力的蛋白製成大腸直腸癌疫苗是本研究目的。 實驗先以C57BL/6小鼠之股骨及脛骨骨髓中造血幹細胞分化成為未活化的樹突細胞。放入安慰劑、CpG佐劑、CpG+MC38、CpG+iPSC等抗原物來進行免疫細胞活化測試,流式細胞儀分析結果驗證能否減緩小鼠大腸直腸癌的腫瘤生成。接著,利用質譜儀及大數據分析從iPSC中找出促使樹突細胞活化的抗原物蛋白成分,選出3個候選,透過西方墨點法確認其專一性。查詢候選蛋白TTW1、2、3在The Human Protein Atlas 網站對大腸直腸癌之表現數據。 結果 iPSC的抗原物促使樹突細胞的MHC1標記物活化,助於毒殺性 CD8+T細胞的產生進而透過免疫系統預防大腸直腸癌的產生。TTW1只有在iPSC細胞株表現出專一性,同時資料庫顯示TTW1在大腸直腸癌中具有高表現量。 目前未有文獻探討抗原疫苗的應用,團隊未來專注合成iPSC中TTW1蛋白,進一步開發成大腸直腸癌疫苗。

Discussion for Titanium Peroxides and Their Application for Dealing with Zombie Shrimp Issue

Food safety was an important issue recently. Today sodium percarbonate was used to fake the vitality of shrimps to earn a good sell. However, it may cause harm to health because of the peroxides left over. To handle this problem, we set up two goals to achieve: detecting them and then removing them. In the past, the titration skill was an easy method for determining the concentration of H2O2. It not only spent too much time but also resulted in errors commonly. In this research, titanium sulfate and citric acid were used to prepare the colorimetric reagent. To measure the peroxides in water, several factors were controlled and the SOP for detecting and the calibration line for peroxides finally established. In practical, we turned the colorimetric reagent into the fast test paper which was easily for use. The other part of this research was to clear up the peroxides in water. We use titanium sulfate, hydrogen peroxide and citric acid as starting material via hot-bath method to prepare the nano-photocatalyst of titanium dioxide. Since the powder was inconvenient to deal with large amount of water. The powder-like TiO2 was further made into ball-shaped TiO2 in favor of water treatment and reuse. It was found that the photocatalytic performance of ball-shaped TiO2 was effective to be on duty for removal of the peroxides. In summary, this research provided two techniques to deal with the zombie shrimp. The novel method for synthesis of TiO2 catalyst and the preparation of colorimetric reagent for fast test paper were all in low cost. They had great potential to develop in marketing demand.

In silico identification and physicochemical analysis of potential novel antimicrobial peptides from Momordica charantia L.

The emergence of antibacterial resistance has necessitated the development of alternative treatments, such as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). AMPs are part of the innate immune systems of various organisms such as Momordica charantia L., a known medicinal plant in Southeast Asia. In this study, potential novel AMPs from M. charantia were derived in silico to provide prospective antibiotic alternatives using promising plant-based peptides. M. charantia protein sequences that were 500 amino acids long were digested using proteolytic enzymes, resulting in 3,621 peptides. Each resulting sequence was characterized as either AMP or Non-AMP using four statistical analysis tools, and those identified as AMPs were analyzed. This led to 102 AMPs, 53 of which were unregistered on the Data Repository for Antimicrobial Peptides, indicating that they have yet to be derived from other species. Six of the eight studied physicochemical properties show strong correlations with each other, suggesting that subsequent AMP design studies may focus on these six properties. As such, M. charantia may be a rich source of potential AMPs and, thereby, alternative antibiotics. The in vitro examination of these novel AMPs is also recommended to further understand their potential as alternative antibiotics sourced from locally available plants.

Analysis on a New Electric Field Measurement Method Using Ionic Propulsion Propeller

Given the high sensitivity of electronic instruments, electromagnetic field intensity measuring is now becoming an essential part of the industry. Current electric field intensity meters are unfit for individual use and focus mainly on electromagnetic radiation rather than the field itself. In ionic propulsion, the propulsion force is proportional to electric field intensity but the use of this property on measurement remains largely unexplored. Here, our team investigates ionic propulsion in electric fields generated by electro-static methods and then systematically varies the point of measurement inside the field, thereby altering the intensity of the field without focusing on electromagnetic radiation. By combining the Van de graaff generator with an adjustable ionic thrust propeller, we find that the propeller speed which is proportional to the electric field is directly determined by the electric field intensity. Furthermore, we applied stroboscopy to the system to measure RPM, and have achieved the direct interaction between field intensity and RPM, which could be a new meter for field intensity measurement.

An Efficient and Accurate Super-Resolution Approach to Low-Field MRI via U-Net Architecture With Logarithmic Loss and L2 Regularization

Low-field (LF) MRI scanners have the power to revolutionize medical imaging by provid- 27 ing a portable and cheaper alternative to high-field MRI scanners. However, such scanners are usu- 28 ally significantly noisier and lower quality than their high-field counterparts. This prevents them 29 from appealing to global markets. The aim of this paper is to improve the SNR and overall image quality of low-field MRI scans (called super-resolution) to improve diagnostic capability and, as a result, make it more accessible. To address this issue, we propose a Nested U-Net neural network architecture super-resolution algorithm that outperforms previously suggested super-resolution deep learning methods with an average PSNR of 78.83 ± 0.01 and SSIM of 0.9551 ± 0.01. Our ANOVA paired t-test and Post-Hoc Tukey test demonstrate significance with a p-value < 0.0001 and no other network demonstrating significance higher than 0.1. We tested our network on artificial noisy downsampled synthetic data from 1500 T1 weighted MRI images through the dataset called the T1- mix. Four board-certified radiologists scored 25 images (100 image ratings total) on the Likert scale (1-5) assessing overall image quality, anatomical structure, and diagnostic confidence across our architecture and other published works (SR DenseNet, Generator Block, SRCNN, etc.). Our algo- rithm outperformed all other works with the highest MOS, 4.4 ± 0.3. We also introduce a new type of loss function called natural log mean squared error (NLMSE), outperforming MSE, MAE, and MSLE on this specific SR task. Additionally, we ran inference on actual Hyperfine scan images with successful qualitative results using a Generator RRDB block. In conclusion, we present a more ac- curate deep learning method for single image super-resolution applied to low-field MRI via a 45 Nested U-Net architecture.

以仿生袋鼠進行跳躍研究並應用於外骨骼

此研究選擇以袋鼠為仿生對象,希望應用袋鼠高速移動的特點,製作仿生動物,並觀測其跳耀動作,提升動作的流暢度。 首先對澳洲袋鼠在跳躍時的動作,進行動態分析,取得跳躍時其最佳腿部彎曲動作。經歷二次的外觀與整體結構更改,以及數十次的細微尺寸與外觀修飾的調整,完成了此次使用的仿生袋鼠。 此仿生袋鼠使用18公分長的小腿為基準,設計跳躍動作影響便因。首先更改個部位的馬達扭力進行跳躍距離和高度的紀錄,測驗出距離最遠,高度最高的數據,並依同樣的變因條件,進行腿部長度的變更,同樣求得最佳數據再進行下一實驗,以此求得在各變因下最佳的條件。 本研究包含生物觀察、機械繪圖、動作分析,而希望此實驗數據在未來能應用於跳躍型的外骨骼。

全無機 CsPbBr3鈣鈦礦量⼦點與其⼆價陽離⼦摻雜之光學特性、穩定性與噴墨列印應⽤之研究

本研究提出一款新型硫化氫偵測之螢光探針,我們選用BTIC作為探針螢光主結構並藉由修飾上疊氮達成偵測硫化氫之目的。帶入設計上,利用PPH3形成與粒線體的電位差使其將探針帶進粒線體,最終進行粒線體內硫化氫之偵測與顯影。 目前本實驗已合成出螢光探針基本結構與側鍊結構,並初步檢測探針對於硫化氫的偵測能力,確認其能夠與之反應並有顯著螢光變化。另外,目前已成功接上側鍊,待純化出目標產物後將進行進一步的性質檢測,包括選擇性、靈敏性、及持久性。 最後,我們預計將探針實際進行生物顯影,做多個結構顯影的比對,確認本研究之成效。此外,我們希望此款螢光探針除硫化氫偵測外,還能夠進行生物機制探討或疾病細胞篩選的應用。

以粒線體轉移治療動脈血管內皮細胞功能失調及動脈粥狀硬化疾病

動脈粥狀硬化疾病的風險因子及血管擾流會造成血管內皮細胞內的粒線體失去功能,導致內皮細胞功能失調,進而引起動脈粥狀硬化疾病的後續病程,如斑塊形成。本研究主要探討粒線體轉移療法,是否能改善受到擾流影響的血管內皮細胞功能失調。首先,我們分別觀察並比較擾流與順流下的人類動脈血管內皮細胞,兩者細胞形態與內皮相關功能基因表現量的差異。其次,我們從順流處理的細胞中分離取得健康的粒線體,轉移入擾流處理的細胞中。接著以生物能量代謝分析儀,檢測轉移粒線體後內皮細胞呼吸鏈與代謝的功能是否隨粒線體的轉移而有所改善。實驗結果確認,粒線體轉移處理可改善擾流組細胞的呼吸鏈功能,細胞的有氧呼吸與產能代謝皆有改善。本先驅性研究希望有助於開創以粒線體轉移技術作為心血管疾病治療的創新療法。

合成二硫化鉬為基材之氣凝膠吸附環境毒性之含硫分子

由於經濟需求,人們對於農藥的使用量增加,若善後工作處理不當,易使汙染落入環境中,造成生態汙染及食安疑慮,因此本研究製作二硫化鉬奈米片作為選擇性的二維吸附材料,在過程中產生結構上的缺陷,進行化學反應吸附環境中的毒性硫化物。並使其摻混於氣凝膠中,應用於水溶液中去除常見的農藥—得恩地。 透過合成以二硫化鉬為基材的氣凝膠,在定溫定壓及pH值範圍恆定的前提下,我們分別以吸附時間、起始濃度作為操作變因,研究其奈米級二維材料與其氣凝膠之移除率、最大吸附量和恆溫吸附模式,並與活性碳比較後,發現二硫化鉬奈米片具有特異性之有效吸附,氣凝膠易於回收並可增進其吸附量之優勢,進而達到去除汙染物的目的。

引菁拒鹽 – 探討田菁較綠豆耐鹽的機制

隨著越來越劇烈的天災,對農作物損害造成了許多危機。去了解植物如何對抗逆境,是刻不容緩的。田菁是台灣重要的綠肥作物,我們也常在濱海鄉村的農田看到其存在;綠豆是常用作物,在研究上與日常生活中都很常見,同樣身為豆科植物,兩者對於常見的鹽逆境的反應是否有差異呢?本研究透過比較田菁與綠豆兩種常見豆科植物,深入了解並比較其耐鹽機制。首先,在外表型上,田菁幼苗在鹽逆境下的發芽率、芽長、根長和鮮重皆有較好的生長情形。其次,鹽逆境下田菁的氣孔密度較低,進而可以減少水分蒸散。第三,在生化測試中,田菁在POD和CAT兩個酵素上,表現出更高的酵素活性。這些抗氧化酵素可以幫助植物在逆境下更容易生存。總之,田菁由於更高的抗氧化能力而具有更好的耐鹽性,並且將更多的能量用於生長更複雜的根結構。此外,我們發現田菁在根中出現中柱分離和更多的脯氨酸累積,以幫助它保持水分和遠離鹽害。上述所有機制使田菁在鹽逆境下具有更好的適應與生長。我們希望這項研究可以在未來應用於農業上,減少不可預測的環境災害造成的經濟損失。