Engineering
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Graduate School of Culture and Technology Begins Mobile Science Classroom
KAIST Graduate School of Culture and Technology plans visits to elementary schools without the facilities to facilitate hands on science education.
The Graduate School of Culture and Technology planned the ‘STEAM Creative Camp’ involving three elementary schools during the summer holidays.
The ‘STEAM Creative Camp’ involves increasing interest and artistic sensitivity through experience based science education.
The program is composed of two separate programs in consideration to the level of participating students.
The beginner level program includes: code making, writing secret letters, sticker decorating program and the moderate level program includes: making wipers using complex pulley system, catapult design using elasticity, and puppet show using joints to animate.
The programs will be taught by masters and doctorate program candidates from the KAIST Youth Culture and Technology Experience Center.
*STEAM: And integrated education system including Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics.
2012.07.26 View 8261 -
Production of chemicals without petroleum
Systems metabolic engineering of microorganisms allows efficient production of natural and non-natural chemicals from renewable non-food biomass
In our everyday life, we use gasoline, diesel, plastics, rubbers, and numerous chemicals that are derived from fossil oil through petrochemical refinery processes. However, this is not sustainable due to the limited nature of fossil resources. Furthermore, our world is facing problems associated with climate change and other environmental problems due to the increasing use of fossil resources. One solution to address above problems is the use of renewable non-food biomass for the production of chemicals, fuels and materials through biorefineries. Microorganisms are used as biocatalysts for converting biomass to the products of interest. However, when microorganisms are isolated from nature, their efficiencies of producing our desired chemicals and materials are rather low. Metabolic engineering is thus performed to improve cellular characteristics to desired levels. Over the last decade, much advances have been made in systems biology that allows system-wide characterization of cellular networks, both qualitatively and quantitatively, followed by whole-cell level engineering based on these findings. Furthermore, rapid advances in synthetic biology allow design and synthesis of fine controlled metabolic and gene regulatory circuits. The strategies and methods of systems biology and synthetic biology are rapidly integrated with metabolic engineering, thus resulting in "systems metabolic engineering".
In the paper published online in Nature Chemical Biology on May 17, Professor Sang Yup Lee and his colleagues at the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Korea present new general strategies of systems metabolic engineering for developing microorganisms for the production of natural and non-natural chemicals from renewable biomass. They first classified the chemicals to be produced into four categories based on whether they have thus far been identified to exist in nature (natural vs. nonnatural) and whether they can be produced by inherent pathways of microorganisms (inherent, noninherent, or created): natural-inherent, natural-noninherent, non-natural-noninherent, and non-natural-created ones. General strategies for systems metabolic engineering of microorganisms for the production of these chemicals using various tools and methods based on omics, genome-scale metabolic modeling and simulation, evolutionary engineering, synthetic biology are suggested with relevant examples. For the production of non-natural chemicals, strategies for the construction of synthetic metabolic pathways are also suggested. Having collected diverse tools and methods for systems metabolic engineering, authors also suggest how to use them and their possible limitations.
Professor Sang Yup Lee said "It is expected that increasing number of chemicals and materials will be produced through biorefineries. We are now equipped with new strategies for developing microbial strains that can produce our desired products at very high efficiencies, thus allowing cost competitiveness to those produced by petrochemical refineries."
Editor of Nature Chemical Biology, Dr. Catherine Goodman, said "It is exciting to see how quickly science is progressing in this field – ideas that used to be science fiction are taking shape in research labs and biorefineries. The article by Professor Lee and his colleagues not only highlights the most advanced techniques and strategies available, but offers critical advice to progress the field as a whole."
The works of Professor Lee have been supported by the Advanced Biomass Center and Intelligent Synthetic Biology Center of Global Frontier Program from the Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology through National Research Foundation.
Contact: Dr. Sang Yup Lee, Distinguished Professor and Dean, KAIST, Daejeon, Korea (leesy@kaist.ac.kr, +82-42-350-3930)
2012.05.23 View 11685
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International workshop on healthcare technology to be held on campus, April 24, 2012
KAIST and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden, host a joint workshop on healthcare technologies on Tuesday, April 24, at the LG Semicon Hall (N24).
Open to the public, the workshop will proceed with presentations and discussions by participants from both institutions. Presentation topics and speakers are as follows:
“Applied medical engineering, innovation from clinical problems” by Professor Lars-Åke Brodin, Dean of School of Technology and Health, KTH
“ICT in healthcare” by Professor Björn-Erik Erlandsson, School of Technology and Health, KTH
“Department of environmental physiology, human research in extreme environments” by Researcher Mikael Grönkvist, School of Technology and Health, KTH
“Brain function imaging using high-resolution MRI technology” by Professor Hyun Wook Park, Department of Electrical Engineering, KAIST
“Bioinstrumentation for healthcare and physical human robot interactions” by Professor Jung Kim, Division of Mechanical Engineering, KAIST
“A portable high-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy system” by Professor Hyeon-Min Bae, Department of Electrical Engineering, KAIST
“Lab-on-a-chip technologies for integrative bioengineering” by Professor Je-Kyun Park, Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, KAIST
“The cytoskeleton in cancer and regulation by oncogenic signaling” by Professor David M. Helfman, Department of Biological Sciences, KAIST
Professor Chang Dong Yoo, Associate Vice President of Office of Special Projects and Institutional Relations at KAIST, who organized the workshop, says “Aging population and health issues are driving the demand for more sophisticated medical devices, procedures, and most importantly, qualified scientists and engineers specialized in health-related fields. This joint workshop will be a great chance to share new ideas and develop joint research between two leading research-oriented universities in two countries.”
Partially supported by LG Ericsson in Korea, the workshop is funded largely by the generous donation, made last June by a Swedish couple, to KAIST scholar exchange program.
The couple (Rune Jonasson and Kerstin Jonasson) donated 70 million krona (about 11.8 billion Korean won) to KTH last year and requested that some portion of the sum be used for a scholar exchange program with KAIST. The wife of the couple, Kerstin Jonasson, participated in the Korean War as a nurse, and upon her wish for further development in Korea’s science and technology, KAIST and KTH decided to use the donation for research in the field of healthcare and for a post-doc researcher exchange program.
KTH is a world-class university of Sweden and has produced numerous researchers for private enterprises, like Ericsson, and venture businesses. Since 1988, KTH offers a top notch program for information technology; the School of Information and Communication Technology is located in the Kista district, a vibrant cluster of information and communications technology industries in Sweden, and has taken on the crucial role of supplying personnel to the Kista Science Park as well as to academic-industrial cooperation.
For any inquiries, please contact the International Relations Team at +82-42-350-2441 (email: jungillee@kaist.ac.kr).
2012.04.21 View 10621 -
10 Technolgies to Change the World in 2012: The Future Technology Global Agenda Council
The Future Technology Global Agenda Council which is under the World Economy Forum and which KAIST’s biochemical engineering department’s Prof. Sang Yeob Lee is the head of, chose the 10 new technologies that will change the world in year 2012.
The ten technologies include: IT, synthetic biology and metabolic engineering, Green Revolution 2.0, material construction nanotechnology, systematic biology and the simulation technology of biological systems, the technology to use CO2 as a natural resource, wireless power transmission technology, high density energy power system, personalized medical/nutritional/disease preventing system, and new education technology.
The technologies were chosen on the basis of the opinions various science, industry, and government specialists and is deemed to have high potential to change the world in the near future.
The Future Technology Global Agenda Council will choose ten new technologies yearly starting this year in order to solve the problems the world now faces.
The informatics systems that was ranked 1st place, sifts only the data necessary for decision making out of the overflowing amount of data. Much interest has been spurred at the Davos forum.
The synthetic biology and metabolic engineering chosen is expected to play an important role in creating new medicines and producing chemical substances and materials from reusable resources.
Biomass has also been chosen as one of the top ten most important technologies as it was seen to be necessary to lead the second Green Revolution in order to stably provide food for the increasing population and to create bio refineries.
Nanomaterials structured at the molecular level are expected to help us solve problems regarding energy, food, and resources.
Systematic biology and computer modeling is gaining importance in availing humans to construct efficient remedies, materials, and processes while causing minimum effects on the environment, resource reserves, and other people.
The technology to convert CO2, which is considered a problem all over the world, into a useful resource is also gaining the spotlight
Together with such technologies, wireless power transmission technology, high density energy power system, personalized medical/nutritional/disease preventing system, and new education technology are also considered the top ten technologies to change the world.
Prof. Lee said, “Many new discoveries are being made due to the accelerating rate of technological advancements. Many of the technologies that the council has found are sustainable and important for the construction of our future.”
2012.04.04 View 10267
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Inexpensive Separation Method of Graphene Developed
The problem with commercializing graphene that is synthesized onto metals over a wide area is that it can not be separated from the metal. However, a groundbreaking separation technology which is both cheap and environment friendly has been developed.
Prof. Taek soo Kim and Prof. Byung Jin Cho"s research teams have conducted this research under the support of the Global Frontier program and Researcher Support Program initiated by The Ministry of Education and Science and Korea Research Foundation. The research results have been posted on the online news flash of Nano Letters on februrary 29th. (Thesis title: Direct Measurement of Adhesion Energy of Monolayer Graphene As-Grown on Copper and Its Application to Renewable Transfer Process)
The research has generated exact results on the interfacial adhesive energy of graphene and its surface material for the first time. Through this, the catalyst metal are no longer to be used just once, but will be used for an infinite number of times, thereby being ecofriendly and efficient.
Wide area graphine synthesized onto the catalyst meatal are used in various ways such as for display and for solar cells. There has been much research going on in this field. However, in order to use this wide area graphene, the graphene must be removed from the catalyst metal without damage.
Until now, the metal had been melted away through the use of chemical substances in order to separate the graphene. However, this method has been very problematic. The metal can not be reused, the costs are very high, much harmful wastes were created in the process of melting the metals, and the process was very complicated.
The research teams of Professors Taek Su Kim and Byung Jin Cho measured the interfacial adhesive energy of the synthesized graphene and learned that it could be easily removed.
Also, the mechanically removed graphene was successfully used in creating molecular electronic devices directly. This has thus innovatively shortened the graphene manufacturing process. Also, it has been confirmed that the metalic board can be reused multiple times after the graphene is removed. A new, ecofriendly and cost friendly method of graphene manufacturing has been paved.
Through this discovery, it is expected that graphene will become easier to manufacture and that the period til the commercialization date of graphene will therefore be greatly reduced
Prof. Cho stated " This reserach has much academical meaning significance in that it has successfully defined the surfacial adhesive energy between the graphene and its catalyst material and it should receive much attention in that it solved the largest technical problem involved in the production of graphene.
2012.04.04 View 12594
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Future of Petrochemical Industry: The Age of Bio-Refineries
The concept of bio-refinery is based on using biomass from seaweeds and non-edible plant sources to produce various materials.
Bio-refineries has been looked into with increasing interest in modern times due to the advent of global warming (and the subsequent changes in the atmosphere) and the exhaustion of natural resources.
However past 20 years of research in metabolic engineering had a crucial limitation; the need to improve the efficiency of the microorganisms that actually go about converting biomass into biochemical materials.
In order to compensate for the inefficiency, Professor Lee Sang Yeop combined systems biology, composite biology, evolutionary engineering to form ‘systems metabolic engineering’.
This allows combining various data to explain the organism’s state in a multi-dimensional scope and respond accordingly by controlling the metabolism.
The result of the experiment is set as the cover dissertation of ‘Trends in Biotechnology’ magazine’s August edition.
2011.07.28 View 10771
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New Scientist: Wind power harnesses the energy of galloping, June 2, 2011
Researchers from the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, KAIST, released their research results in Smart Materials and Structures on ways to “harness strange properties of turbulent airs.” They built a prototype that produces energy using a specific type of unstable airflow called “wake galloping.” New Scientist wrote an article about the paper, which appeared on June 2, 2011. For the article, please follow the link below.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028145.700-wind-power-harnesses-the-energy-of-galloping.html?full=true&print=true
2011.06.04 View 8070
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2011 International Web Science Symposium Held
The 2011 International Web Science Symposium was held in Seoul on the 24th of March hosted by Web Science Engineering College.
The symposium dealt with the technological development and the social impact of web science and the future of the Web.
A special guest was invited to the symposium this year; the founder of web science, Wendy Hall’s lecture on ‘Web Science: New Frontier’. The numerous experts from abroad was unanimous in stating their outlook of web science affecting the competitiveness of IT companies and ultimately become the driving force in new businesses.
The main research in web science are web platforms and contents production, human based web research, and web SW engineering and web science has to do with pulling together various webs all around the world to create new industries.
2011.04.01 View 6950
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KAIST Design Week 2011 Held
KAIST designated a week (from March 27th to April 2nd) as KAIST Design Week 2011 and will be hosting a series of international conferences on engineering designs.
The 21st CIRP Design Conference, the 6th International Conference on Axiomatic Design, and the 1st Design in Civil and Environmental Engineering Workshop will be held in Fusion hall in the KI Building from the 27th of March.
The CIRP Design Conference was held on the 27th and the 28th and annually provides an opportunity for researchers and industry developers to exchange information and knowledge.
The International Conference on Axiomatic Design was held on the 30th to the 31st and dealt with various presentations and discussions on the axiomatic design theory. The Axiomatic Design Theory was thought up by KAIST President Seo Nam Pyo and deals with analyzing the wants of the consumers and solves the problems associated with the product through making altercations on the product design.
Last The Design in Civil and environmental Engineering Workshop will be held on the 1st and 2nd of April and will deal with sustainable city design and development.
The Design Week will also be featuring humanoid robot HUBO, the Online Electric Vehicle that can charge its battery wirelessly, and the Mobile Harbor, and therefore show off KAIST’s achievements.
2011.04.01 View 9419
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Late Dr. Ryu Geun Chul's Achievements and Generous Contributions
First Doctor in the field of Korean Traditional Medicine
The late Dr. Ryu was born in 1926 and is the father figure of Korea’s Traditional Medicine and is its First Doctor (1976 Kyung Hee University), and was the vice-professor of Kyung Hee University of Medicine, Vice-Director of Kyung Hee Institute of Korean Traditional Medicine, and was the first chairman of the Association of Korea Oriental Medicine. He developed the painless acupuncture administering device for the first time in Korea in 1962, and succeeded in anesthetizing a patient for cesarean procedure using acupuncture in 1972.
He even was the first to receive a medical engineering doctorate degree from the Moscow National Engineering School in April of 1996 and developed a stroke rehabilitation machine.
Korea’s Most Generous Donor
Dr. Ryu surprised the world by donating 57.8billion Won worth of real estate to KAIST in August of 2008. Dr. Ryu revealed that his reason for donating such a huge sum to KAIST was due to its focused students giving him the belief that the future of Korea is at KAIST and that the development of science and technology is necessary for Korea to develop into a world class nation and KAIST is the institute most suitable to lead Korea in the field.
Dr. Ryu lived on KAIST campus after donating his entire fortune and even established ‘KAIST scholars and spacemen health research center’ and ‘Dr. Ryu Health Clinic’ as he also wanted to donate his knowledge.
Even when he was a professor at Moscow National Engineering University in the late 1990s he carried out free medical work throughout Korea and in recognition of his devoted work, he was named honorary citizen from Chun Ahn city, San Chung city, and DaeJeon city. In 2007 he donated 450million Won to Cheon Dong Elementary School in Chun Ahn city to build a gymnasium and an indoor golf practice range.
Role as Science and Technology Public Relations Officer
Dr. Ryu volunteered to numerous lectures and interviews after donation to advertise science and technology. His belief that the development of science and technology is necessary for Korea’s development was the driving force behind his efforts at increasing interest and support for the field of science and technology.
In addition, through interviews with MBC, KBS, SBS, KTV, Joong Ang Newspapers, Dong Ah Newspaper and other media mediums, Dr. Ryu improved the public perception on donations whilst increasing the pride of scientists and researchers by highlighting their importance and the importance of science and technology.
In recognition of Dr. Ryu’s efforts, he received the 43rd Science Day Science and Technology Creation Award, 2010 MBC Social Service Special Award, and 2010 ‘Proud Chung Cheong Citizen’ Award.
2011.03.22 View 15128
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KAIST paves the way to commercialize flexible display screens
Source: IDTechEX, Feb. 28, 2011
KAIST paves the way to commercialize flexible display screens
28 Feb 2011
Transparent plastic and glass cloths, which have a limited thermal expansion needed for the production of flexible display screens and solar power cells, were developed by researchers at KAIST (Korea Advance Institute of Science & Technology).
The research, led by KAIST"s Professor Byoung-Soo Bae, was funded by the Engineering Research Center under the initiative of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation. The research result was printed as the cover paper of "Advanced Materials".
Professor Bae"s team developed a hybrid material with the same properties as fiber glass. With the material, they created a transparent, plastic film sheet resistant to heat. Transparent plastic film sheets were used by researchers all over the world to develop devices such as flexible displays or solar power cells that can be fit into various living spaces. However, plastic films are heat sensitive and tend to expand as temperature increases, thereby making it difficult to produce displays or solar power cells.
The new transparent, plastic film screen shows that heat expansion index (13ppm/oC) similar to that of glass fiber (9ppm/oC) due to the presence of glass fibers; its heat resistance allows to be used for displays and solar power cells over 250oC.
Professor Bae"s team succeeded in producing a flexible thin plastic film available for use in LCD or AMOLED screens and thin solar power cells.
Professor Bae commented, "Not only the newly developed plastic film has superior qualities, compared to the old models, but also it is cheap to produce, potentially bringing forward the day when flexible displays and solar panels become commonplace. With the cooperation of various industries, research institutes and universities, we will strive to improve the existing design and develop it further."
http://www.printedelectronicsworld.com/articles/kaist_paves_the_way_to_commercialize_flexible_display_screens_00003144.asp?sessionid=1
2011.03.01 View 12328
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Success in differentiating Functional Vascular Progenitor Cells (VPC)
KAIST’s Professor Han Yong Man successfully differentiated vascular progenitor cells from human embryonic stem cells and reversed differentiated stem cells.
The research went beyond the current method of synthesis of embryonic body or mice cell ball culture and used the careful alteration of signal transmission system of the human embryonic stem cells to differentiate the formation of vascular progenitor cells.
The team controlled the MEK/ERK and BMP signal transmission system that serves an important role in the self replication of human embryonic stem cells and successfully differentiated 20% of the cells experimented on to vascular progenitor cells.
The vascular progenitor cells produced with such a method successfully differentiated into cells forming the endodermis of the blood vessel, vascular smooth muscle cells and hematopoietic cells in an environment outside of the human body and also successfully differentiated into blood vessels in nude mice.
In addition, the vascular progenitor cell derived from human embryonic cells successfully formed blood vessels or secreted vascular growth factors and increased the blood flow and the necrosis of blood vessels when injected into an animal with limb ischemic illness.
The research was funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, 21st Century Frontier Research and Development Institution’s Cell Application Research Department and Professor Ko Kyu Young (KAIST), Professor Choi Chul Hee (KAIST), Professor Jeong Hyung Min (Cha Medical School) and Doctor Jo Lee Sook (Researcher in Korea Bio Engineering Institute) participated in it.
The results of the research was published as the cover paper of the September edition of “Blood (IF:10.55)”, the American Blood Journal and has been patented domestically and has finished registration of foreign PCT.
The results of the experiment opened the possibility of providing a patient specific cure using stem cells in the field of blood vessel illness.
2011.01.18 View 12343