The Ministry of Science and Technology says it has signed a mutual cooperation agreement with the "Human Frontier Science Program", a bioscience research project jointly conducted by seven developed Western countries and the European Union.

Under the agreement, local scientists will be granted research funds starting from 2005.

The Human Frontier Science Program collects 50 million dollars worth of funds annually and provides research grants to member scientists to support them in their study of neuroscience and human body systems.

Nine Nobel laureates are among the scientists who received the program's support between 1995 and 2003.