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Opening Ceremony of Genetic Donguibogam held
- Medicine using traditional natural substances • Food product source technology development begins
- Over 150,000,000,000 Won for 10 years of work invested to develop source technology
- Opening ceremony held on November 26th at 3 p.m. in Bio & Brain Engineering Division Building
The research to develop medicine and food source technology using traditional natural substances hasbegun.The opening ceremony of the “Genetic Donguibogam” business group, with KAIST Department of Bio & Brain Engineering Professor Do Heon Lee as the leader, was held on November 26th at 3 p.m. in Dream Hall, Bio & Brain Engineering Division Building, KAIST, Daejeon. The attendees of the opening ceremony included Yo Eop Im, Head of the Future Technology Department of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and around 200 experts in science and technology industry, including the National Research Foundation of Korea, KAIST, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul National University and Yonsei University.
The business group was established to re-interpret traditional natural substances proved to be effective from experience and improve quality of life by researching its applications; and to develop integrated source technology using traditional natural substances. The group is to invest over 150,000,000,000 Won for 10 years of research to secure natural substance source technology in five stages: interpretation technology, analysis technology, verification technology, bio marker technology and human body effectiveness verification technology. Especially, the focus would be on the use of virtual body computer models and Omics* to analyse the effects of traditional natural substances mixture on human body, and to find new materials for healthcare.
This research model, it is hoped, will have a new item to pioneer in the world natural substance market as well as securing a technologically competitive edge in bio industry by developing source technology that investigates the effects of traditional natural substances using cutting edge science.
KAIST Department of Bio & Brain Engineering Professor and Head Do Heon Lee of the “Genetic Donguibogam” Business Group said, “We will push forward to develop source energy by integrating IT-BT technology with a computer virtual body to build a cooperation system with medicine and functional food industries.” He continued: “This will enable not only the creation of a new industry, but also customised medicine.”
The 12 partners of the group include KAIST, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul National University and Yonsei University and 200 experts. The research participation area will be widened to foreign research institutes and associated companies.
* Terminology
Noun) Omics is an academic discipline analysing mass information on metabolism of physiological phenomena in specific cells (transcriptome, proteome and protoplast) with an integrated approach to determine vital phenomena.
2013.12.11 View 8519 -
Graduate Student at KAIST Awarded Best Prize at the 9th Inside Edge
Sun-Jin Choi, a Ph. D. candidate in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at KAIST, under the guidance of Professor Il-Doo Kim, won the best prize at the 9th Inside Edge Contest hosted by Samsung Electro-Mechanics.
Choi was awarded prize money totaling fifteen million won at the award ceremony held on November 22 at the Mirae Hall at the headquarters of Samsung Electro-Mechanics in Suwon.
Choi’s research, titled “Exhaled Breath Sensor Arrays for the Non-invasive and Real-time Diagnosis of Diabetes by Detection of Acetone,” was recognized for its creativity and uniqueness.The Inside Edge is an international thesis competition which was started in 2005 to encourage and support creative research and potential technological development among young scientists and engineers.
Sun-Jin Choi (left) and Professor Il-Doo Kim (right).
2013.12.11 View 8719 -
Rechargeable Lithium Sulfur Battery for Greater Battery Capacity
Professor Do Kyung Kim from the Department of Material Science and Engineering and Professor Jang Wook Choi from the Graduate School of EEWS have been featured in the lead story of the renowned nanoscience journal Advanced Materials for their research on the lithium sulfur battery. This new type of battery developed by Professor Kim is expected to have a longer life battery life and [higher] energy density than currently commercial batteries.
With ample energy density up to 2100Wh/kg—almost 5.4 times that of lithium ion batteries—lithium sulfur batteries can withstand the sharp decrease in energy capacity resulting from charging and discharging—which has been considered the inherent limitation of the conventional batteries.
Professor Kim and his research team used one-dimensional, vertical alignment of 75nm tick, 15μm long sulfur nanowires to maximize electric conductivity. Then, to prevent loss of battery life, they carbon-coated each nanowire and prohibited direct contact between the sulfur and electrolyte.
The result was one of the most powerful batteries in terms of both energy performance and density. Compared to conventional batteries which suffer from continuous decrease in energy capacity after being discharged, the lithium sulfur battery maintained 99.2% of its initial capacity after being charged and discharged 300 times and up to 70% even after 1000 times.
Professor Kim claims that his new battery is an important step forward towards a high-performance rechargeable battery which is a vital technology for unmanned vehicles, electric automobiles and energy storage. He hopes that his research can solve the problems of battery-capacity loss and contribute to South Korea’s leading position in battery technology. Professor Kim’s research team has filed applications for one domestic and international patent for their research.
2013.12.11 View 11098 -
Wearable computer follows suit of smart phones
KAIST hosts “Wearable Computer Competition” in KI Building, Daejeon Campus, on the 7th-8th of November
“Computer that controls smart phones with the movement of facial muscles” and 12 other wearable computers to be presented
As technology transitions to “Wearable Computers,” KAIST is hosting its 9th “Wearable Computer Competition.” The competition will take place over two days, 7th-8th of November, in KI building, on the main Daejeon Campus.
The “wearable computer” is designed to enable users to use the computer whilst moving by limiting its weight and size so that it can be worn as a part of the body and clothing. Wearable computers have been considered the future of information technology (IT) ever since smart phones and other miniaturized IT devices made an appearance.
The “Wearable Computer Competition” has been held since 2005 under the leadership of Professor Hoi-Jun Yoo from the KAIST Department of Electrical Engineering. It is the only competition in the nation where undergraduate students use their unique ideas and newest technology to produce computers that seem to be existed only in sci-fi movies and comic books.
A total of 15 teams out of 70 made the competition and went through a rigorous selection process based on written applications and interviews to enter the final. The teams at the final received USD 1,400 and IT devices including smart phones to produce a wearable computer.
KAIST increased the number of finalists from the last year"s 10 to 15 this year as the wearable computer industry is extending, and there is growing interest in the computer around the world after the launch of Google Glass and Samsung Galaxy Gear.
This year’s entries included a product for quadriplegic patients to control smart phones with the movement of facial muscles, which attracted public interest. The product in the form of a headband can be worn by quadriplegic patients or someone with limited hand movement. The user can activate the product by clenching their molars and move the mouse on the smart phones with the movement of muscles in their face.
Furthermore, a wearable band shaped device that can control smart phones with simple hand movements is also attracting interest. Broad hand movements of the user allows him/her to receive calls and take photos, and handshakes between users control sharing of files. Body communication can be used to protect private information without a password or locking the device.
In addition, gloves and shoes that can sense the user’s movement to play an instrument without the instrument being present; a cane for the blind that converts visual information to tactile; a belt that protects children from sexual crimes; and a game where the user can be Super Mario to play and other practical products are presented.
The chairman of the competition, Professor Yoo said, “As you can see from the launch of Samsung Galaxy Gear, wearable computers will follow smart phones as the leader of IT devices in the next generation.” He continued, “This competition and workshop is an opportunity to increase public interest in wearable computers and serves as a communication platform for experts to view the present and the future of wearable computers.”
The “Wearable Computer Workshop” will be held this year as well. The workshop under the theme of “the present and the future of wearable computers” invited Professor Kyu-Ho Park, Vice President of KAIST, as a keynote speaker to talk on “ubiquitous, fashionable computers.” Moreover, Samsung’s Dong-Jun Geum and the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute’s Hyeon-Tae Jeong will lecture on the “trend and direction of progress of wearable devices” and the “technological trend and prospect of industry of wearable computers,” respectively.
To participate in the competition or the workshop, please visit the website (http://www.ufcom.org)
for further information.
2013.11.28 View 9375 -
Technology Developed for Flexible, Foldable & Rechargeable Battery
Flexible, Foldable & Rechargeable Battery
The research group of professors Jang-Wook Choi & Jung-Yong Lee from the Graduate School of EEWS and Taek-Soo Kim from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at KAIST has developed technology for flexible and foldable batteries which are rechargeable using solar energy. The research result was published in the online issue of Nano Letters on November 5.
Trial versions of flexible and wearable electronics are being developed and introduced in the market such as Galaxy Gear, Apple’s i-Watch, and Google Glass. Research is being conducted to make the batteries softer and more wearable and to compete in the fast-growing market for flexible electronics.
This new technology is expected to be applied to the development of wearable computers as well as winter outdoor clothing since it is flexible and light. The research group expects that the new technology can be applied to current battery production lines without additional investment.
Professor Choi said, “It can be used as a core-source technology in the rechargeable battery industry in the future. Various wearable mobile electronic products can be developed through cooperation and collaboration within the industry.”
2013.11.21 View 10476 -
2013 International Forum on Eco-Friendly Vehicle and System
Leaders in transportation technology gathered at KAIST to discuss commercialization & standardization and to encourage the exchange of research progress, strategy, and future initiatives in transportation technology.
The Graduate School for Green Transportation at KAIST hosted the 2013 International Forum on Eco-friendly Vehicles and Systems (IFEV) in Fusion Hall of the KAIST Institute Building from October 21 to 22.
About 50 leaders in the field of future transportation from academic institutes and industries including Dr. Soon-Man Hong, President of Korea Railroad Research Institute (KRRI), Dr. Kwang-Hee Nam, Professor at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), and Mr. Mike Schagrin, the Intelligent Transportation Systems Program Manager of the US Department of Transportation (retired) participated in the 4th annual IFEV.
The commercialization & standardization session and a technical session were followed by the plenary meeting of the forum.
Dr. Hong, the keynote speaker, introduced the High Capacity Double Deck High Speed Train, Near Surface Subway System, and Urban Railway System with Wireless Power Transfer Technology under the title “Korea’s Policy and Technology Initiative for Enhancing Green Transport Systems.”
Dr. Kwang-Hee Nam presented “Electric Vehicle Trends & the POSTECH E-Car Research Center Power Train Design,” followed by Mr. Mike Schagrin who spoke about “Going Green with Connected Automation.”
Dr. Omer C. Onar from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) shared recent research on “ORNL Development in Stationary and Dynamic Wireless Charging.”
In the commercialization session, Faical Turki of Vahle, Germany, presented “Wireless Inductive Battery Chargers,” and Professor Kazuyuki Ouchi from Tokyo University presented “Wind Challenger, the Next Generation Hybrid Vessels.”
In the technical session, presentations and discussions were performed on future ground vehicles and railroad technology, intelligent transportation systems and strategy, and policy on eco-friendly vehicle technology, including Professor In-Soo Suh of the Graduate School for Green Transportation at KAIST who presented on “Armadillo-T: 4WD Micro Electric EV with a Foldable Body Concept.”
On the second day of IFEV 2013, representatives of the European Union’s Safe and Green Road Vehicles (SAGE) consortium discussed connectivity in road transportation as a means of improving safety, efficiency and convenience in future safe and green vehicles with collaboration from Korean transportation organizations such as the Korea Transport Institute and Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute.
Professor Suh, who organized the forum, said, “This forum will serve as an excellent opportunity to discuss and share R&BD progress in the green transportation field. “Details can be found at http://gt.kaist.ac.kr/ifev2013/.
2013.11.15 View 11139 -
KAIST's Partnership Agreement with the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, UK
KAIST signed an agreement on academic and research cooperation with the Imperial College of Science, Technology (Imperial College London) and Medicine in the United Kingdom (UK) on November 6th, 2013 in London.
The two universities have been implementing collaboration programs at the department level in the areas of plastic electronics since September 2012 and systems engineering and molecular simulation since February 2013, but have never had a formal partnership agreement.
President Steve Kang from KAIST and Provost James Stirling from Imperial College London signed the comprehensive cooperation agreement which will not only strengthen the existing collaborations between the two institutions but also explore areas of mutual interest in the interdisciplinary study of big data, as well as in the fields of mechanical engineering, synthetic biology, and quantum physics.
Workshops, seminars, lectures, and conferences will be jointly organized and held to facilitate the exchange of research staff and faculty and to promote collaborations in research assignments. The universities will also look into the possibility of exchange programs for undergraduate and graduate students.
The partnership agreement will be effective for five years.
Minister Moon-Gi Choi from the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Science, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) & Future Planning attended the signing ceremony as well and congratulated the establishment of the partnership, saying:
“We are living in the age of highly advanced science and technology that requires us to have a new economic development paradigm for sustainable growth. Through convergence research based on the application of ICT and technology innovation, we will have new opportunities for development. I hope KAIST and the Imperial College London will be at the forefront of such endeavors in coming years.”With its history spanning over 100 years, the Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, UK, specializing in science, engineering, medicine, and business. The university is regarded as being one of the most prestigious universities in the world, having eminent alumni such as Thomas Henry Huxley (biologist), H.G. Wells (author), and Sir Alexander Fleming (pharmacologist).
From left to right: Provost James Stirling, Minister Moon-Gi Choi, and President Steve Kang
2013.11.12 View 8475 -
Metabolically engineered E. coli producing phenol
Many chemicals we use in everyday life are derived from fossil resources. Due to the increasing concerns on the use of fossil resources, there has been much interest in producing chemicals from renewable resources through biotechnology.
Phenol is an important commodity chemical, and is a starting material for the production of numerous industrial chemicals and polymers, including bisphenol A and phenolic resins, and others. At present, the production of phenol entirely depends on the chemical synthesis from benzene, and its annual production exceeds 8 million tons worldwide. Microbial production of phenol seems to be a non-viable process considering the high toxicity of phenol to the cell.
In the paper published online in Biotechnology Journal, a Korean research team led by Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee at the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) reported the successful development of an engineered Escherichia coli (E. coli) strain which can produce phenol from glucose. E. coli has been a workhorse for biological production of various value-added compounds such as succinic acid and 1,4-butanediol in industrial scale. However, due to its low tolerance to phenol, E. coli was not considered a viable host strain for the biological production of phenol.
Professor Lee"s team, a leading research group in metabolic engineering, noted the genetic and physiological differences of various E. coli strains and investigated 18 different E. coli strains with respect to phenol tolerance and engineered all of the 18 strains simultaneously. If the traditional genetic engineering methods were used, this work would have taken years to do. To overcome this challenge, the research team used synthetic small RNA (sRNA) technology they recently developed (Nature Biotechnology, vol 31, pp 170-174, 2013). The sRNA technology allowed the team to screen 18 E. coli strains with respect to the phenol tolerance, and the activities of the metabolic pathway and enzyme involved in the production of phenol. The research team also metabolically engineered the E. coli strains to increase carbon flux toward phenol and finally generated an engineered E. coli strain which can produce phenol from glucose.
Furthermore, the team developed a biphasic extractive fermentation process to minimize the toxicity of phenol to E. coli cells. Glycerol tributyrate was found to have low toxicity to E. coli and allowed efficient extraction of phenol from the culture broth. Through the biphasic fed-batch fermentation using glycerol tributyrate as an in situ extractant, the final engineered E. coli strain produced phenol to the highest titer and productivity reported (3.8 g/L and 0.18 g/L/h, respectively). The strategy used for the strain development and the fermentation process will serve as a framework for metabolic engineering of microorganisms for the production of toxic chemicals from renewable resources.
This work was supported by the Intelligent Synthetic Biology Center through the Global Frontier Project (2011-0031963) of the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning through the National Research Foundation of Korea.
Process of Phenol Production
2013.11.05 View 9304 -
KAIST announced a novel technology to produce gasoline by a metabolically engineered microorganism
A major scientific breakthrough in the development of renewable energy sources and other important chemicals; The research team succeeded in producing 580 mg of gasoline per liter of cultured broth by converting in vivo generated fatty acids
For many decades, we have been relying on fossil resources to produce liquid fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and many industrial and consumer chemicals for daily use. However, increasing strains on natural resources as well as environmental issues including global warming have triggered a strong interest in developing sustainable ways to obtain fuels and chemicals.
Gasoline, the petroleum-derived product that is most widely used as a fuel for transportation, is a mixture of hydrocarbons, additives, and blending agents. The hydrocarbons, called alkanes, consist only of carbon and hydrogen atoms. Gasoline has a combination of straight-chain and branched-chain alkanes (hydrocarbons) consisted of 4-12 carbon atoms linked by direct carbon-carbon bonds.
Previously, through metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli (E. coli), there have been a few research results on the production of long-chain alkanes, which consist of 13-17 carbon atoms, suitable for replacing diesel. However, there has been no report on the microbial production of short-chain alkanes, a possible substitute for gasoline.
In the paper (entitled "Microbial Production of Short-chain Alkanes") published online in Nature on September 29, a Korean research team led by Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) reported, for the first time, the development of a novel strategy for microbial gasoline production through metabolic engineering of E. coli.
The research team engineered the fatty acid metabolism to provide the fatty acid derivatives that are shorter than normal intracellular fatty acid metabolites, and introduced a novel synthetic pathway for the biosynthesis of short-chain alkanes. This allowed the development of platform E. coli strain capable of producing gasoline for the first time. Furthermore, this platform strain, if desired, can be modified to produce other products such as short-chain fatty esters and short-chain fatty alcohols.
In this paper, the Korean researchers described detailed strategies for 1) screening of enzymes associated with the production of fatty acids, 2) engineering of enzymes and fatty acid biosynthetic pathways to concentrate carbon flux towards the short-chain fatty acid production, and 3) converting short-chain fatty acids to their corresponding alkanes (gasoline) by introducing a novel synthetic pathway and optimization of culture conditions. Furthermore, the research team showed the possibility of producing fatty esters and alcohols by introducing responsible enzymes into the same platform strain.
Professor Sang Yup Lee said, "It is only the beginning of the work towards sustainable production of gasoline. The titer is rather low due to the low metabolic flux towards the formation of short-chain fatty acids and their derivatives. We are currently working on increasing the titer, yield and productivity of bio-gasoline. Nonetheless, we are pleased to report, for the first time, the production of gasoline through the metabolic engineering of E. coli, which we hope will serve as a basis for the metabolic engineering of microorganisms to produce fuels and chemicals from renewable resources."
This research was supported by the Advanced Biomass Research and Development Center of Korea (ABC-2010-0029799) through the Global Frontier Research Program of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) through the National Research Foundation (NRF), Republic of Korea. Systems metabolic engineering work was supported by the Technology Development Program to Solve Climate Changes on Systems Metabolic Engineering for Biorefineries (NRF-2012-C1AAA001-2012M1A2A2026556) by MSIP through NRF.
Short-Chain Alkanes Generated from Renewable Biomass
This diagram shows the metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for the production of short-chain alkanes (gasoline) from renewable biomass.
Nature Cover Page (September 29th, 2013)
2013.11.04 View 10955 -
A powerful strategy for developing microbial cell factories by employing synthetic small RNAs
The current systems for the production of chemicals, fuels and materials heavily rely on the use of fossil resources. Due to the increasing concerns on climate change and other environmental problems, however, there has been much interest in developing biorefineries for the production of such chemicals, fuels and materials from renewable resources. For the biorefineries to be competitive with the traditional fossil resource-based refineries, development of high performance microorganisms is the most important as it will affect the overall economics of the process most significantly. Metabolic engineering, which can be defined as purposeful modification of cellular metabolic and regulatory networks with an aim to improve the production of a desired product, has been successfully employed to improve the performance of the cell. However, it is not trivial to engineer the cellular metabolism and regulatory circuits in the cell due to their high complexity.
In metabolic engineering, it is important to find the genes that need to be amplified and attenuated in order to increase the product formation rate while minimizing the production of undesirable byproducts. Gene knock-out experiments are often performed to delete those metabolic fluxes that will consequently result in the increase of the desired product formation. However, gene knock-out experiments require much effort and time to perform, and are difficult to do for a large number of genes. Furthermore, the gene knock-out experiments performed in one strain cannot be transferred to another organism and thus the whole experimental process has to be repeated. This is a big problem in developing a high performance microbial cell factory because it is required to find the best platform strain among many different strains. Therefore, researchers have been eager to develop a strategy that allows rapid identification of multiple genes to be attenuated in multiple strains at the same time.
A Korean research team led by Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee at the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) reported the development of a strategy for efficiently developing microbial cell factories by employing synthetic small RNAs (sRNAs). They first reported the development of such system in Nature Biotechnology last February. This strategy of employing synthetic sRNAs in metabolic engineering has been receiving great interest worldwide as it allows easy, rapid, high-throughput, tunable, and un-doable knock-down of multiple genes in multiple strains at the same time. The research team published a paper online on August 8 as a cover page (September issue) in Nature Protocols, describing the detailed strategy and protocol to employ synthetic sRNAs for metabolic engineering.
In this paper, researchers described the detailed step-by-step protocol for synthetic sRNA-based gene expression control, including the sRNA design principles. Tailor-made synthetic sRNAs can be easily manipulated by using conventional gene cloning method. The use of synthetic sRNAs for gene expression regulation provides several advantages such as portability, conditionality, and tunability in high-throughput experiments. Plasmid-based synthetic sRNA expression system does not leave any scar on the chromosome, and can be easily transferred to many other host strains to be examined. Thus, the construction of libraries and examination of different host strains are much easier than the conventional hard-coded gene manipulation systems. Also, the expression of genes can be conditionally repressed by controlling the production of synthetic sRNAs. Synthetic sRNAs possessing different repression efficiencies make it possible to finely tune the gene expression levels as well. Furthermore, synthetic sRNAs allow knock-down of the expression of essential genes, which was not possible by conventional gene knock-out experiments.
Synthetic sRNAs can be utilized for diverse experiments where gene expression regulation is needed. One of promising applications is high-throughput screening of the target genes to be manipulated and multiple strains simultaneously to enhance the production of chemicals and materials of interest. Such simultaneous optimization of gene targets and strains has been one of the big challenges in metabolic engineering. Another application is to fine tune the expression of the screened genes for flux optimization, which would enhance chemical production further by balancing the flux between biomass formation and target chemical production. Synthetic sRNAs can also be applied to finely regulating genetic interactions in a circuit or network, which is essential in synthetic biology. Once a sRNA scaffold-harboring plasmid is constructed, tailor-made, synthetic sRNAs can be made within 3-4 days, followed by the desired application experiments.
Dr. Eytan Zlotorynski, an editor at Nature Protocols, said "This paper describes the detailed protocol for the design and applications of synthetic sRNA. The method, which has many advantages, is likely to become common practice, and prove useful for metabolic engineering and synthetic biology studies."
This paper published in Nature Protocols will be useful for all researchers in academia and industry who are interested in the use of synthetic sRNAs for fundamental and applied biological and biotechnological studies.
This work was supported by the Technology Development Program to Solve Climate Changes on Systems Metabolic Engineering for Biorefineries (NRF-2012-C1AAA001-2012M1A2A2026556) and the Intelligent Synthetic Biology Center through the Global Frontier Project (2011-0031963) of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning through the National Research Foundation of Korea.
2013.10.31 View 8839 -
Therapy developed to induce Angiogenesis of Retina
- Junyeop Lee, Graduate School of Medical Sciences and Engineering
- Research results expected to be applied for treatment of diabetic retinopathy
A major clue to treatment of retinovascular disease, which causes blindness, has been found. The key to protection of the retinal nerve is the angiogenic protein that promotes healthy retinal vessel growth around the retina, which usually does not receive blood supply readily. This research offers a beginning to the possible improvement of therapy for diabetic retinopathy1 and retinopathy of prematurity2. Also important to the research is the fact that the ophthalmology specialist researcher, currently undergoing professional training, provided the results.
KAIST Graduate School of Medical Sciences and Engineering’s Junyeop Lee is the opthalmology specialist, who carried out the research under supervision by academic advisers Gyuyeong Go and Wookjun Yoo. The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning as well as the National Research Foundation of Korea have funded his research. The research results have been published as a cover paper on ‘Science Translational Medicine’ on 18th August. This journal is a sister publication of Science, which is prestigious in the field of translational medicine that ties the basic science with clinical medicine. (Thesis title: Angiopoietin-1 Guides Directional Angiogenesis Through Integrin αvβ5 Signaling for Recovery of Ischemic Retinopathy)
The traditional treatment of diabetic retinopathy includes laser photocoagulation to destroy the retinal tissues or antibody therapeutics, which prevents vessel proliferation and blood leaking. The advantage of antibody therapeutics3 is that it retains the retinal nerves, however, it is not the fundamental solution but merely a temporary one, which requires repeated treatments.
The research team identified that Angiopoietin-14 protein, known as essential for growth and stabilization of vessels, also plays an important role in retinal vessel growth. The protein protects the retinal nerves, as well as provides improvement for retinal ischemia5 that is the root cause of vision loss due to retinal hemorrhages. It is expected to become a key to finding fundamental treatment method – by providing sufficient blood supply to the retina, thereby preserving the retinal nerve functions.
The results show that administration of Angiopoietin-1 to retinopathy mouse model promotes growth of healthy vessel growth, further preventing abnormal vessel growth, retinal hemorrhage and vision loss due to retinal ischemia.
Junyeop Lee said, “This research has identified that Angiopoietin-1 is an important factor in retinal vessel generation and stabilization. The paradigm will shift from traditional treatment method, which prevents vessel growth, to a new method that generates healthy vessels and strengthens vessel functions.”
1 Diabetic retinopathy: This retinovascular disease is a diabetic complication caused by insufficient blood supply. It is the major causes of blindness in adults.
2 Retinopathy of prematurity: The retinal vascular disease that occurs in premature infants with incomplete retinal vascular development. It is also the most common cause of blindness in children.
3 Antibody Therapeutics: Antibody developed to selectively inhibit abnormal blood vessel growth and leakage. Typical antibody therapeutics is Avastin and Lucentis, which hinder vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).
4 Angiopoietin-1: A critical growth factor that induces the production of healthy blood vessels and maintains the stability of the created vessel.
5 Retinal ischemia: State of ailment where retinal tissue blood supply is not sufficient.
Figure 1. Retinopathy mouse models show that, in comparison to the control group, the VEGF-Trap treatment and Angiopoietin-1 (Ang1) treatment groups significantly suppresses the pathological vascular proliferation. In addition, the Ang 1 group show vessel growth toward the central avascular area (region of retinal ischemia), which is not observed in VEGF-Trap treatment.
Figure 2. Reduced retinal ischemia, retinal bleeding and blood vessel normalization by Angiopoietin-1. Retinal ischemic region (arrow) and retinal bleeding significantly reduced in the Angiopoietin-1 (Ang1) treatment model in comparison to control group (left). The newly generated vessels in Ang 1 model are structurally supported by perivascular cells as normal retinal vessels do (right).
2013.10.12 View 10505 -
KAIST to establish Ombudsperson system
KAIST has recently undergone a massive reorganization to achieve a streamlined system and highly efficient administration; and it will now implement the new “Ombudsperson” system to hear the opinions of the members of the university.
On September 9th, President Sungmo Kang held a ceremony to appoint Professors Sang-Young Shin and Hong-Gu Shim as the new “Ombudspersons”.
The previous Shinmungo system raised complaints and recommendations for improvements by members of the university, but this is the first time that KAIST has assigned a direct department for handling such matters.
The newly appointed Ombudspersons will review for the possibility of any unjust, irrational systems, violations of research ethics and such. It is their role to take a neutral stance and advise on the correction and improvement.
The merit of the Ombudsperson system is that diverse opinions can be reflected on the policy. The Ombudsperson guarantees the security of the contents of discussion so that anyone can share his or her opinion without fear of being recorded in documents.
It is expected that the Ombudsperson system will protect the interests of the individuals and thus contribute to making a “happy campus”.
President [Sungmo] Kang has said that the reason establishing the office of the Ombudsperson is “In order for KAIST to take a new leap toward the world, it is crucial to bring the minds of the members together…. Even the smallest voices must be heard to present solutions to make the university where everyone’s happy.”
In 1809, the Swedish Parliament appointed the first “Ombudsperson” to investigate and resolve civil complaints. Now, it is widely used in public institutions, corporations and universities to improve the communication and work efficiency of the members.
The new Ombudsmen: Prof. Sang-Young Shin (left) and Prof. Hong-Gu Shim (right)
2013.09.27 View 10010