Engineering
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Professor Hojong Chang Wins the Best Paper Award at ISIITA 2018
Professor Hojong Chang from the KAIST Institute won the best paper award at the International Symposium on Innovation in Information Technology and Application (ISIITA) 2018.
ISIITA is a global networking symposium in which leading researchers in the field of information technology and applications gather to exchange knowledge on technological convergence.
Professor Chang won the prize for his paper, titled ‘A Study on the Measurement of Aptamer in Urine Using SiPM’.
This paper proposes using aptamer to measure and analyze the density of sodium and potassium contained in urine, allowing diseases to be diagnosed in advance.
Professor Chang said, “With a point-of-care test system that facilitates a quick diagnosis without extra processes, such as centrifugation, it is possible to get an early diagnosis and check infection in real time. Through generalizing this crucial technology, we expect to develop adequate technology for enhancing quality of life.
2018.02.12 View 6470 -
Finding Human Thermal Comfort with a Watch-type Sweat Rate Sensor
(from left: Professor Young-Ho Cho and Researcher SungHyun Yoon)
KAIST developed a watch-type sweat rate sensor. This subminiature device can detect human thermal comfort accurately and steadily by measuring an individual’s sweat rate.
It is natural to sweat more in the summer and less in the winter; however, an individual’s sweat rate may vary in a given environment. Therefore, sweat can be an excellent proxy for sensing core body temperature.
Conventional sweat rate sensors using natural ventilation require bulky external devices, such as pumps and ice condensers. They are usually for physiological experiments, hence they need a manual ventilation process or high power, bulky thermos-pneumatic actuators to lift sweat rate detection chambers above skin for continuous measurement. There is also a small sweat rate sensor, but it needs a long recovery period.
To overcome these problems, Professor Young-Ho Cho and his team from the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering developed a lightweight, watch-type sweat sensor. The team integrated miniaturized thermos-pneumatic actuators for automatic natural ventilation, which allows sweat to be measured continuously.
This watch-type sensor measures sweat rate with the humidity rising rate when the chamber is closed during skin contact. Since the team integrated thermos-pneumatic actuators, the chamber no longer needs to be separated manually from skin after each measurement in order for the chamber to ventilate the collected humidity.
Moreover, this sensor is wind-resistant enough to be used for portable and wearable devices. The team identified that the sensor operates steadily with air velocity ranging up to 1.5m/s, equivalent to the average human walking speed.
Although this subminiature sensor (35mm x 25mm) only weighs 30 grams, it operates continuously for more than four hours using the conventional wrist watch batteries.
The team plans to utilize this technology for developing a new concept of cognitive air-conditioning systems recognizing Human thermal status directly; while the conventional air-conditioning systems measuring air temperature and humidity.
Professor Cho said, “Our sensor for human thermal comfort monitoring can be applied to customized or smart air conditioners. Furthermore, there will be more demands for both physical and mental healthcare, hence this technology will serve as a new platform for personalized emotional communion between humans and devices.”
This research, led by researchers Jai Kyoung Sim and SungHyun Yoon, was published in Scientific Reports on January 19, 2018.
Figure1. The fabricated watch-type sweat rate sensor for human thermal comfort monitoring
Figure 2. Views of the watch-type sweat rate sensor
Figure 3. Operation of the watch-type sweat rate sensor
2018.02.08 View 7617 -
Professor Jungwon Kim Wins Haerim Optics and Photonics Award
(Professor Jungwon Kim)
Professor Jungwon Kim from the Department of Mechanical Engineering received the 8th Haerim Optics and Photonics Award from the Optical Society of Korea (OSK).
He was recognized for his dedication to pioneering the field of microwave photonics by developing ultra-low noise fiber photonics lasers.
The Haerim Optics and Photonics Award is given to an outstanding researcher who has made academic contributions in the field of optics and photonics for the last five years.
The name of the award (Haerim) comes from the pen-name of the renowned scholar, Professor Un-Chul Paek, because it is maintained using funds he contributed to the OSK.
The OSK will confer the award on February 8 during the 29th OSK Annual Meeting and Winter Conference of 2018.
2018.02.07 View 6140 -
Structural Insight into the Molecular Mechanism of PET Degradation
A KAIST metabolic engineering research team has newly suggested a molecular mechanism showing superior degradability of poly ethylene terephthalate (PET).
This is the first report to simultaneously determine the 3D crystal structure of Ideonella sakaiensis PETase and develop the new variant with enhanced PET degradation.
Recently, diverse research projects are working to address the non-degradability of materials. A poly ethylene terephthalate (PET)-degrading bacterium called Ideonella sakaiensis was recently identified for the possible degradation and recycling of PET by Japanese team in Science journal (Yoshida et al., 2016). However, the detailed molecular mechanism of PET degradation has not been yet identified.
The team under Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and the team under Professor Kyung-Jin Kim of the Department of Biotechnology at Kyungpook National University conducted this research. The findings were published in Nature Communications on January 26.
This research predicts a special molecular mechanism based on the docking simulation between PETase and a PET alternative mimic substrate. Furthermore, they succeeded in constructing the variant for IsPETase with enhanced PET-degrading activity using structural-based protein engineering.
It is expected that the new approaches taken in this research can be background for further study of other enzymes capable of degrading not only PET but other plastics as well.
PET is very important source in our daily lives. However, PET after use causes tremendous contamination issues to our environment due to its non-biodegradability, which has been a major advantage of PET. Conventionally, PET is disposed of in landfills, using incineration, and sometimes recycling using chemical methods, which induces additional environmental pollution. Therefore, a new development for highly-efficient PET degrading enzymes is essential to degrade PET using bio-based eco-friendly methods.
Recently, a new bacterial species, Ideonella sakaiensis, which can use PET as a carbon source, was isolated. The PETase of I. sakaiensis (IsPETase) can degrade PET with relatively higher success than other PET-degrading enzymes. However, the detailed enzyme mechanism has not been elucidated, hindering further studies.
The research teams investigated how the substrate binds to the enzyme and which differences in enzyme structure result in significantly higher PET degrading activity compared with other cutinases and esterases, which make IsPETase highly attractive for industrial applications toward PET waste recycling.
Based on the 3D structure and related biochemical studies, they successfully predicted the reasons for extraordinary PET degrading activity of IsPETase and suggested other enzymes that can degrade PET with a newly-classified phylogenetic tree. The team proposed that 4 MHET moieties are the most properly matched substrates due to a cleft on structure even with the 10-20-mers for PET. This is meaningful in that it is the first docking simulation between PETase and PET, not its monomer.
Furthermore, they succeeded in developing a new variant with much higher PET-degrading activity using a crystal structure of this variant to show that the changed structure is better to accommodate PET substrates than wild type PETase, which will lead to developing further superior enzymes and constructing platforms for microbial plastic recycling.
Professor Lee said, “Environmental pollution from plastics remains one of the greatest challenges worldwide with the increasing consumption of plastics. We successfully constructed a new superior PET-degrading variant with the determination of a crystal structure of PETase and its degrading molecular mechanism. This novel technology will help further studies to engineer more superior enzymes with high efficiency in degrading. This will be the subject of our team’s ongoing research projects to address the global environmental pollution problem for next generation.”
This work was supported by the Technology Development Program to Solve Climate Changes on Systems Metabolic Engineering for Biorefineries (NRF-2012M1A2A2026556 and NRF-2012M1A2A2026557) from the Ministry of Science and ICT through the National Research Foundation of Korea. Further Contact: Dr. Sang Yup Lee, Distinguished Professor, KAIST, Daejeon, Korea (leesy@kaist.ac.kr, +82-42-350-3930)
(Figure: Structural insight into the molecular mechanism of poly(ethylene terephthalate) degradation and the phylogenetic tree of possible PET degrading enzymes. This schematic diagram shows the overall conceptualization for structural insight into the molecular mechanism of poly (ethylene terephthalate) degradation and the phylogenetic tree of possible PET degrading enzymes.)
2018.01.31 View 8359 -
Developing Flexible Vertical Micro LED
A KAIST research team led by Professor Keon Jae Lee from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Professor Daesoo Kim from the Department of Biological Sciences has developed flexible vertical micro LEDs (f-VLEDs) using anisotropic conductive film (ACF)-based transfer and interconnection technology. The team also succeeded in controlling animal behavior via optogenetic stimulation of the f-VLEDs.
Flexible micro LEDs have become a strong candidate for the next-generation display due to their ultra-low power consumption, fast response speed, and excellent flexibility. However, the previous micro LED technology had critical issues such as poor device efficiency, low thermal reliability, and the lack of interconnection technology for high-resolution micro LED displays.
The research team has designed new transfer equipment and fabricated a f-VLED array (50ⅹ50) using simultaneous transfer and interconnection through the precise alignment of ACF bonding process. These f-VLEDs (thickness: 5 ㎛, size: below 80 ㎛) achieved optical power density (30 mW/mm2) three times higher than that of lateral micro LEDs, improving thermal reliability and lifetime by reducing heat generation within the thin film LEDs.
These f-VLEDs can be applied to optogenetics for controlling the behavior of neuron cells and brains. In contrast to the electrical stimulation that activates all of the neurons in brain, optogenetics can stimulate specific excitatory or inhibitory neurons within the localized cortical areas of the brain, which facilitates precise analysis, high-resolution mapping, and neuron modulation of animal brains. (Refer to the author’s previous ACS Nano paper of “Optogenetic Mapping of Functional Connectivity in Freely Moving Mice via Insertable Wrapping Electrode Array Beneath the Skull.” )
In this work, they inserted the innovative f-VLEDs into the narrow space between the skull and the brain surface and succeeded in controlling mouse behavior by illuminating motor neurons on two-dimensional cortical areas located deep below the brain surface.
Professor Lee said, “The flexible vertical micro LED can be used in low-power smart watches, mobile displays, and wearable lighting. In addition, these flexible optoelectronic devices are suitable for biomedical applications such as brain science, phototherapeutic treatment, and contact lens biosensors.”
He recently established a startup company ( FRONICS Inc. ) based on micro LED technology and is looking for global partnerships for commercialization. This result entitled “ Optogenetic Control of Body Movements via Flexible Vertical Light-Emitting Diodes on Brain Surface ” was published in the February 2018 issue of Nano Energy.
Figure 1. Comparison of μ-LEDs Technology
2018.01.29 View 12096 -
Cellular Mechanism for Severe Viral Hepatitis Identified
(Professor Shin(left) and Professor Jung)
KAIST medical scientists identified a cellular mechanism causing inflammatory changes in regulatory T cells that can lead to severe viral hepatitis. Research on this mechanism will help further understand the nature of various inflammatory diseases and lead to the development of relevant clinical treatments.
It is known that activated immune cells of patients with viral hepatitis destroy hepatocyte, but its regulatory mechanism has not yet been described.
Regulatory T cells inhibit activation of other immune cells and thus are important for homeostasis of the immune system. However, recent studies contradictorily show that immune inhibitory functions of regulatory T cells weaken in inflammatory conditions and the cells secrete inflammatory cytokines in response. Meanwhile, such a phenomenon was not observed in viral hepatitis including types A, B and C.
The team focused on changes in regulatory T cells in patients with viral hepatitis and discovered that regulatory T cells undergo inflammatory changes to secrete inflammatory cytokines (protein secreted by immune cells) called TNF. They also proved regulatory T cells that secrete TNF contribute to the progression of viral hepatitis.
The team confirmed that regulatory T cells of acute hepatitis A patients have reduced immune-inhibitory functions. Instead, their regulatory T cells secrete TNF. Through this research, the team identified a molecular mechanism for changes in regulatory T cells and identified the transcription factor regulating the process. Furthermore, the team found similar changes to be also present in hepatitis B and C patients.
A KAIST immunology research team led by Professors Eui-Cheol Shin and Min Kyung Jung at the Graduate School of Medical Science & Engineering conducted this translational research with teams from Chungnam National University and Yonsei University to identify the mechanism in humans, instead of using animal models. The research was described in Gastroenterology last December.
Professor Shin said, “This is the first research on regulatory T cells that contributes to hepatocyte damage in viral hepatitis.” He continued, “It is significant for identifying the cells and the molecules that can be used as effective treatment targets for viral hepatitis in the future. This research was funded by the Samsung Science and Technology Foundation.
(Figure1: Treg cells from acute hepatitis A (AHA) patients produce tumor necrosis factor (TNF) andhave reduced suppressive activity. These changes are due to a decrease in FoxP3 transcription factor and an increase in RORγt transcription factor. TNF-producing Treg cells are associated with severe liver injury in AHA patients.)
(Figure 2: A higher proportion of Treg cells from patients with acute hepatitis A, compared with healthy controls, produced TNF upon stimulation with anti-CD3 and anti-CD2. This study reports the presence and the significance of TNF-producing Treg cells for the first time in human patients.)
2018.01.18 View 7726 -
Easier Way to Produce High Performing, Flexible Micro-Supercapacitor
(Professor Minyang Yang and PhD Student Jae Hak Lee)
Professor Minyang Yang from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and his team developed a high-energy, flexible micro-supercapacitor in a simple and cost-effective way.
Compared to conventional micro-batteries, such as lithium-ion batteries, these new batteries, also called supercapacitors, are significantly faster to charge and semi-permanent.
Thin, flexible micro-supercapacitors can be a power source directly attached to wearable and flexible electronics.
However, fabrication of these micro-supercapacitors requires a complex patterning process, such as lithography techniques and vacuum evaporation. Hence, the process requires expensive instruments and toxic chemicals.
To simplify the fabrication of micro-supercapacitors in an eco-friendly manner, the team developed laser growth sintering technology. This technology manufactures superporous silver electrodes and applies them to the supercapacitors’ electrodes.
The team used a laser to form micro-patterns and generated nanoporous structures inside. This laser-induced growth sintering contributed to shortening the manufacturing process from ten steps to one.
Moreover, the team explored this unique laser growth sintering process –nucleation, growth, and sintering –by employing a particle-free, organometallic solution, which is not costly compared to typical laser-sintering methods for metallic nanoparticle solutions used in the printing of micro-electrodes.
Finally, unlike the typical supercapacitors comprised of a single substance, the team applied an asymmetric electrode configuration of nanoporous gold and manganese dioxide, which exhibits a highly-specific capacitance, to operate at a high voltage.
This method allows the team to develop energy storage with a high capacity. This developed micro-supercapacitor only requires four seconds to be charged and passed more than 5,000 durability tests.
Professor Yang said, “This research outcome can be used as energy storage installed in wearable and flexible electronic devices. Through this research, we are one step closer to realizing a complete version of flexible electronic devices by incorporating a power supply.”
This research, led by PhD candidate Jae Hak Lee, was selected as the cover of Journal of Materials Chemistry A on December 21, 2017.
Figure 1. Cover of the Journal Materials Chemistry A
Figure 2. Manufactured micro-supercapacitor and its performance
Figure 3. Laser growth sintering mechanism
Figure 4. Structural change of the silver conductor according to the irradiated laser energy
2018.01.18 View 7052 -
Lifespan of Fuel Cells Maximized Using Small Amount of Metals
(Professor Jung (far right) and his team)
Fuel cells are key future energy technology that is emerging as eco-friendly and renewable energy sources. In particular, solid oxide fuel cells composed of ceramic materials gain increasing attention for their ability to directly convert various forms of fuel such as biomass, LNG, and LPG to electric energy.
KAIST researchers described a new technique to improve chemical stability of electrode materials which can extend the lifespan by employing a very little amount of metals.
The core factor that determines the performance of solid oxide fuel cells is the cathode at which the reduction reaction of oxygen occurs. Conventionally, oxides with perovskite structure (ABO3) are used in cathodes. However, despite the high performance of perovskite oxides at initial operation, the performance decreases with time, limiting their long-term use. In particular, the condition of high temperature oxidation state required for cathode operation leads to surface segregation phenomenon, in which second phases such as strontium oxide (SrOx) accumulate on the surface of oxides, resulting in decrease in electrode performance. The detailed mechanism of this phenomenon and a way to effectively inhibit it has not been suggested.
Using computational chemistry and experimental data, Professor WooChul Jung’s team at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering observed that local compressive states around the Sr atoms in a perovskite electrode lattice weakened the Sr-O bond strength, which in turn promote strontium segregation. The team identified local changes in strain distribution in perovskite oxide as the main cause of segregation on strontium surface. Based on these findings, the team doped different sizes of metals in oxides to control the extent of lattice strain in cathode material and effectively inhibited strontium segregation.
Professor Jung said, “This technology can be implemented by adding a small amount of metal atoms during material synthesis, without any additional process.” He continued, “I hope this technology will be useful in developing high-durable perovskite oxide electrode in the future.”
The study co-led by Professor Jung and Professor Jeong Woo Han at Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Seoul was featured as the cover of Energy and Environmental Science in the first issue of 2018.
(Figure1.Correlation between the extent of lattice strain in electrode, strontium segregation, and electrode reaction.)
(Figure 2. Cathode surface of solid oxide fuel cell stabilized using the developed technology)
2018.01.18 View 7403 -
A Parallel MRI Method Accelerating Imaging Time Proposed
KAIST researchers proposed new technology that reduces MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) acquisition time to less than a sixth of the conventional method. They made a reconstruction method using machine learning of multilayer perception (MLP) algorithm to accelerate imaging time.
High-quality image can be reconstructed from subsampled data using the proposed method. This method can be further applied to various k-space subsampling patterns in a phase encoding direction, and its processing can be performed in real time.
The research, led by Professor Hyun Wook Park from the Department of Electrical Engineering, was described in Medical Physics as the cover paper last December. Ph.D. candidate Kinam Kwon is the first author.
MRI is an imaging technique that allows various contrasts of soft tissues without using radioactivity. Since MRI could image not only anatomical structures, but also functional and physiological features, it is widely used in medical diagnoses. However, one of the major shortcomings of MRI is its long imaging time. It induces patients’ discomfort, which is closely related to voluntary and involuntary motions, thereby deteriorating the quality of the MR images. In addition, lengthy imaging times limit the system’s throughput, which results in the long waiting times of patients as well as the increased medical expenses.
To reconstruct MR images from subsampled data, the team applied the MLP to reduce aliasing artifacts generated by subsampling in k-space. The MLP is learned from training data to map aliased input images into desired alias-free images. The input of the MLP is all voxels in the aliased lines of multichannel real and imaginary images from the subsampled k-space data, and the desired output is all voxels in the corresponding alias-free line of the root-sum-of-squares of multichannel images from fully sampled k-space data. Aliasing artifacts in an image reconstructed from subsampled data were reduced by line-by-line processing of the learned MLP architecture.
Reconstructed images from the proposed method are better than those from compared methods in terms of normalized root-mean-square error. The proposed method can be applied to image reconstruction for any k-space subsampling patterns in a phase encoding direction. Moreover, to further reduce the reconstruction time, it is easily implemented by parallel processing.
To address the aliasing artifact phenomenon, the team employed a parallel imaging technique using several receiver coils of various sensitivities and a compressed sensing technique using sparsity of signals.
Existing methods are heavily affected by sub-sampling patterns, but the team’s technique is applicable for various sub-sampling patterns, resulting in superior reconstructed images compared to existing methods, as well as allowing real-time reconstruction.
Professor Park said, "MRIs have become essential equipment in clinical diagnosis. However, the time consumption and the cost led to many inconveniences." He continued, "This method using machine learning could greatly improve the patients’ satisfaction with medical service." This research was funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT.
(Firgure 1. Cover of Medical Physics for December 2017)
(Figure 2. Concept map for the suggested network)
(Figure 3. Concept map for conventional MRI image acquisition and accelerated image acquisiton)
2018.01.16 View 6074 -
Harnessing the Strength of KAIST Alumni: New Head of KAA Inaugurated
KAIST alumni gathered in Seoul on January 13 to celebrate the New Year and the newly-elected leadership of the KAIST Alumni Association (KAA). More than 300 alumni, including President Sung-Chul Shin who is also an alumnus of KAIST, joined the gala event held at the Lotte Hotel.
Photo: Ki-Chul Cha(left) and Jung Sik Koh(right)
The KAA inaugurated its new president, Ki-Chul Cha, who was preceded by Jung Sik Koh, the former CEO at the Korea Resources Corporation. His term starts from January 2018 to December 2020.
Cha is the CEO of Inbody Co Ltd., a global company specializing in developing and selling medical instruments, such as a body composition analyzers, and medical solutions. He is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Yonsei University. Cha obtained a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at KAIST in 1980, and a Ph.D. in Bioengineering at the University of Utah, before finishing his post-doc fellowship at Harvard Medical School.
Cha plans to explore the idea that alumni engagement, saying, “KAIST stays as a home in the memories of 60,000 alumni. I will dedicate myself to stimulating the alumni association to make KAISTians proud.”
At the gala event, the KAA awarded the Alumni of the Year honor to six alumni who distinguished themselves in the areas of professional achievement, humanitarianism, and public service. They are the Director of Startup KAIST Professor Byoung Yoon Kim; President of LG Chem Ltd and Head of Battery Research and Development Myung Hwan Kim; Director of INNOX Advanced Materials Co., Ltd Kyung Ho Chang; Vice President of the Korea International Trade Association Jung-Kwan Kim; CEO of Samsung Electro-Mechanics Yun-Tae Lee; and CEO of ENF Technology Jinbae Jung.
Photo: President Shin(far right) poses with six awardees of the Distinguished Alumni Award and the former President of KAA, Koh(far left)
2018.01.16 View 8971 -
Three Professors Named KAST Fellows
(Professor Dan Keun Sung at the center)
(Professor Y.H. Cho at the center)
(Professor K.H. Cho at the center)
The Korean Academy of Science and Technology (KAST) inducted three KAIST professors as fellows at the New Year’s ceremony held at KAST on January 12. They were among the 24 newly elected fellows of the most distinguished academy in Korea. The new fellows are Professor Dan Keun Sung of the School of Electrical Engineering, Professor Kwang-Hyun Cho of the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, and Professor Yong-Hoon Cho of the Department of Physics.
Professor Sung was recognized for his lifetime academic achievements in fields related with network protocols and energy ICT. He also played a crucial role in launching the Korean satellites KITSAT-1,2,3 and the establishment of the Satellite Technology Research Center at KAIST.
Professor Y.H.Cho has been a pioneer in the field of low-dimensional semiconductor-powered quantum photonics that enables quantum optical research in solid state. He has been recognized as a renowned scholar in this field internationally.
Professor K.H.Cho has conducted original research that combines IT and BT in systems biology and has applied novel technologies of electronic modeling and computer simulation analysis for investigating complex life sciences. Professor Cho, who is in his 40s, is the youngest fellow among the newly inducted fellows.
2018.01.16 View 11739 -
Professor Jung Awarded the Pople Medal by the APATCC
(Professor Yousung Jung)
Professor Yousung Jung of the Graduate School of EEWS won the Pople Medal from the Asia-Pacific Association of Theoretical & Computational Chemists (APATCC).
The Pople Medal has been awarded annually since 2007 to recognize young scholars in the fields of theoretical/computational chemistry in honor of Sir John Anthony Pople, who passed away in 2004. Dr. Pople was a British theoretical chemist and a Nobel laureate in 1998 for his development of computational methods in quantum chemistry.
The Pople Medal is awarded to scientists at or under the age of 45 in the Asia-Pacific region who have distinguished themselves through pioneering and important contributions.
Professor Jung was honored for his outstanding contributions to developing efficient electronic structure methods and their applications to energy materials discovery. He has published more than 120 papers in prestigious academic journals. He also has an h-index of 44, and has been cited more than 8,000 times.
2018.01.10 View 6211