Inauguration and Opening Ceremony Held for NTU Animal Cancer Research Center and Animal Cancer Treatment Center—The First of Its Kind in Asia

With the upgrading of people's knowledge and living standards, the number of pets (like dogs and cats) raised by Taiwanese nationals also keeps increasing. And, with the raising of standards for animal care and treatment, the longevity of animals is also greatly extended. Therefore, as in the case of human beings, cancer has become the number 1 cause of death for cats and dogs. In order to improve the quality of medical care for animal cancer, the College of Agriculture and Bio-Resources of NTU started to plan the improvement of the clinical equipments of its affiliated hospitals several years ago, while at the same time promoting the research of tumor-causing mechanism and the development of treatments for animal cancer.

As pet dogs and cats are formed by genes more akin to human beings than small mice, and are exposed to the same risk factors in the living environment like human beings, the type of tumors that occurred naturally to cats and dogs are similar in their causes and in their symptoms to those that happened to human beings. Therefore, the study of animal tumors provides a most appropriate animal model for the study of human cancer.

NTU is a comprehensive university that possesses various types of research expertise, including animal medicine, medicine, life science and other applied sciences. In order to provide animals with a better treatment quality, to conduct research on issues related to animal cancers as a basis for the research on human cancer, NTU integrated the various departments and institutes related to animal research whose concerted efforts helped establish the "animal cancer center", which was officially inaugurated on January 14, 2010. In addition, the "animal cancer treatment center" newly established by the Animal Hospital and its 16 cut CT scanner were also put to use on the same day.

The "animal cancer center" is a functionally integrated operational institute, and was established through the integration of the man power and resources of veterinary science related departments and institutes within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Veterinary Science, plus the support of the College of Medicine, the School of Dentistry, and the related units within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. This is not only the first animal research center in Taiwan that integrated clinical animal medicine and basic animal medicine, but also the first of its kind in Asia.

In the future the "animal cancer center" will engage in an array of tasks, which include: the study of cancer-causing tumors in animals, the registration of cases of animal cancer, the survey and analysis of animal epidemiology, the development and testing of new treatment and diagnostic methods for animal cancer, the promotion of international cooperation for the study of animal cancer and the education and promotion of new knowledge in the field of animal cancer within Taiwan. It is hoped that, with the inauguration of the animal cancer treatment center and its new equipments, and the establishment of animal cancer center, the quality of animal cancer treatment in Taiwan can be enhanced, and, furthermore, reaping benefits for the study of cancer in human beings. 」