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KAIST Research Team Identified Promising New Source to Obtain Stem Cells
KAIST Research Team Identified Promising New Source to Obtain Stem Cells
A research team at KAIST led by Professor Gou-Young Koh, M.D. and Ph.D., of the Department of Biological Sciences, has found evidence that fat tissue, known as adipose tissue, may be a promising new source of valuable and easy-to-obtain regenerative cells called hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs).
HSPCs are adult stem cells that have the ability to generate and develop into many different kinds of cells. They are now used to repair damaged tissues and are being studied for their potential to treat a vast array of chronic and degenerative conditions such as leukemia. Mostly found in bone marrow but with a limited quantity, HSPCs are hard to cultivate in vitro, thus becoming an obstacle to use them for research and therapeutic purposes.
Within the adipose tissue is a special cell population known as the stromal vascular fraction (SVF), which share similar properties to those in the bone marrow. Cells in the bone marrow and SVF have the ability to differentiate into several cell types. In addition, both adipose and bone marrow offer similar environments for optimal stem cell growth and reproduction.
Given the fact that adipose and bone marrow tissues share similar properties, Dr. Koh and his team conducted a research, injecting granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), a growth hormone used to encourage the development of stem cells, into an adipose tissue of a mouse whose bone marrow is damaged. As a result, the team has found that the SVF derived from adipose tissue contains functional HSPCs capable of generating hematopoietic (blood-forming) cells to repair the damaged bone morrow.
The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology nominated the KAIST research as one of its sponsoring 21st Century Frontier R&D Programs. Director Dong-Wook Kim of Stem Cell Research Center (SCRS) that oversees the KAIST team expressed a possibility to use the adipose tissue as an alternative source to obtain stem cells for regeneration medicine.
Dr. Koh also said, “It’s been a well known method to extract HSPCs from the bone morrow or blood, but it’s the first time to identify adipose tissue, before considered useless, as a new possible supplier for functional and transplantable HSPCs.”
The study results have received an important recognition from the academia—the American Society of Hematology published the research as a main article in its official journal, Blood, for the February 4th, 2010 issue, which is the most citied peer-reviewed publication in the field.
2010.02.05 View 11658 -
Prof. Sang-Yup Lee Founding Member of Board of Editors of mBop
Prof. Sang-Yup Lee of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at KAIST has been appointed as one of the founding board of editors of the mBio which will be launched next year, the university reported on Friday (Nov. 20).
mBio is the American Society for Microbiology"s first all-online, open access journal which will be launched in next May. According to the mBio website, the journal"s scope "will reflect the enormity of the microbial world, a highly interconnected biosphere where microbes interact with living and non-living matter to produce outcomes that range from symbiosis to pathogenesis, energy acquisition and conversion, climate change, geologic change, food and drug production, and even animal behavioral change."
Prof. Lee, LG Chem Chair Professor, is currently the Dean of the College of Life Science and Bioengineering and director of the Center for Systems and Synthetic Biotechnology. He received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Seoul National Univeristy in Korea and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University.
As of September 2009, he has published 298 journal papers and has more than 440 patents either registered or applied. Also, he has published 47 books/book chapters, "Systems Biology and Biotechnology of Escherichia Coli" being the latest.
His research interests are systems biology and biotechnology, industrial biotechnology, metabolic engineering, synthetic biology and nanobiotechnology. In particular, he has pioneered systems metabolic engineering, which integrates systems biology with metabolic engineering, for the development of micropoganisms possessing superior properties for industrial applications.
2009.11.20 View 11631 -
Prof. Yu Wins Sidney Stein International Award
Prof. Jin Yu of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering won the Sidney J. Stein International Award at the plenary session of the International Microelectronics and Packaging Society (IMAPS) held in San Jose, the United States, on Nov. 3.
The Sidney Stein International Award recognizes an individual who is regarded as providing significant international technical and/or leadership contributions to the microelectronics packaging industry, while participating and demonstrating support of IMAPS international activities to enhance the electronics packaging profession.
The International Microelectronics And Packaging Society is the largest society dedicated to the advancement and growth of microelectronics and electronics packaging. It offers chapters around the globe, creating global networks of more than 4,000 members in the United States and an additional 4,000 members throughout Europe and Asia. Prof. Yu currently serves as the chairman of its Asia League Chapter and the Korean Microelectronics and Packaging Society.
2009.11.20 View 11481 -
Professor Jong Hyun Kim receives two awards from ASME
Professor Jong Hyun Kim, Bently & Muszynska Endowed Chair Professor in the Dept. of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering, KAIST, has recently received Dedicated Service Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The award honors unusual dedicated voluntary service to ASME marked by outstanding performance, demonstrated effective leadership, and prolonged commitment. The award was bestowed on Professor Kim in recognition of his sustained and exemplary service, leadership, and contributions to ASME. While chairing the Heat Transfer Division of ASME, Professor Kim promoted industrial participation, broadened international exchanges, and spearheaded the initiative to institute the web-based conference organization that later became the standard tool for organizing all ASME conferences.
ASME has also announced that Professor Kim was selected to receive the Heat Transfer Memorial Award and will be honored at its winter annual meeting this November. This award is bestowed on individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of heat transfer through teaching, research, practice and design, or a combination of such activities. Professor Kim was selected in recognition of his exceptional and impactful contributions to industry through applied research and innovative applications of science, art, and technology of heat transfer and thermal engineering. In particular, he tackled some of the toughest critical technical issues of serious safety implications in nuclear industry. The results of his research over the past 35 years produced tangible and substantial economic benefits to energy and nuclear industry that are conservatively estimated to be in the range of a few hundred million dollars of cost savings.
Professor Kim is a Fellow of ASME. ASME is the world’s largest professional society for mechanical engineers with over 100,000 members.
2009.09.01 View 10921 -
KAIST Undergraduates Open Four-Day International Conference
The ICISTS-KAIST, an annual international conference organized by KAIST undergraduate students, opened on Thursday (Aug. 20) at the KAIST"s main campus in Daejeon.
The 2009 ICISTS (International Conference for the Integration of Science and Technology into Society) drew around 200 experts and students from 44 countries. Since its inception in 2005 to promote discourse on important science and technology issues affecting modern society, the conference has served as an opportunity for academic networking among students in various parts of the world.
The four-day conference consists of lectures, open discussions among lecturers and students, field trips to help students to understand actual applications, and team projects.
This year"s conference offers three workshops under the themes of "Climate Change: Merging Technology and Policy for Green Solutions"; "Human-Computer Interaction: Designing Computer System for Intuitive Human Access"; and "Nano Clinic: Breakthrough in Conquering Disease."
Lectures by invited experts in various scientific fields will help broaden students" perspectives particularly from interdisciplinary viewpoints, said an organizer of the conference.
2009.08.28 View 13578
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KAIST President Suh Honored with 2009 ASME Medal
KAIST President Nam-Pyo Suh has chosen as the 2009 winner of the ASME Medal presented by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, university authorities said on Thursday (July 2).
President Suh received the honor for "seminal contributions to the advancement of engineering through research in tribology, polymer processing, metal processing, design and manufacturing, as well as contributions to engineering education and research infrastructure."
The selection of President Suh was unanimously approved by the 13-member Board of Governors of the ASME. Suh became the first scientist of Asian descent in the award"s 89-year-long history.
Founded in 1880, the ASME is a non-profit professional organization promoting the art, science and practice of mechanical and multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences. The organization is known for setting codes and standards for mechanical devices. As of 2009, it has 120,000 members worldwide.
Only one ASME medal is awarded annually to recognize "eminently distinguished achievement." The award consists of a $17,000 honorarium, a gold medal, certificate and travel supplement for two days. It will be presented to President Suh during the 2009 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, which will be held in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, November 13-10, 2009.
President Suh is an internationally known educator, engineer and inventor. Born in Korea, he immigrated to the U.S. in 1954 to join his father, who was teaching at Harvard. He earned both his bachelor"s and master"s degrees from MIT before coming to Carnegie Tech for his doctoral education in mechanical engineering.
While teaching at MIT, he founded the MIT-Industry Polymer Processing Program in 1973 and the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity. He left these positions in 1984 to serve with the U.S. National Science Foundation as its assistant director for engineering, until 1988.
He invented many new materials, products and manufacturing processes, earning more than 60 U. S. patents and founding several companies. He has written seven books and more than 300 scholarly papers. Among dozens of honors throughout his career, President Suh most recently received the 2007 Lifetime Achievement from the Society of Plastics Engineers.
The ASME conducts one of the world"s largest technical publishing operations through its ASME Press, holds numerous technical conferences and hundreds of professional development courses each year, and sponsors numerous outreach and educational programs.
2009.07.02 View 12732 -
Prof. Sang-Ouk Kim Featured on the Cover of Emerging Investigator Special Issue
KAIST Prof. Sang-Ouk Kim of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering was featured on the cover of the Emerging Investigator Special Issue published by Britain"s Royal Society of Chemistry on June 21, university authorities said on Monday (June 22).
The special issue shed spotlight on 18 up-and-coming scientists who have been selected through the recommendation and rigorous screening process of the editorial and advisory boards of the Royal Society of Chemistry. The 18 scientists consist of six from the American continent, 10 from Europe, one from Japan and one from Korea.
The journal introduced Prof. Kim"s paper, titled "Highly entangled carbon nanotube (CNT) scaffolds by self-organized aqueous droplets." Kim explained in the paper that the cellular CNT demonstrated high electrical conductivity and field-emission properties, which is potentially useful for various applications in electronics and energy storage devices.
2009.06.24 View 12040 -
KAIST Prof. Park Selected as Winner of Clemson Award
Professor Tae-Gwan Park of the Department of Biological Sciences, KAIST, was chosen as the winner of the 2009 Clemson Award for Fundamental Research, university authorities said on Tuesday (April 7).
The award is the highest recognition of the Society for Biomaterials, an international organization of more than 3,000 members that promotes research in the field of biomaterials. Prof. Park is cited for his outstanding achievements in interdisciplinary research covering gene transferring, gene therapy and neogenesis. It is rare for a non-U.S. national to win the prize in the 36-year history of the award.
The award will be given to Professor Park at the Annual Meeting of the society which will be held in San Antonio, Texas, on April 22.
2009.04.09 View 11751 -
KAIST Wins First Prize at Recon Challenge of Int"l Magnetic Resonance Society
Professor Jong-chul Ye of the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering and Hong Jeong, a doctorate student, won the first prize at the Recon Challenge held as part of a workshop sponsored by the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) held in Sedona, the United States.
The workshop took place under the theme of “data sampling and image reconstruction” on Jan. 25-28 in Sedona, Arizona, the United States. The KAIST team beat out major magnetic resonance imaging groups from the U.S. and Europe.
The Recon Challenge is a biennial competition highlighting different reconstruction strategies and metrics to compare them. ISMRM is an international, nonprofit, scientific association which promotes communication, research, development, and applications in the field of magnetic resonance in medicine and biology and other related topics.
At the competition, the KAIST team presented a new dynamic MRI algorithm called k-t FOCUSS that is optimal from a compressed sensing perspective. The main contribution of the method is extension of k-t FOCUSS to a more general framework with prediction and residual encoding. The prediction provides an initial estimate while the residual encoding takes care of the remaining residual signals.
2009.02.06 View 12848 -
Prof. Seong Publishes English Book on Reliability in Digital Control Systems
Prof. Poong-Hyun Seong of Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering has recently published an English-language book on reliability and risk issues in large scale safety-critical digital control systems used in complex facilities such as nuclear power plants.
The book entitled “Reliability and Risk Issues in Large Scale Safety-critical Digital Control Systems” is a result of Prof. Seong’s collaboration with some KAIST graduates who used to be under his guidance. The 303-page publication has been published by Springer, one of the world’s leading publishers of academic journals, as part of the Springer Series in Reliability Engineering.
The book consists of four parts; part I deals with issues related to hardware, part II software, part III human factors and finally the last part integrated systems. It can be purchased through some on-line book stores such as Amazon.com.
Prof. Seong served as an editor-in-chief for Nuclear Engineering and Technology (NET), an international journal of Korean Nuclear Society (KNS), from 2003 to 2008. He also worked as a chair of the Human Factors Division (HFD) of American Nuclear Society (ANS) from 2006 to 2007. Prof. Seong is now a commissioner of Korea Nuclear Safety Commission which is the nation’s highest committee on Nuclear Safety.
2008.12.26 View 15047
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Prof. Cho Wins Best Paper Award
KAIST Prof. Nam-Zin Cho of the Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering, won the Best Thesis Award in the nuclear reactor physics category at the 2008 Winter Meeting of the American Nuclear Society held on Nov. 9-13 in Reno, Nevada.
His paper, entitled "Thermal Feedback Transient Analysis of a Pebble Fuel Based on the Two-Temperature Homogenized Model," was jointly authored by Hwi Yu and Jong-Un Kim under the guidance of Prof. Cho.
Prof. Cho was elected a fellow of the American Nuclear Society in 2001 and has served as the deputy editor of the Nuclear Science and Engineering, the research journal of the American Nuclear Society, since 1999.
2008.12.09 View 13336 -
Two KAIST Professors Elected Fellows of APS
Profs. Sung-Chul Shin and Chang-Hee Nam of the Department of Physics, KAIST, have recently been elected the 2009 fellows of the American Physical Society (APS), university officials said on Tuesday (Dec. 2).
The APS fellowship is a prestigious recognition of the two professors" outstanding academic achievements in the field of physics, the officials said. The selection criteria are known to be extremely stringent and only a small fraction of APS members become fellows.
Prof. Shin was cited for his pioneering contributions to the understanding of magnetization reversal dynamics, in particular critical scaling behavior of Barkhausen avalanches of 2D ferromagnets, and discovery of novel magnetic thin films and multilayers for high-density data storage.
Prof. Nam was recognized for his contributions to the theory and experiments of physical processes of high harmonic generation for the development of attosecond coherent x-ray sources and related femtosecond laser technology.
The American Physical Society, founded in 1899, is the world"s second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. It has 46,000 members across the world.
2008.12.04 View 13158