Dr. Ann-Shyn Chiang, Distinguished Chair Professor at the Institute of Biotechnology at NTHU led a multi-disciplinary research team and discovered, after seven years of research, the de novo proteins essential for the establishment of long-term memory. These proteins are only produced by rare nerve cells in the brain, called "dorsal anterior lateral" (DAL). This discovery disproves previously accepted scientific knowledge that long-term memory resides in the mushroom body. This discovery is also valuable to the medical field for new approaches in medication to treat various brain anomalies. Dr. Chiang and his research team’s paper was published in Science on the 10^th of last February. Looking back, there were 25 Taiwanese papers published in this prestigious international journal over the years, however, most of the previous published articles were mainly short articles in comparison with the one written by Dr. Chiang and his research team. As indicated by President Lih J. Chen at a news conference held at the National Science Council on February 13, 2012, Dr. Chiang's paper is a full-length paper with eight pages and has attracted a great deal of attention from various scientific sectors.

Dr. Chiang believes that "the long term objective of the study of neuroscience is to understand how memories leave impressions in the brain. Where does the first new experience occur? How are these new and unstable experiences stabilized?" He also added that based on evidences collected from previous experiments, the establishment of long-term memory requires the production of proteins. The researchers used Drosophila Melanogaster, a species of fruit flies, in their laboratory experiments because it exhibits human-like behaviors in learning and memory formation. Specifically, researchers ascertained the brains of these fruit flies possess the types of neuronal protein combinations that would contribute the establishment of long-term memory.

The research team developed a new genetic engineering technique to monitor protein formation in the brain cells of the fruit flies. Over a period of seven years and after comparing the phenomenon observed, the team came up with astonishing results. The researchers found that by repressing the de novo protein production of two DAL neurons in the brain, one could successfully disrupt the establishment of long-term memory. Dr. Chiang jokingly indicated that "We used the most basic approach. Like dismantling a machine, we dismantled the Drosophila Melanogaster's brain into countless minute pieces. Then, just like the construction of Google Earth, we first saw the appearance of all the fruit fly's neurons, and individually tested the function of each cell."

The first author of the paper, Mr. Chun-Chao Chen, a doctoral student at the Institute of Biotechnology in the College of Life Science, said that the research team has tried to pin-point the location of genetic activation in the long-term memory. The results obtained by gene repression indicated that genetic activation in the DAL neuron is the basis for long-term memory establishment. Moreover, the new genetic engineering technique which made the direct and real-time observation of the de novo protein formation in a single neuron was developed in collaboration with one of the research team members, Dr. Tsai-Feng Fu, an Assistant Professor at National Chi Nan University and also an alumnus of NTHU.

Dr. Chiang also indicated that through the discovery of various memory neurons, we would be able to confirm the existence of more "memory proteins." With such an approach, researchers could in the future, holistically understand the molecular mechanisms of learning and memorizing, as well as the related diseases. He has also optimistically estimated that when the functional mapping of the fruit fly's brain cell is completed, there will be opportunities for research on theoretical molecular mechanism in brain disease. This will aid both the researches in the scientific and pharmaceutical communities, as well as the development of preventive or therapeutic small molecular drugs.