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Academia Sinica President Chien-Jen Chen recently received a delegation led by Dr. Gantulga Davaakhuu, Director of the Institute of Biology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences. The two sides held in-depth discussions on public health policy, the prevention and control of viral hepatitis, biomedical research, and talent cultivation. During the visit, the Institute of Biological Chemistry and the Biodiversity Research Center of Academia Sinica, the College of Bioresources of National Ilan University, and the Institute of Biology of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences jointly signed a four-party Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), establishing a long-term mechanism for cooperation.

President Chen stated that Academia Sinica has long attached great importance to international collaboration. By joining hands with National Ilan University and bringing together the research strengths of both academic institutions and universities, this collaboration demonstrates the integration of cross-sector resources. It also marks a new milestone in Taiwan–Mongolia scientific cooperation, paving the way for joint research projects, personnel exchanges, and talent cultivation.

During the meeting, President Chen stated that he had visited Mongolia three times and was elected as a honorary member of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences in 2007. In 2009, at the invitation of the World Health Organization and the United States, he traveled to Ulaanbaatar to share Taiwan’s experience in hepatitis B prevention and control, helping to improve Mongolia’s prevention system. He later facilitated the training of more than 100 Mongolian physicians at National Taiwan University Hospital and Taipei Veterans General Hospital, further strengthening medical and scientific exchanges between the two sides. During his tenure as Minister of the National Science Council, he also received young scholars from Mongolia.

Drawing on his own expertise in public health and epidemiology, President Chen shared Taiwan’s achievements in viral hepatitis prevention and control, vaccination, and public health policymaking. He pointed out that, through long-term research, Taiwan has established a comprehensive prevention and control system covering hepatitis B vaccination, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, screening and treatment, and liver cancer risk assessment. Taiwan has also integrated strengths in basic research, clinical medicine, and public health to support disease prevention and precision medicine. As the result, Taiwan achieved the World Health Organization’s 2030 target for hepatitis C elimination ahead of schedule in 2025, demonstrating that scientific evidence, sound policy, and public trust are key to successful disease prevention and control.

Dr. Gantulga Davaakhuu noted that Mongolia has promoted hepatitis B vaccination for more than 30 years, yet still faces challenges such as vaccination coverage in remote areas, hepatitis infection among adolescents, and late-stage diagnosis of liver cancer. During the visit, the delegation also visited Academia Sinica’s Biomedical Translation Research Center to learn about the institute’s research advances toward cure of chronic hepatitis B, including the use of hepatitis B virus animal models, cytokine-based immunotherapy, and single-cell RNA sequencing technologies. Both sides expressed their hope to further deepen cooperation in disease prevention and control.

The signing of the Taiwan–Mongolia Memorandum of Understanding originated from Academia Sinica’s delegation visit to the Mongolian Academy of Sciences in November 2025. During that visit, the two sides engaged in extensive discussions on topics including microorganisms in Mongolia’s unique extreme environments and functional microorganisms with strong application potential. The exchanges confirmed that the two sides possess highly complementary research strengths. Dr. Gantulga Davaakhuu stated that Mongolia is home to distinctive ecological environments, including grasslands, the Gobi Desert, and permafrost, as well as rich and unique biodiversity. Academia Sinica, in turn, possesses strong research capacities in molecular biology, genomics, bioinformatics, and AI-based analytical platforms. Future collaboration is expected to generate breakthroughs in areas such as biological resource utilization, ecological conservation, and global health.

Dr. Gantulga Davaakhuu is a leading scholar in molecular biology and life sciences in Mongolia. His research spans genetics, molecular biology, biomedicine, and environmental microbiology, and he has continuously promoted the development of research in molecular mechanisms of human diseases, biological resources, and biodiversity in Mongolia. He led the delegation to Taiwan from June 27 to July 2. In addition to meeting with President Chen, the delegation visited Academia Sinica’s Biomedical Translation Research Center, Institute of Biological Chemistry, Biodiversity Research Center, and National Ilan University to discuss concrete avenues for collaboration. Dr. Gantulga Davaakhuu said that the delegation was deeply impressed by the research capabilities, interdisciplinary collaboration, and technological platforms of Taiwan’s academic and research teams. He expressed the hope that the signing of the MoU would help consolidate consensus and build a closer and more enduring partnership. Under the MoU, the four parties will, over the next five years, promote exchanges of researchers and students, joint research projects, sharing of academic materials, joint participation in international conferences, and talent cultivation. The agreement may be renewed upon mutual consent after its term expires.

Through this exchange, several substantive collaborative projects are also expected to move forward. Dr. Tzu-Ching Meng of Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biological Chemistry has planned a research project on the gut microbiota of Mongolian wild horses. The project involves traveling to Mongolia’s Gobi region to collect fecal samples from horses together with Mongolian Academy of Sciences partners. Through deep sequencing of gut microbiomes from Mongolian wild horses, the team aims to identify and isolate microorganisms with potential applications in biomass-based green energy.

Dr. Sen-Lin Tang of Academia Sinica’s Biodiversity Research Center has also launched a bilateral collaborative project with Dr. Adiya Saruulzaya of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. Using Mongolia’s long-term monitoring data, the project will analyze microbial and viral communities in permafrost and assess the potential ecological security and public health risks posed by permafrost thawing under climate change.

During the exchanges, the Institute of Biological Chemistry proposed combining Academia Sinica’s strengths in AI, glycobiology, and glycoprotein structural research with Mongolian expertise to jointly explore precision diagnostic technologies for pathogens of emerging infectious diseases, including anthrax. The Biomedical Translation Research Center’s Human Therapeutic Antibody Research and Development Platform also plans to provide training in hybridoma cell culture and antibody purification technologies. This initiative aims to help Mongolia cultivate relevant talent and support the establishment of an antibody production platform for rapid disease screening and diagnosis.