The research team led by Dr. Chiang Yun-Wei, an assistant professor of the Department of Chemistry, employed the advanced electron spin resonance (ESR) technique to verify the existence of confined space in porous nanomaterials, thus, enabling future researchers to study the interaction between protein and surface water molecule at the molecular level more precisely. Their research will greatly improve the cryopreservation technique of biological tissue and prolong the preservation of important biological samples. The finding of this important research is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the U.S. recently.

According to Dr. Chiang and his colleagues, "in nano-confinements, aqueous solutions can be found to remain in a liquid state at subfreezing temperatures." And "the finding provides a means of entering into previously inaccessible temperature regions for studying the dynamics and structure of bulk liquid."

Dr. Chiang observed that "every nano-space of porous materials is large enough to house several protein molecules, but our current research has discovered that every space is only occupied by a single molecule. It seems that there is a natural operation principle existing even in the nano-world.!"

Dr. Chiang also indicated that it is rather rare for a research paper like theirs, which is not the finding made by cross-disciplinary research team nor by a team composed by international researchers, to be published by the international journal. He encourages his students and colleagues to explore the opportunity of cross-disciplinary research both domestically and internationally.