TR
-
The First Demonstration of a Self-powered Cardiac Pacemaker
As the number of pacemakers implanted each year reaches into the millions worldwide, improving the lifespan of pacemaker batteries has been of great concern for developers and manufacturers. Currently, pacemaker batteries last seven years on average, requiring frequent replacements, which may pose patients to a potential risk involved in medical procedures.
A research team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), headed by Professor Keon Jae Lee of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at KAIST and Professor Boyoung Joung, M.D. of the Division of Cardiology at Severance Hospital of Yonsei University, has developed a self-powered artificial cardiac pacemaker that is operated semi-permanently by a flexible piezoelectric nanogenerator.
The artificial cardiac pacemaker is widely acknowledged as medical equipment that is integrated into the human body to regulate the heartbeats through electrical stimulation to contract the cardiac muscles of people who suffer from arrhythmia. However, repeated surgeries to replace pacemaker batteries have exposed elderly patients to health risks such as infections or severe bleeding during operations.
The team’s newly designed flexible piezoelectric nanogenerator directly stimulated a living rat’s heart using electrical energy converted from the small body movements of the rat. This technology could facilitate the use of self-powered flexible energy harvesters, not only prolonging the lifetime of cardiac pacemakers but also realizing real-time heart monitoring.
The research team fabricated high-performance flexible nanogenerators utilizing a bulk single-crystal PMN-PT thin film (iBULe Photonics). The harvested energy reached up to 8.2 V and 0.22 mA by bending and pushing motions, which were high enough values to directly stimulate the rat’s heart.
Professor Keon Jae Lee said:
“For clinical purposes, the current achievement will benefit the development of self-powered cardiac pacemakers as well as prevent heart attacks via the real-time diagnosis of heart arrhythmia. In addition, the flexible piezoelectric nanogenerator could also be utilized as an electrical source for various implantable medical devices.”
This research result was described in the April online issue of Advanced Materials (“Self-Powered Cardiac Pacemaker Enabled by Flexible Single Crystalline PMN-PT Piezoelectric Energy Harvester”: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.201400562/abstract).
Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWYT2cU_Mog&feature=youtu.be
Picture Caption: A self-powered cardiac pacemaker is enabled by a flexible piezoelectric energy harvester.
2014.06.25 View 17681 -
Professor Won Do Heo on LED Light Technology for Controlling Proteins in Living Cells
With the newly developed LED technology, Professor Won Do Heo at the College of Life Science and Bioengineering, KAIST, was able to suppress cell migration and division when cells are exposed to LED light. This suggests a breakthrough to apply in future cancer cell research.
Professor Heo talked about the impact of his research in the following excerpt from a news article:
“We are already conducting research on the spread of cancer, as well as brain science in animal models with the Light-Activated Reversible Inhibition by Assembled Trap. I believe this technology will be a breakthrough in investigating cancer treatments and the function of neurons in a complex neural network, which existing technologies have not been able to do.”
From EE Times Europe, June 19, 2014
“LED Light Technology Controls Proteins in Living Cells”
http://www.ledlighting-eetimes.com/en/led-light-technology-controls-proteins-in-living-cells.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=222909336
2014.06.22 View 8405 -
First Instance of Negative Effects from Terahertz-Range Electromagnetic Waves
Professor Philhan Kim
Electromagnetic waves (EM-wave) in the terahertz range were widely regarded as the “dream wavelength” due to its perceived neutrality. Its application was also wider than X-rays. However, KAIST scientists have discovered negative effects from terahertz EM-waves.
Professor Philhan Kim of KAIST’s Graduate School of Nanoscience and Technology and Dr. Young-wook Jeong of the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) observed inflammation of animal skin tissue when exposed to terahertz EM-waves.
The results were published in the online edition of Optics Express (May 19, 20104).
Terahertz waves range from 0.1 to 10 terahertz and have a longer wavelength than visible or infrared light. Commonly used to see through objects like the X-ray, it was believed that the low energy of terahertz waves did not inflict any harm on the human body.
Despite being applied for security checks, next-generation wireless communications, and medical imaging technology, little research has been conducted in proving its safety and impact. Conventional research failed to predict the exact impact of terahertz waves on organic tissues as only artificially cultured cells were used.
The research team at KAERI developed a high power terahertz EM-wave generator that can be used on live organisms. A high power generator was necessary in applications such as biosensors and required up to 10 times greater power than currently used telecommunications EM-wave. Simultaneously, a KAIST research team developed a high speed, high resolution video-laser microscope that can distinguish cells within the organism.
The experiment exposed 30 minutes of terahertz EM-wave on genetically modified mice and found six times the normal number of inflammation cells in the skin tissue after six hours. It was the first instance where negative side effects of terahertz EM-wave were observed.
Professor Kim commented that “the research has set a standard for how we can use the terahertz EM-wave safely” and that “we will use this research to analyze and understand the effects of other EM-waves on organisms.”
2014.06.20 View 10446 -
KAIST studnets win 2014 Creative Vitamin Project Competition
A team of KAIST students have won the grand prize for the “2014 Creative Vitamin Project Competition” held on May 28, 2014 in Seoul. The event was co-hosted by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, National Information Society Agency, and Korea IT Convergence Technology Association. The Creative Vitamin Project is the Korean government’s initiative to grow the Korean economy and generate job creation by applying science and technology, information and communications technology in particular, to the existing industry and social issues.
The winners were Hyeong-Min Son, a student in the master’s program in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, KAIST and Su-Yeon Yoo, a Ph.D. student from the Graduate School of Information Security, KAIST.
Son and Yoo proposed a sustainable crop protection system using directional speakers. This technique not only efficiently protects crops from harmful animals, but also effectively guides the animals outside the farmland.
Kwang-Soo Jang, the Director of the National Information Society Agency, said, “This competition provides an opportunity to develop public consensus and interest in the Creative Vitamin Project. We hope that through the participation of all citizens, the project can become an instrument to realizing the creative economy.”
2014.06.18 View 11952 -
Professor Sang-Ouk Kim's Research on Carbon Materials Featured in a Philippines Science News
The subject article said that Professor Sang-Ouk Kim of Materials Science Engineering at KAIST “developed a technique to change the nature of the next-generation carbon-based materials. His research has expanded the possibility of carbon-based materials to be used in clothes.”
For details, please refer to the article below:
Centrio Times, June 10, 2014
KAIST scientist develops color changing carbon materials that can be used in clothes
http://www.centriotimes.com/2014/06/kaist-scientist-develops-color-changing-carbon-materials-can-used-clothes.html.
2014.06.15 View 8788 -
MOU between KAIST and Sun Medical Center on "Mobile Health Care"
KAIST and Sun Medical Center signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in front of 20 attendees including KAIST President Steve Kang and Sun Medical Center Director Seung-Hoon Sun on June 9 at KAIST to expand medical services through medical and electronic telecommunication technology.
The two organizations will cooperate on the research and development of mobile healthcare, systems for the medical industry, remote medical treatment for overseas patients, and working toward improving national healthcare. The two parties will also develop wearable devices and mobile sensors which will become a welcome addition to the global healthcare market.
KAIST President Steve Kang explained, “With Sun Medical Center’s 50 years of experience in medical technology and KAIST’s World University Ranking of 20th in information technology, a new brainchild in the mobile healthcare field will be produced.”
In the meantime, KAIST’s College of Information Science and Technology is making developments in mobile healthcare systems which can accumulate medical information and apply it to medical services by using personal bio-information data. Ambitious new projects are underway, such as the “Dr. M Project“ which launched in March with 28 full-time researchers.
2014.06.14 View 8144 -
Professor YongKeun Park Produces Undergraduate Students with International Achievements
Three undergraduate students under the supervision of Professor YongKeun Park from the Department of Physics, KAIST, have published papers in globally renowned academic journals.
The most recent publication was made by YoungJu Jo, a senior in physics. Jo’s paper entitled “Angle-resolved light scattering of individual rod-shaped bacteria based on Fourier transform light scattering” was published in the May 28th edition of Scientific Reports.
Analyzing bacteria is a very important task in the field of health and food hygiene, but using the conventional biochemical methods of analysis takes days. However, observation with Jo’s newly developed method using light scattering analyzes bacteria within a matter of seconds.
SangYeon Cho from the Department of Chemistry also published papers in Cell (2012) and Nature (2013), respectively, under the guidance of Professor Park. SangYeon Cho’s outstanding research achievements were recognized by Harvard and MIT. He was accepted with a full scholarship to Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Graduate School. He will begin his graduate studies at Harvard-MIT this September.
Last March, SeoEun Lee from the Department of Biology was the recipient of the Best Paper Award by the Optical Society of Korea. She plans to pursue a doctoral degree at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University in New York.
Professor Park said, “Undergraduate students, who are learning a variety of subjects concurrently, are at the most creative time of their lives. KAIST has offered many opportunities to undergraduate students to partake in various research programs.”
- Picture (a) and (b): Rod-shaped bacteria’s phase image and light-scattering patterns
- Picture (c): Quantitative analysis to illustrate the extraction of information from bacteria
2014.06.03 View 14275 -
Discovery Channel Featured "TransWall" Developed by Professor Woohun Lee
One of the most popular television programs at Discovery Channel in Canada, Daily Planet, a daily science magazine show that delivers a fascinating mix of documentaries and features, aired "TransWall” (http://vimeo.com/70391422) developed by Professor Woohun Lee of Industrial Design at KAIST.
TransWall is a two-sided touchable transparent display with a surface transducer incorporated in the display. It enables users to see, hear, or even touch people standing on the other side of the display, thereby enhancing interactive experiences when playing games or communicating.
TransWall was introduced at the 2014 ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) held in Toronto, Canada, from April 26 to May 1. The Channel learned about the technology at the conference and produced the show on April 30, 2014.
To watch the show, please visit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GGP59S7T2k&list=PLXmuftxI6pTXuyjjrGFlcN5YFTKZinDhK.
2014.05.29 View 10857 -
Professor Kyu-Young Whang receives the PAKDD Distinguished Contributions Award
Professor Kyu-Young Whag
Dr. Kyu-Young Whang, Distinguished Professor from the Department of Computer Science, KAIST, has received the 2014 Distinguished Contributions Award from the Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (PAKDD). PAKDD is the leading academic international conference on data mining held in Asia/Pacific. This year’s international conference was held from 13th to 15th May at Tainan, Taiwan.
As a life member of the PAKDD Steering Committee, Professor Whang worked for the development of the data mining field in the Asia-Pacific region, and his contribution to the international database and data-mining field has been widely recognized.
The PAKDD Distinguished Contributions Award has been awarded to a total of six people until now, including Professor Whang, and he is the first Korean to receive this award.
Professor Whang has also a history of receiving the Outstanding Contributions Award in 2011 from the Database Systems for Advanced Applications (DASFAA), the prestigious database academic conference in the Asia-Pacific region. The database and data mining field in the region was barren 20 years ago, but through the efforts and contributions of many researchers, including Professor Whang, it has now leapt to the level of being the equal of North American and European researchers.
In fact, three academic organizations in the current international database field are led by professors in the Asia-Pacific region. The IEEE ICDE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Technical Committee on Data Engineering) is led by Professor Whang; the VLDB (Very Large Data Base) Endowment by Professor Beng Chin Ooi from National University of Singapore (NUS); and the ACM SIGMOD (Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Management of Data) by Professor Don Kossmann from ETH Zurich.
2014.05.26 View 9644 -
Professor Jae-Kyu Lee Elected to Head the Association for Information Systems
Jae Kyu Lee, HHI (Hyundai Heavy Industries, Co., Ltd.) Chair Professor, College of Business at KAIST, was elected to lead the world major academic society, Association for Information Systems (AIS), from July 2015 to June 2016. Professor Lee will be the first Korean to serve the organization as president. From July 2014 to June 2015, he will serve as president-elect.
Currently, Professor Lee is the Director of EEWS (Energy, Environment, Water, and Sustainability) Research Center at KAIST, focusing on research and development in finding solutions to critical issues facing humanity. He also played a pivotal role in the conclusion of a memorandum of understanding between HHI and KAIST in June 2013 to establish HHI-KAIST EEWS Research Center within the KAIST campus.
The AIS is the premier professional association for individuals and organizations who lead the research, teaching, practice, and study of information systems worldwide.
A news article on his appointment:
Asian Scientist, May 16, 2014
Korean Engineer To Lead The Association For Information Systems
http://www.asianscientist.com/academia/korean-engineer-lead-association-information-systems-2014/
2014.05.19 View 12071 -
Immune Evasion Mechanism of Hepatitis C Virus Revealed
Professor Ui-Cheol Shin
Inhibiting major histocompatibility complex [MHC] class I protein expression, T cell immune response is evaded.
The research will be a great help to the development of C hepatitis vaccine.
Roughly 1-2% of the population in Korea is known to be infected with Hepatitis C. Most Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infections progress to a chronic disease and can cause liver cirrhosis or liver cancer, which may lead to death.
Unlike Hepatitis type A or B, there is no vaccine for Hepatitis C Virus and therefore avoiding exposure to the virus is the best known method of prevention. However, a team of researchers at KAIST has produced research results, which may contribute significantly to the vaccine development.
KAIST Graduate School of Medical Sciences & Engineering’ Professor Ui-Cheol Shin and his team have successfully identified why Hepatitis C Virus does not cause an immune response within the human body. The research results were published in the May edition of The Journal of Gastroenterology, a world-renowned journal in the field of gastroenterology.
The immune response occurs to eliminate the virus that has invaded our body. During this process, a major histocompatibility complex [MHC] class I plays a key role in inducing T cell response, which is needed for the elimination of virus-infected cells.
When a cell is infected by a virus, a substance called interferon causes the increased expression of major histocompatibility complex class I. T cell recognizes the increased MHC class I and therefore finds the virus-infected cells.
However, the effect that Hepatitis C Virus has on major histocompatibility complex class I has not been clearly identified until now.
The research team has revealed, using a cell culture for infection systems, that the Hepatitis C Virus suppresses the expression of major histocompatibility complex class I. Also, the mechanism to prove that HCV activates a protein called PKR within the cell to inhibit MHC class I protein expression was identified at a molecular level.
In this study, researchers established the hypothesis that regulating PKR protein in the cell can enhance the T cell immune response, which was then proved through experiments.
Professor Ui-Cheol Shin said, “There are a lot of new drugs to treat Hepatitis C Virus, while its vaccine has not been developed yet. Revealing the HCV immune evasion mechanism will help stimulate momentum for the HCV vaccine development.”
The first author of the journal, Dr. Won-Seok Kang is a graduate from Yonsei College of Medicine. After earning his medical degree, he has continued his training as a ‘doctor-scientist’ at KAIST Graduate School of Medical Sciences & Engineering to study Hepatitis C Virus immune evasion mechanism in this research.
Hepatitis C Virus activates PKR-eIF2a pathway, which inhibits the major histocompatibility complex class I, and therefore weakens the T cell activation to the viral activity.
2014.05.19 View 11641 -
Professor Jae-Kyu Lee Elected to Head the Association for Information Systems
Jae Kyu Lee, HHI (Hyundai Heavy Industries, Co., Ltd.) Chair Professor, College of Business at KAIST, has been elected to lead the world major academic society, Association for Information Systems (AIS), from July 2015 to June 2016. Professor Lee will be the first Korean to serve the organization as president. From July 2014 to June 2015, he will serve as president-elect.
Currently, Professor Lee is the Director of EEWS (Energy, Environment, Water, and Sustainability) Research Center at KAIST, focusing on research and development in finding solutions to critical issues facing humanity. He also played a pivotal role in the conclusion of a memorandum of understanding between HHI and KAIST in June 2013 to establish HHI-KAIST EEWS Research Center within the KAIST campus.
The AIS is the premier professional association for individuals and organizations who lead the research, teaching, practice, and study of information systems worldwide.
2014.05.14 View 11131