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Professor Ju, to Receive Grants from HFSP
(Professor Young Seok Ju)
Professor Young Seok Ju from the Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering was selected as a young investigator to receive research funds from the Human Frontiers Science Program.
The Human Frontiers Science Program (HFSP) was founded in 1989 with members of the G7 and European Union to stimulate innovative research in the field of life sciences.
Professor Ju placed third out of the eight teams that were selected from 158 applicants representing 60 countries. He is now the fourth Korean to receive a research grant as a young investigator. Professor Jae Kyoung Kim from the Department of Mathematical Sciences also received this prize last year, hence KAIST has produced grant recipients for two consecutive years.
Professor Ju is a medical doctor specializing in cancer genomics and computer biology. He has been studying somatic mutations and their functional consequences in human cancer in a bioinformatics way. He has published papers in international journals including Nature, Science, Genome Research, and Journal of Clinical Oncology.
With a title ‘Tracing AID/APOBEC- and MSI-mediated hyper-mutagenesis in the clonal evolution of gastric cancer,’ Professor Ju will receive 1.05 million dollars for three years along with Professor Bon-Kyoung Koo from the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology at Austrian Academy of Sciences, and Sinppert Hugo from University Medical Center Utrecht.
Professor Ju said, “As a young investigator, it is my great honor to receive this research fund from this organization. Through this internationally collaborative research, I will carry out groundbreaking research to understand the pathophysiology of cancers at a molecular level.”
2018.04.24 View 8752 -
Animal Cyborg: Behavioral Control by 'Toy' Craving Circuit
Children love to get toys from parents for their birthday present. This craving toward items also involves object hoarding disorders and shopping addiction. However, the biological meaning of why the brain pursues objects or items has remained unknown. Part of the answer may lie with a neural circuit in the hypothalamus associated with “object craving,” says neuroscientist Daesoo Kim from the Department of Biological Sciences at KAIST.
His research team found that some neurons in the hypothalamus are activated during playing with toys in mice. Thanks to optogenetics, they proved that these neurons in the hypothalamus actually governs obsessive behavior toward non-food objects in mice.
“When we stimulate a neuron in the hypothalamus of mice, they anxiously chased target objects. We found evidence that the neural circuits in the medial preoptic area (MPA) modulate “object craving,” the appetite for possessing objects” said Professor Kim.
Researchers also proved that the MPA circuit facilitate hunting behavior in response to crickets, a natural prey to mice, showing the role of this circuit for catching prey. Further, the MPA nerves send excitatory signals to the periaqueductal gray (PAG), located around the cerebral aqueduct, to create such behavior. The team named this circuit the ‘MPA-PAG’ circuit.
The team showed that they could control mammalian behavior for the first time with this scheme of MPA-Induced Drive Assisted Steering (MIDAS), in which a mouse chase the target objects in the front of head during stimulation of the MPA-PAG circuit. MIDAS allows mice to overcome obstacles to move in a desired path using optogenetics.
(Professor Daesoo Kim)
Professor Kim, who teamed up with Professor Phill Seung Lee in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, explained the significance of the research, “This study provides evidence to treat brain disorders such as compulsive hoarding and kleptomania. It also contributes to the development of technology to control the behavior of animals and humans using strong innate motivation, and thus could impact neuro-economics, defense, and disaster relief.”
He said the team would like to complete the neural circuit map governing behaviors of possession and hunting in the near future by exploring correlations with other neural behaviors controlling possessing and hunting activities.
This research was funded by the Samsung Science and Technology Foundation and published in Nature Neuroscience in March 2018.
(Figure 1: Schematics showing possessive behavior induced by the MPA neural circuit)
(Figure 2: Schematics of the MIDAS system that controls mammals behavior using the desire to possess. A MIDAS mouse is following the bait object controlled wirelessly.)
2018.04.23 View 9683 -
Deep Learning Predicts Drug-Drug and Drug-Food Interactions
A Korean research team from KAIST developed a computational framework, DeepDDI, that accurately predicts and generates 86 types of drug-drug and drug-food interactions as outputs of human-readable sentences, which allows in-depth understanding of the drug-drug and drug-food interactions.
Drug interactions, including drug-drug interactions (DDIs) and drug-food constituent interactions (DFIs), can trigger unexpected pharmacological effects, including adverse drug events (ADEs), with causal mechanisms often unknown. However, current prediction methods do not provide sufficient details beyond the chance of DDI occurrence, or require detailed drug information often unavailable for DDI prediction.
To tackle this problem, Dr. Jae Yong Ryu, Assistant Professor Hyun Uk Kim and Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee, all from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), developed a computational framework, named DeepDDI, that accurately predicts 86 DDI types for a given drug pair. The research results were published online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) on April 16, 2018, which is entitled “Deep learning improves prediction of drug-drug and drug-food interactions.”
DeepDDI takes structural information and names of two drugs in pair as inputs, and predicts relevant DDI types for the input drug pair. DeepDDI uses deep neural network to predict 86 DDI types with a mean accuracy of 92.4% using the DrugBank gold standard DDI dataset covering 192,284 DDIs contributed by 191,878 drug pairs. Very importantly, DDI types predicted by DeepDDI are generated in the form of human-readable sentences as outputs, which describe changes in pharmacological effects and/or the risk of ADEs as a result of the interaction between two drugs in pair. For example, DeepDDI output sentences describing potential interactions between oxycodone (opioid pain medication) and atazanavir (antiretroviral medication) were generated as follows: “The metabolism of Oxycodone can be decreased when combined with Atazanavir”; and “The risk or severity of adverse effects can be increased when Oxycodone is combined with Atazanavir”. By doing this, DeepDDI can provide more specific information on drug interactions beyond the occurrence chance of DDIs or ADEs typically reported to date.
DeepDDI was first used to predict DDI types of 2,329,561 drug pairs from all possible combinations of 2,159 approved drugs, from which DDI types of 487,632 drug pairs were newly predicted. Also, DeepDDI can be used to suggest which drug or food to avoid during medication in order to minimize the chance of adverse drug events or optimize the drug efficacy. To this end, DeepDDI was used to suggest potential causal mechanisms for the reported ADEs of 9,284 drug pairs, and also predict alternative drug candidates for 62,707 drug pairs having negative health effects to keep only the beneficial effects. Furthermore, DeepDDI was applied to 3,288,157 drug-food constituent pairs (2,159 approved drugs and 1,523 well-characterized food constituents) to predict DFIs. The effects of 256 food constituents on pharmacological effects of interacting drugs and bioactivities of 149 food constituents were also finally predicted. All these prediction results can be useful if an individual is taking medications for a specific (chronic) disease such as hypertension or diabetes mellitus type 2.
Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee said, “We have developed a platform technology DeepDDI that will allow precision medicine in the era of Fourth Industrial Revolution. DeepDDI can serve to provide important information on drug prescription and dietary suggestions while taking certain drugs to maximize health benefits and ultimately help maintain a healthy life in this aging society.”
Figure 1. Overall scheme of Deep DDDI and prediction of food constituents that reduce the in vivo concentration of approved drugs
2018.04.18 View 11921 -
KAIST Develops Sodium Ion Batteries using Copper Sulfide
A KAIST research team recently developed sodium ion batteries using copper sulfide anode. This finding will contribute to advancing the commercialization of sodium ion batteries (SIBs) and reducing the production cost of any electronic products with batteries.
Professor Jong Min Yuk and Emeritus Professor Jeong Yong Lee from Department of Materials Science and Engineering succeeded in developing a new anode material suitable for use in a SIB. Compared to the existing anode materials, the copper sulfide anode was measured to exhibit 1.5 times better cyclability with projected 40% reduction in cost.
Batteries used in various applications including mobile phones are lithium ion batteries, mostly referred as Li-ion batteries or LIBs. Though they are popularly used until now, large-scale energy storage systems require much inexpensive and abundant materials. Hence, a SIB has attracted enormous attention for their advantage over a lithium counterpart.
However, one main obstacle to commercialization of SIB is the lack of suitable anodes that exhibit high capacity and the cycling stability of the battery. Hence, the research team recognized this need for a good anode material that could offer high electrical conductivity and theoretical capacity. The material was found to be copper sulfide, preferably in nanoplates, which “prefers to make an alloy with sodium and is thus promising for high capacity and long-term cyclability.”
Further analysis presented in the study reveals that copper sulfide undergoes crystallographic tuning to make a room for sodium insertion. Results indicate that the sodium ion-insertion capacity of copper sulfide is as much as 1.5 times that of lithium ions for graphite. Furthermore, a battery with this new anode material retains 90% of its original capacity for 250 charge-discharge cycles.
With the natural abundance of sodium in seawater, this development may contribute to reduction in battery costs, which can be translated into up to 30% cut in the price of various consumer electronics.
Professor Lee expressed his hope for “the production of next-generation, high-performance sodium ion batteries”.
Professor Yuk said, “These days, people are showing a great deal of interest in products related to renewable energy due to recent micro-dust issues ongoing in Korea. This study may help Korea get a head-start on renewable energy products”.
This research, led by PhD candidate Jae Yeol Park and Dr. Sung Joo Kim, was published online in Nature Communications on March 2.
Figure 1. The sodiation process of copper sulfide
2018.04.17 View 6775 -
Producing 50x More Stable Adsorbent
A KAIST research team developed a technology to increase the stability of amine-containing adsorbents by fifty times, moving one step further toward commercializing stable adsorbents that last longer.
Professor Minkee Choi from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and his team succeeded in developing amine-containing adsorbents that show high oxidative stability.
The capture of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide is an active ongoing research field, and some of the latest advancements point to amine-containing adsorbents as an efficient and environment-friendly way to capture carbon dioxide. However, existing amine-containing adsorbents are known to be unstable under oxidation, which chemically breaks down the adsorbent, thereby making it difficult to rely on amine-containing adsorbents for repeated and continued use.
The researchers have discovered that the miniscule amount of iron and copper present in the amine accelerate the oxidative breakdown of the amine-containing adsorbent. Upon this discovery, they proposed the use of a chelator substance, which essentially suppresses the activation of the impurities.
The team demonstrates that the proposed method renders the adsorbent up to 50 times slower in its deactivation rate due to oxidation, compared to conventional polyethyleneimine (PEI) / silica adsorbents. Figure 1 illustrates the superior performance of this oxidation-stable amine-containing adsorbent (shown in black squares), whose carbon dioxide-capturing capacity deteriorates by only a small amount (~8%). Meanwhile, the carbon dioxide-capturing capacity of the PEI/silica adsorbent (shown in red diamonds) degrades dramatically after being exposed to oxidative aging for 30 days.
This stability under oxidation is expected to have brought amine-containing adsorbents one step closer to commercialization. As such, first author Woosung Choi describes the significance of this study as “having brought solid carbon dioxide adsorbents to commercializable standards”. In fact, Professor Choi explains that commercialization steps for his team’s carbon dioxide adsorbents are already underway. He further set forth his aim to “develop the world’s best carbon dioxide capture adsorbent”.
This research, led by the PhD candidate Woosung Choi, was published online in Nature Communications on February 20.
Figure 1. Carbon dioxide working capacity against oxidative aging time. Performance of the proposed method (black) degrades much more slowly (~50x) than that of existing methods. The novel adsorbent is thus shown to be more robust to oxidation.
2018.04.16 View 6055 -
Professor Gou Young Koh, 2018 Laureate of Ho-Am Prize
Distinguished Professor Gou Young Koh from the Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering was appointed a 2018 laureate in medicine of the Ho-Am Prize by the Ho-Am Foundation. Professor Koh is a renowned expert in the field of tumor angiogenesis by exploring the hidden nature of capillary and lymphatic vessels in human organs.
He was recognized for demonstrating the effective reduction of tumor progression and metastasis via tumor vessel normalization. This counterintuitive study result is regarded as a stepping stone for a drug discovery to prevent microvascular diseases.
Besides Professor Koh, Professor Hee Oh from Yale University (Science), Professor Nam-Gyu Park from Sungkyunkwan University (Engineering), Opera Singer Kwangchul Youn (The Arts) and Sister Carla Kang (Community Service) received awards.
The Ho-Am Prize is presented to individuals who have contributed to academics, the arts, and social development, or furthered the welfare of humanity, and commemorates the noble spirit of public service espoused by the late Chairman Byung-chull Lee, who used the pen name Ho-Am.
It was established in 1990 by Kun-Hee Lee, the chairman of Samsung. Awards have been presented to 143 individuals worth a total of 24.4 billion KRW.
2018.04.11 View 8495 -
Formation of Burning Ice in Oceanic Clay Rich Sediment Disclosed
(from left: Professor Tae-Hyuk Kwon and PhD candidate Taehyung Park) A KAIST research team has identified the formation of natural gas hydrates, so-called flammable ice, formed in oceans.
Professor Tae-Hyuk Kwon from the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and his team found that clay minerals in oceanic clay-rich sedimentary deposits promote formation of gas hydrates and proposed the principle of gas hydrate formation in the clayey sedimentary layers.
Gas hydrates are ice-like crystalline structures composed of hydrogen-bonded water molecules encapsulating gas molecules. They are also known as burning ice. Their deposits are so huge that they gain attention for alternative energy.
Conventionally, it was believed that formation of gas hydrates is limited in clay sedimentary deposits; however, unexpected abundance of natural gas hydrates in oceanic clay-rich sedimentary deposits raised the issue of how they formed.
The surfaces of natural clay minerals are negatively charged and, thus, unavoidably generate physicochemical interactions between clay and water. Such clay-water interactions have a critical role in the occurrence of natural gas hydrates in clay-rich sedimentary formations.
However, there has been experimental difficulty in analyzing hydrate formation because of the cations contained in clay particles, which balance the clay surface charges. Therefore, clay particles inevitably release the cations when mixed with water, which complicates the interpretation of experimental results.
To overcome this limitation, the team polarized water molecules with an electric field and monitored the induction times of water molecules forming gas hydrates.
They found that the 10 kV/m of electric field promoted gas hydrate nucleation under certain conditions rather than slowing it down, due to the partial breakage of the hydrogen bonded water clusters and the lowered thermal energy of water molecules.
Professor Kwon said, “Through this research, we gained better insight into the origin of gas hydrates occurrence in clay-rich sedimentary deposits. In the near future, we will soon be able to commercially produce methane gas from natural gas hydrate deposits.”
This research, led by PhD candidate Taehyung Park, was published online in Environmental Science and Technology on February 3. (doi: 10.1021/acs.est.7b05477)
Figure 1. Formation of gas hydrates with water molecules
Figure 2. Enhancement and inhibition of gas hydrates
2018.04.09 View 6580 -
Printed Thermo-Plasmonic Heat Patterns for Neurological Disorder Treatment
(Professor Nam and Dr. Kang, right)
A KAIST team presented a highly customizable neural stimulation method. The research team developed a technology that can print the heat pattern on a micron scale to enable the control of biological activities remotely.
The researchers integrated a precision inkjet printing technology with bio-functional thermo-plasmonic nanoparticles to achieve a ‘selective nano-photothermal neural stimulation method.’
The research team of Professor Yoonkey Nam at the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering expects this will serve as an enabling technology for personalized precision neuromodulation therapy for patients with neurological disorders.
The nano-photothermal neural stimulation method uses the thermo-plasmonic effect of metal nanoparticles to modulate the activities of neuronal networks. With the thermo-plasmonic effect, metal nanoparticles can absorb specific wavelength of illuminated light to efficiently generate localized heat. The research team discovered the inhibitory behavior of spontaneous activities of neurons upon photothermal stimulation four years ago. Since then, they have developed this technology to control hyperactive behaviors of neurons and neural circuits, which is often found in neurological disorders such as epilepsy.
In order to overcome the limitation on the spatial selectivity and resolution of the previously developed nano-photothermal method, the team adopted an inkjet printing technology to micro pattern the plasmonic nanoparticles (a few tens of microns), and successfully demonstrated that the nano-photothermal stimulation can be selectively applied according to the printed patterns.
The researchers applied a polyelectrolyte layer-by-layer coating method to printing substrates in a way to improve the pattern fidelity and achieve the uniform assembly of nanoparticles. The electrostatic attraction between the printed nanoparticles and the coated printing substrate also helped the stability of the attached nanoparticles. Because the polyelectrolyte coating is biocompatible, biological experiments including cell culture are possible with the technology developed in this work.
Using printed gold nanorod particles in a few tens of microns resolution over a several centimeters area, the researchers showed that highly complex heat patterns can be precisely formed upon light illumination according to the printing image.
Lastly, the team confirmed that the printed heat patterns can selectively and instantaneously inhibit the activities of cultured hippocampal neurons upon near-infrared light illumination. Because the printing process is applicable to thin and flexible substrates, the technology can be easily applied to implantable neurological disorder treatment devices and wearable devices. By selectively applying the heat patterns to only the desired cellular areas, customized and personalized photothermal neuromodulation therapy can be applied to patients.
“The fact that any desired heat patterns can be simply ‘printed’ anywhere broadens the applicability of this technology in many engineering fields. In bioengineering, it can be applied to neural interfaces using light and heat to modulate physiological functions. As another engineering application, for example, printed heat patterns can be used as a new concept of anti-counterfeit applications,” said the principal investigator, Yoonkey Nam at KAIST. This work, led mainly by Dr. Hongki Kang, was published in ACS Nano on February 5th 2018.
2018.04.06 View 7070 -
KAIST Develops IoT Platform for Food Safety
A research team led by the KAIST Auto-ID Labs developed a GS1 international standard-based IoTs infrastructure platform dubbed Oliot (Open Language of Internet of Things). This platform will be applied to Wanju Local Food, the nation’s largest cooperative, and will be in operation from April 5.
A total of eleven organizations participated in the development of Oliot, with KAIST as the center. This consortium is based on the GS1 international standard-based Oliot platform, which allows collecting and sharing data along the entire process of agrifood from production to processing, distribution, and consumption. It aims at increasing farm incomes and establishing a global ecosystem of domestic agriculture and stockbreeding that provides safe food.
Wanju Local Food is now the world’s first local food co-op with a traceability system from the initial stage of production planning to end sales based on GS1 international standards, which will ensure food safety.
KAIST has been sharing Oliot data in order to apply it to industries around the world. As of April 2018, approximately 900 enterprises and developers from more than 100 countries have downloaded it.
Professor Daeyoung Kim from the School of Computing, who is also Research Director of Auto-ID Labs said, “We are planning to disseminate Oliot to local food cooperatives throughout the nation. We will also cooperate with other countries, like China, Holland, and Hong Kong to create a better ecosystem for the global food industry.
“We are currently collaborating with related business to converge Oliot with AI or blockchain technology that can be applied to various services, such as healthcare and smart factories. Its tangible outcome will be revealed soon,” he added.
Auto-ID Labs are a global research consortium of six academic institutions that research and develop new technologies for advancing global commerce, partnering with GS1 (Global Standard 1), a non-profit organization that established standards for global commerce such as introducing barcodes to the retail industry. The Auto-ID Labs include MIT, University of Cambridge, Keio University, Fudan University, ETH Zurich/University of St. Gallen, and KAIST.
The consortium was supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT as well as the Institute for Information and Communications Technology Promotion for three years from 2015.
The launching of Oliot at Wanju Local Food will be held on April 5.
2018.04.03 View 9323 -
KAIST to Host FinTech Conference 2018
KAIST will be hosting a FinTech Conference with Princeton University (USA), Tsinghua University (China), and EDHEC Business School (France) in Seoul from April 12 to 13 titled State of the Art in Robo-Advising Systems: Financial Technologies for Enhanced Social Security.
The Bendhein Center for Finance and Department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering from Princeton University, Fintech Lab from Tsinghua University, and the Risk Institute from EDHEC will participate as co-hosting organizations in this conference organized by the Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering and the KAIST Center for Wealth Management Technologies.
The conference will discuss issues required for providing customized asset management to the public in terms of theory, technology, and industry.
During the conference, KAIST President Sung-Chul Shin and Chairman and CEO of the National Pension Service Sung Joo Kim will deliver welcoming addresses.
Professor John Mulvey from Princeton University, Professor Michael Dempster from Cambridge University, Professors Wei Xu and Changle Lin from Tsinghua University, Professor Lionel Martellini from EDHEC, and Professor Woo Chang Kim from KAIST are some of the invited speakers at the event.
Moreover, renowned experts in related fields will also participate in the conference, including Founder of Vanguard Group John Bogle, Jin Lee from Ant Financial, Youngsuh Cho from Shinhan Financial Group, Jung-Hwan Lee from Samsung Asset Management, and Hye Young Sung from the National Pension Service Research Institute.
Professor Kim said, “Only a small number of wealthy people can receive life-cycle customized asset management services due to the high cost structure; however, new technology derived from the Fourth Industrial Revolution can reduce the service price in an innovative manner, ultimately leading it to be popularized.”
“In an era with the poverty rate of older people reaching almost 50%.Fintech can enable individuals to manage their assets in an active manner, reinforcing social security without additional social costs in the period,” he added.
These four universities have been hosting the FinTech Conference since 2017. China will host the conference this fall, followed by France next year.
Samsung Asset Management, Alibaba Group, and Ant Financial will sponsor the conference. Anyone interested in this event can find more details at http://wmt.kaist.ac.kr/conference.html.
2018.04.02 View 8370 -
KAIST Welcomes Global Participants to AI World Cup 2018
KAIST will host the AI (Artificial Intelligence) World Cup 2018 in August, and this time it is open to the international community. AI World Cup 2018 will be a very exciting challenge for extending the limit of academic and industrial applications based on AI technology.
KAIST, after launching its AI World Cup 2017 for domestic participants, is now hosting the AI World Cup 2018 for everyone. The AI World Cup will be comprised of three events: 1) Five on five AI Soccer 2) AI Commentator and 3) AI Reporter. Winner of each category, runner-up of AI Soccer, and 2nd runner-up of AI Soccer will receive awards with cash prizes.
For AI Soccer in which AI controlled robots team up to compete, the preliminary rounds will be held in July in a league format, and the final rounds will be played on August 20-22.
For AI Commentator and AI Reporter, eight finalists will be selected for each category based on scoring criteria, and their performance will be evaluated by the judges to select the winner from each category on August 22.
During the final rounds, a variety of events will also take place at KAIST, including tutorial sessions on AI technology, a poster session where students present their research works on AI, not necessarily limited to the scope of AI Soccer, AI Commentator, and AI Reporter, and panel discussions by prominent experts in the field of AI.
Moreover, renowned experts on AI will deliver their keynote addresses. The Cyberbotics CEO Olivier Michel will address his keynote speech on the topic ‘Simulation benchmarks and competitions: a fundamental tool to foster robotics research.’
The AI World Cup was established by the College of Engineering at KAIST to show that AI technology can be further extended to sports, soccer in particular.
Professor Jong-Hwan Kim, the inventor of AI World Cup and chairman of the organizing committee said, “I hope that this event will offer a great chance to develop AI technology for use in the coming years. I wish many people can enjoy the AI World Cup 2018. I would recommend that prospective teams not worry about the technical barrier when deciding whether to participate in the games. Participants from academia and industry can test whether their code runs well in the competition simulator; this way, they will know their level of play and perhaps they can further develop their algorithms.”
“We will also broadcast the final round of AI Soccer online so that people in remote areas can also enjoy watching the games. I am looking forward to seeing all of you at the AI World Cup. Any participant with a passion to prove excellence in AI technology is welcomed with open arms,” he added.
Anyone interested in the AI World Cup 2018 can register online via aiworldcup.org . Registration starts from April 1. The deadline for registration and final code submission is June 30.
(Cubical players in the figure for domestic AI Soccer competition have been replaced with cylindrical players for more agile movements while playing)
(Opening ceremony of AI World Cup 2017)
(Trophy and prize)
(Interview of participant)
(Casters commentating on game playing)
2018.03.30 View 8338 -
Nobel Laureates Brighten the Conversation at Global Leaders Forum
Two Nobel laureates who participated in the President’s Advisory Council joined the Global Leaders Forum as plenary speakers at KAIST on March 22. The forum highlighted the 25 events which were held during the Vision Week in celebration of the Vision 2031 Declaration Ceremony on March 20.
(President of KAIST Sung-Chul Shin, making welcoming remarks)
The Global Leaders Forum, titled “Scientific Discovery and Creativity,’ brought two prominent Nobel laureates in physics and chemistry. Dr. Klaus von Klitzing from the Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Research and Dr. Kurt Wüthrich from ETH Zürich inspired more than 300 audience members, including many young scholars, at Fusion Hall.
(Dr. Klaus von Klitzing from the Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Research)
Dr. Klitzing received the prize in 1985 in recognition of his discovery of the ‘integer quantum Hall effect.’ Meanwhile Dr. Wüthrich was awarded in 2002 for ‘"the development of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance methods for the determination of protein structures in solution."
Not only did they share their journey that led to the Nobel Prize, but also disclosed their personal stories that can relate to KAIST students as they pursue their scientific careers.
Many of the questions raised pertained to ‘creativity’ and ‘failure’: what is creativity and how to improve it and what is failure and how to deal with it. Dr. Klitzing replied, “If you want to go to a new direction, ask yourself inner question: what you really want to do.”
(From left: Dr. Klaus von Klitzing and Dr. Kurt Wüthrich from ETH Zürich)
Meanwhile, Dr. Wüthrich advised to set your goal first, before you start your research. “We tend to romanticize the creativity and it can be simulated. But it hardly does. It is important to know your goal first and set it appropriately.”
“Define failure as a process to learn something new, then you can comfortably move on,” he suggested in dealing with failure. “In many cases, the great achievement sometimes happens accidentally not intentionally. Maybe, you can see one success after 100 failures in the experiments. Nobody can predict the Nobel Prize quantitatively. Set the goal, and go to international conferences frequently if possible and evaluate where you are, compared with your international peers. Then, you can modify your goal and pursue what you want to do. Foremost, just enjoy your scientific work you are working with. That’s all. There’s no secret in the Nobel Prize.”
Since artificial intelligence is taking over people’s job, there’s also the question whether the concept of creativity should be modified due to technology development.
Regarding this question, Dr. von Klitzing made a strong point that the concept of creativity stays the same. He said that creativity is something new; in that sense, computers can never be creative because they use present, existing knowledge.
There was also a surprising moment. Dr. Wűthrich, who earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, physics, and mathematics, revealed to the audiences that his dream used to be a football player, not a scientist. He injured his foot, which prevented him from playing soccer, and that caused him to choose another career path.
Both laureates highlighted the importance of a positive attitude for their dreams and an open mindset for their colleagues and field of study.
Dr. von Klitzing pointed out that asking new questions can be the foundation of creativity. Hence, he urged students to be open minded and try to interact with one another.
Dr. Wűthrich commented that it is the job of professors to expand the view of students and guide younger generations. For young scientists, they should keep in mind that failure is something positive and that having an optimistic attitude is crucial.
(President of KAIST Sung-Chul Shin with the panelists and Dean of KAIST Academy Tae-Eog Lee)
(Interview of Dr. Kurt Wüthrich)
2018.03.27 View 4473