Reports
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KAIST Demonstrates AI and sustainable technologies at CES 2024
On January 2, KAIST announced it will be participating in the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024, held between January 9 and 12.
CES 2024 is one of the world’s largest tech conferences to take place in Las Vegas. Under the slogan “KAIST, the Global Value Creator” for its exhibition, KAIST has submitted technologies falling under one of following themes: “Expansion of Human Intelligence, Mobility, and Reality”, and “Pursuit of Human Security and Sustainable Development”.
24 startups and pre-startups whose technologies stand out in various fields including artificial intelligence (AI), mobility, virtual reality, healthcare and human security, and sustainable development, will welcome their visitors at an exclusive booth of 232 m2 prepared for KAIST at Eureka Park in Las Vegas.
12 businesses will participate in the first category, “Expansion of Human Intelligence, Mobility, and Reality”, including MicroPix, Panmnesia, DeepAuto, MGL, Reports, Narnia Labs, EL FACTORY, Korea Position Technology, AudAi, Planby Technologies, Movin, and Studio Lab.
In the “Pursuit of Human Security and Sustainable Development” category, 12 businesses including Aldaver, ADNC, Solve, Iris, Blue Device, Barreleye, TR, A2US, Greeners, Iron Boys, Shard Partners and Kingbot, will be introduced.
In particular, Aldaver is a startup that received the Korean Business Award 2023 as well as the presidential award at the Challenge K-Startup with its biomimetic material and printing technology. It has attracted 4.5 billion KRW of investment thus far.
Narnia Labs, with its AI design solution for manufacturing, won the grand prize for K-tech Startups 2022, and has so far attracted 3.5 billion KRW of investments.
Panmnesia is a startup that won the 2024 CES Innovation Award, recognized for their fab-less AI semiconductor technology. They attracted 16 billion KRW of investment through seed round alone.
Meanwhile, student startups will also be presented during the exhibition. Studio Lab received a CES 2024 Best of Innovation Award in the AI category. The team developed the software Seller Canvas, which automatically generates a page for product details when a user uploads an image of a product.
The central stage at the KAIST exhibition booth will be used to interview members of the participating startups between Jan 9 to 11, as well as a networking site for businesses and invited investors during KAIST NIGHT on the evening of 10th, between 5 and 7 PM.
Director Sung-Yool Choi of the KAIST Institute of Technology Value Creation said, “Through CES 2024, KAIST will overcome the limits of human intelligence, mobility, and space with the deep-tech based technologies developed by its startups, and will demonstrate its achievements for realizing its vision as a global value-creating university through the solutions for human security and sustainable development.”
2024.01.05 View 5138 -
Attachable Skin Monitors that Wick the Sweat Away
- A silicone membrane for wearable devices is more comfortable and breathable thanks to better-sized pores made with the help of citric acid crystals. -
A new preparation technique fabricates thin, silicone-based patches that rapidly wick water away from the skin. The technique could reduce the redness and itching caused by wearable biosensors that trap sweat beneath them. The technique was developed by bioengineer and professor Young-Ho Cho and his colleagues at KAIST and reported in the journal Scientific Reports last month.
“Wearable bioelectronics are becoming more attractive for the day-to-day monitoring of biological compounds found in sweat, like hormones or glucose, as well as body temperature, heart rate, and energy expenditure,” Professor Cho explained. “But currently available materials can cause skin irritation, so scientists are looking for ways to improve them,” he added.
Attachable biosensors often use a silicone-based compound called polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), as it has a relatively high water vapour transmission rate compared to other materials. Still, this rate is only two-thirds that of skin’s water evaporation rate, meaning sweat still gets trapped underneath it.
Current fabrication approaches mix PDMS with beads or solutes, such as sugars or salts, and then remove them to leave pores in their place. Another technique uses gas to form pores in the material. Each technique has its disadvantages, from being expensive and complex to leaving pores of different sizes.
A team of researchers led by Professor Cho from the KAIST Department of Bio and Brain Engineering was able to form small, uniform pores by crystallizing citric acid in PDMS and then removing the crystals using ethanol. The approach is significantly cheaper than using beads, and leads to 93.2% smaller and 425% more uniformly-sized pores compared to using sugar. Importantly, the membrane transmits water vapour 2.2 times faster than human skin.
The team tested their membrane on human skin for seven days and found that it caused only minor redness and no itching, whereas a non-porous PDMS membrane did.
Professor Cho said, “Our method could be used to fabricate porous PDMS membranes for skin-attachable devices used for daily monitoring of physiological signals.”
“We next plan to modify our membrane so it can be more readily attached to and removed from skin,” he added.
This work was supported by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) of Korea under the Alchemist Project.
Image description:
Smaller, more uniformly-sized pores are made in the PDMS membrane by mixing PDMS, toluene, citric acid, and ethanol. Toluene dilutes PDMS so it can easily mix with the other two constituents. Toluene and ethanol are then evaporated, which causes the citric acid to crystallize within the PDMS material. The mixture is placed in a mould where it solidifies into a thin film. The crystals are then removed using ethanol, leaving pores in their place.
Image credit:
Professor Young-Ho Cho, KAIST
Image usage restrictions:
News organizations may use or redistribute this image, with proper attribution, as part of news coverage of this paper only.
Publication:
Yoon, S, et al. (2021) Wearable porous PDMS layer of high moisture permeability for skin trouble reduction. Scientific Reports 11, Article No. 938. Available online at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-78580-z
Profile:
Young-Ho Cho, Ph.D
Professor
mems@kaist.ac.kr
https://mems.kaist.ac.kr
NanoSentuating Systems Laboratory
Department of Bio and Brain Engineering
https://kaist.ac.kr
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
Daejeon, Republic of Korea
(END)
2021.02.22 View 10885 -
Unravelling Complex Brain Networks with Automated 3-D Neural Mapping
-Automated 3-D brain imaging data analysis technology offers more reliable and standardized analysis of the spatial organization of complex neural circuits.-
KAIST researchers developed a new algorithm for brain imaging data analysis that enables the precise and quantitative mapping of complex neural circuits onto a standardized 3-D reference atlas.
Brain imaging data analysis is indispensable in the studies of neuroscience. However, analysis of obtained brain imaging data has been heavily dependent on manual processing, which cannot guarantee the accuracy, consistency, and reliability of the results.
Conventional brain imaging data analysis typically begins with finding a 2-D brain atlas image that is visually similar to the experimentally obtained brain image. Then, the region-of-interest (ROI) of the atlas image is matched manually with the obtained image, and the number of labeled neurons in the ROI is counted.
Such a visual matching process between experimentally obtained brain images and 2-D brain atlas images has been one of the major sources of error in brain imaging data analysis, as the process is highly subjective, sample-specific, and susceptible to human error. Manual analysis processes for brain images are also laborious, and thus studying the complete 3-D neuronal organization on a whole-brain scale is a formidable task.
To address these issues, a KAIST research team led by Professor Se-Bum Paik from the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering developed new brain imaging data analysis software named 'AMaSiNe (Automated 3-D Mapping of Single Neurons)', and introduced the algorithm in the May 26 issue of Cell Reports.
AMaSiNe automatically detects the positions of single neurons from multiple brain images, and accurately maps all the data onto a common standard 3-D reference space. The algorithm allows the direct comparison of brain data from different animals by automatically matching similar features from the images, and computing the image similarity score.
This feature-based quantitative image-to-image comparison technology improves the accuracy, consistency, and reliability of analysis results using only a small number of brain slice image samples, and helps standardize brain imaging data analyses.
Unlike other existing brain imaging data analysis methods, AMaSiNe can also automatically find the alignment conditions from misaligned and distorted brain images, and draw an accurate ROI, without any cumbersome manual validation process.
AMaSiNe has been further proved to produce consistent results with brain slice images stained utilizing various methods including DAPI, Nissl, and autofluorescence.
The two co-lead authors of this study, Jun Ho Song and Woochul Choi, exploited these benefits of AMaSiNe to investigate the topographic organization of neurons that project to the primary visual area (VISp) in various ROIs, such as the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (LGd), which could hardly be addressed without proper calibration and standardization of the brain slice image samples.
In collaboration with Professor Seung-Hee Lee's group of the Department of Biological Science, the researchers successfully observed the 3-D topographic neural projections to the VISp from LGd, and also demonstrated that these projections could not be observed when the slicing angle was not properly corrected by AMaSiNe. The results suggest that the precise correction of a slicing angle is essential for the investigation of complex and important brain structures.
AMaSiNe is widely applicable in the studies of various brain regions and other experimental conditions. For example, in the research team’s previous study jointly conducted with Professor Yang Dan’s group at UC Berkeley, the algorithm enabled the accurate analysis of the neuronal subsets in the substantia nigra and their projections to the whole brain. Their findings were published in Science on January 24.
AMaSiNe is of great interest to many neuroscientists in Korea and abroad, and is being actively used by a number of other research groups at KAIST, MIT, Harvard, Caltech, and UC San Diego.
Professor Paik said, “Our new algorithm allows the spatial organization of complex neural circuits to be found in a standardized 3-D reference atlas on a whole-brain scale. This will bring brain imaging data analysis to a new level.”
He continued, “More in-depth insights for understanding the function of brain circuits can be achieved by facilitating more reliable and standardized analysis of the spatial organization of neural circuits in various regions of the brain.”
This work was supported by KAIST and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF).
Figure and Image Credit: Professor Se-Bum Paik, KAIST
Figure and Image Usage Restrictions: News organizations may use or redistribute these figures and images, with proper attribution, as part of news coverage of this paper only.
Publication:
Song, J. H., et al. (2020). Precise Mapping of Single Neurons by Calibrated 3D Reconstruction of Brain Slices Reveals Topographic Projection in Mouse Visual Cortex. Cell Reports. Volume 31, 107682. Available online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2020.107682
Profile:
Se-Bum Paik
Assistant Professor
sbpaik@kaist.ac.kr
http://vs.kaist.ac.kr/
VSNN Laboratory
Department of Bio and Brain Engineering
Program of Brain and Cognitive Engineering
http://kaist.ac.kr
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
Daejeon, Republic of Korea
(END)
2020.06.08 View 11849 -
A Single Biological Factor Predicts Distinct Cortical Organizations across Mammalian Species
-A KAIST team’s mathematical sampling model shows that retino-cortical mapping is a prime determinant in the topography of cortical organization.-
Researchers have explained how visual cortexes develop uniquely across the brains of different mammalian species. A KAIST research team led by Professor Se-Bum Paik from the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering has identified a single biological factor, the retino-cortical mapping ratio, that predicts distinct cortical organizations across mammalian species.
This new finding has resolved a long-standing puzzle in understanding visual neuroscience regarding the origin of functional architectures in the visual cortex. The study published in Cell Reports on March 10 demonstrates that the evolutionary variation of biological parameters may induce the development of distinct functional circuits in the visual cortex, even without species-specific developmental mechanisms.
In the primary visual cortex (V1) of mammals, neural tuning to visual stimulus orientation is organized into one of two distinct topographic patterns across species. While primates have columnar orientation maps, a salt-and-pepper type organization is observed in rodents.
For decades, this sharp contrast between cortical organizations has spawned fundamental questions about the origin of functional architectures in the V1. However, it remained unknown whether these patterns reflect disparate developmental mechanisms across mammalian taxa, or simply originate from variations in biological parameters under a universal development process.
To identify a determinant predicting distinct cortical organizations, Professor Paik and his researchers Jaeson Jang and Min Song examined the exact condition that generates columnar and salt-and-pepper organizations, respectively. Next, they applied a mathematical model to investigate how the topographic information of the underlying retinal mosaics pattern could be differently mapped onto a cortical space, depending on the mapping condition.
The research team proved that the retino-cortical feedforwarding mapping ratio appeared to be correlated to the cortical organization of each species. In the model simulations, the team found that distinct cortical circuitries can arise from different V1 areas and retinal ganglion cell (RGC) mosaic sizes. The team’s mathematical sampling model shows that retino-cortical mapping is a prime determinant in the topography of cortical organization, and this prediction was confirmed by neural parameter analysis of the data from eight phylogenetically distinct mammalian species.
Furthermore, the researchers proved that the Nyquist sampling theorem explains this parametric division of cortical organization with high accuracy. They showed that a mathematical model predicts that the organization of cortical orientation tuning makes a sharp transition around the Nyquist sampling frequency, explaining why cortical organizations can be observed in either columnar or salt-and-pepper organizations, but not in intermediates between these two stages.
Professor Paik said, “Our findings make a significant impact for understanding the origin of functional architectures in the visual cortex of the brain, and will provide a broad conceptual advancement as well as advanced insights into the mechanism underlying neural development in evolutionarily divergent species.”
He continued, “We believe that our findings will be of great interest to scientists working in a wide range of fields such as neuroscience, vision science, and developmental biology.”
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF).
Image credit: Professor Se-Bum Paik, KAIST
Image usage restrictions: News organizations may use or redistribute this image, with proper attribution, as part of news coverage of this paper only.
Publication:
Jaeson Jang, Min Song, and Se-Bum Paik. (2020). Retino-cortical mapping ratio predicts columnar and salt-and-pepper organization in mammalian visual cortex. Cell Reports. Volume 30. Issue 10. pp. 3270-3279. Available online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2020.02.038
Profile:
Se-Bum Paik
Assistant Professor
sbpaik@kaist.ac.kr
http://vs.kaist.ac.kr/
VSNN Laboratory
Department of Bio and Brain Engineering
Program of Brain and Cognitive Engineering
http://kaist.ac.kr
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
Daejeon, Republic of Korea
Profile:
Jaeson Jang
Ph.D. Candidate
jaesonjang@kaist.ac.kr
Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, KAIST
Profile:
Min Song
Ph.D. Candidate
night@kaist.ac.kr
Program of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, KAIST
(END)
2020.03.11 View 11660 -
'Engineered Bacterium Produces 1,3-Diaminopropane'
A research team led by Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at KAIST reported, for the first time, the production of 1,3-diaminopropane via fermentation of an engineered bacterium.
1,3-Diaminopropane is a three carbon diamine, which has a wide range of industrial applications including epoxy resin and cross-linking agents, as well as precursors for pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and organic chemicals. It can also be polymerized with dicarboxylic acids to make polyamides (nylons) for use as engineering plastics, medical materials, and adhesives.
Traditionally, 1,3-diaminopropane is derived from petroleum-based processes. In effort to address critical problems such as the depletion of petroleum and environmental issues inherent to the petroleum-based processes, the research team has developed an Escherichia coli (E. coli) strain capable of producing 1,3-diaminopropane. Using this technology, 1,3-diaminopropane can now be produced from renewable biomass instead of petroleum.
E. coli as found in nature is unable to produce 1,3-diaminopropane. Metabolic engineering, a technology to transform microorganisms into highly efficient microbial cell factories capable of producing chemical compounds of interest, was utilized to engineer the E. coli strain. First, naturally existing metabolic pathways for the biosynthesis of 1,3-diaminopropane were introduced into a virtual cell in silico to determine the most efficient metabolic pathway for the 1,3-diaminopropane production. The metabolic pathway selected was then introduced into an E. coli strain and successfully produced 1,3-diaminopropane for the first time in the world.
The research team applied metabolic engineering additionally, and the production titer of 1,3-diaminopropane increased about 21 fold. The Fed-batch fermentation of the engineered E. coli strain produced 13 grams per liter of 1,3-diaminoproapne. With this technology, 1,3-diaminopropane can be produced using renewable biomass, and it will be the starting point for replacing the current petroleum-based processes with bio-based processes.
Professor Lee said, “Our study suggested a possibility to produce 1,3-diaminopropane based on biorefinery. Further study will be done to increase the titer and productivity of 1,3-diaminopropane.”
This work was published online in Scientific Reports on August 11, 2015.
Reference: Chae, T.U. et al. "Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for the production of 1,3-diaminopropane, a three carbon diamine," Scientific Reports:
http://www.nature.com/articles/srep13040
This research was supported by the Technology Development Program to Solve Climate Changes on Systems Metabolic Engineering for Biorefineries from Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) through the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea.
Figure 1: Metabolic engineering strategies for 1,3-diaminopropane production using C4 pathway
Figure 2: Fed-batch fermentation profiles of two final engineered E. coli strains
2015.08.12 View 10100 -
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 11307 -
The US Science Magazine Published KAIST News on Nov. 30
An educational innovation of our university arouses world"s interest.
The world science magazine, the U.S Science reports deeply President Suh Nampyo" KAIST reform, fund, tenure review, tuition, admission and faculty recruit in News Focus, internet version on 30 November. There is full text of the news below.http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/318/5855/1371
News FocusHIGHER EDUCATION:MIT Engineer Shakes Korean Academia to Its CoreDennis Normile
Radical measures from the new president of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology are roiling a tradition-bound system
Worldly. To gain stature beyond Korea, KAIST has lured students from Vietnam, China, and Rwanda, among other countries.
CREDIT: D. NORMILE/SCIENCE
DAEJEON, SOUTH KOREA--When the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) announced on 19 November that an entrepreneur had donated $2.5 million to the university with promises of more to follow, it marked the latest in a string of coups for the new president, Suh Nam Pyo. A mechanical engineer on leave from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Suh has raised an unprecedented amount--$12.5 million--in a country where donations to universities are rare. He"s challenging other traditions as well. For example, KAIST"s latest tenure review turned down several candidates, a shocking move by Korean standards.Suh says he is aiming to make KAIST "as good as the best [universities], including MIT." Many faculty members agree that Suh"s "overall philosophy and vision are correct," says KAIST systems biologist Lee Sang Yup. But there are concerns about how Suh will implement that vision at the 36-year-old university.
The KAIST community has reason to be cautious. In 2004, the university hired Nobel physics laureate Robert Laughlin as president--the first foreigner to lead a Korean university--with a mandate to transform KAIST into a world-class institution. Laughlin, on leave from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, proposed privatizing KAIST and charging tuition, focusing on commercialization, and tripling undergraduate enrollment (Science, 25 February 2005, p. 1181; 20 January 2006, p. 321). But when Laughlin"s plans failed to materialize, "the faculty was disappointed," says KAIST molecular biologist Chung Jongkyeong. In 2006, the board of trustees decided to seek a new president.
The board turned to Suh. Born in Gyeongju, South Korea, in 1936, Suh moved to the United States with his family as a teenager and earned a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As an MIT professor, Suh has won plaudits for his engineering design theories, earned more than 50 patents, and helped start several companies. In the early 1980s, he was assistant director for engineering at the U.S. National Science Foundation, and he headed MIT"s Department of Mechanical Engineering from 1991 until 2001.
Since arriving at KAIST in July 2006, Suh has opened undergraduate education to non-Korean students for the first time by insisting that many courses be taught in English. Suh decided that students who maintain "B" or better grades would continue to pay no tuition, whereas those with a "C" or below must pay about $16,000 per year starting in February. "We want students to take responsibility for their actions," Suh says.
Agent of change. KAIST"s faculty supports Suh Nam Pyo"s reforms, so far.
CREDIT: KAIST
A new admissions process may also have broad impact. Previously, KAIST, like most of Korea"s top universities, selected the top scorers in a written exam. Most high school students spend their free time prepping for these tests in cram schools. But Suh says that scores "are a one-dimensional measure" that fails to identify leaders. So candidates for KAIST"s next incoming class were invited to campus this fall for interviews, to give presentations, and to engage in discussions while being observed by faculty members, who made selections based on scores and personal impressions. "We"re looking for future Einsteins and future Bill Gateses," says Suh.An even more radical step was putting teeth into tenure reviews. Traditionally, faculty members in Korea gain tenure after logging enough years. Suh insisted that KAIST professors up for tenure gather endorsements from experts in their field around the world. In September, 11 of 33 applicants were denied tenure and were given a year to find new jobs.
The tenure review "is the beginning of an educational revolution," says KAIST chemist Ryoo Ryong. But he and others worry about the fate of those denied tenure. Suh understands their predicament but is standing firm. The professors who didn"t make tenure "are very good people, but in terms of the standard we set, they"re not as good as we expect our professors to be." He is asking other universities to consider giving these professors a chance.
At the same time, Suh is looking to inject fresh blood--including foreigners--into the 418-strong faculty with a plan to add 300 professors over the next 4 to 5 years. (To expand the school, Suh is striving to win government approval for a doubling of KAIST"s base governmental support of $108 million.) His first catch is Mary Kathryn Thompson, who completed her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at MIT last year. "It"s an exciting time to be here," says Thompson, who just started studying Korean when she arrived last August.
Although they support Suh"s initiatives, some faculty members chafe at his blunt public comments implying that Korea"s professors take life too easy. "I cannot agree," says Choi Yang-Kyu, an electrical engineer. "Most professors here are working very hard." Biomolecular engineer Kim Hak-Sung adds: "President Suh should have sticks and carrots, not just sticks."
Carrots don"t come cheap. "I"m spending most of my time trying to raise money," Suh says. Part of that effort is wooing private donors. "Giving to universities is not prevalent in Asia, but it is something I"m trying to nurture in Korea," he says. That"s a precedent all of Korea"s universities might want to embrace.
2007.11.30 View 14835