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2010 International Presidential Forum was held successfully.
On October 11th, the 2010 International Presidential Forum on “The Role of the Research University in an S&T Dominated Era: Expectation & Delivery” was held successfully at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul. The third International Presidential Forum to be held, participants of the 2010 Presidential Forum engaged in an in-depth discussion about the direction that research universities should take in the 21st Century. On its opening, President Nam Pyo Suh delivered a congratulatory message saying, “This forum is a meaningful gathering where research universities will suggest role models and find ways research universities can contribute to the progress of mankind in this century.” Following, Lee Ki Jun, CEO of the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies said, “The common goal of the world’s research universities is to solve the problems mankind is facing together. I believe that the discussion we will hold today at the forum will point to the future direction of research universities.” “To produce next generation engineers meeting global standards, exchange and dual degree programs between universities must be strengthened,” said Lars Pallesen, President of the Technical University of Denmark. “Research universities must support the exchange between students beyond cultural and national borders to adapt to the global market.” Ichiro Okura, Vice President of Tokyo Institute of Technology, presented on the “Asian Science and Technology Pioneering Institutes of Research and Education, ASPIRE.” ASPIRE is a community created by the coalition between science and technology universities in the Far East. Its purpose is to contribute to sustainable global growth by educating high-quality human resources and lead Asia’s technology innovation based on science and technology development. “For research universities to solve today’s global issues, universities must create new ideas by performing fundamental studies and developing innovative technology. The financial resources of universities must be focused with choices based on results,” remarked President Suh. Zaini Ujang, Vice-President of the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia stated that “the Malaysian government is planning on converting from a ‘labor-intensive economy’ to an ‘innovative leading economy’ with the goal of joining the advanced countries by 2020. In today’s science and technology era where innovative technology is necessary, research universities have an important role of developing the knowledge environmental system to lead the world economy.” Vice-President Ujang then explained what strategies Malaysian research universities devised in the innovative leading economy era to create research universities that bring creativity and innovation. Tod A. Laursen, President of KUSTAR, said that “KUSTAR has a leading role in bringing science and technology and manpower necessary in converting the oil-centered economy of UAE to a knowledge-based economy. KUSTAR will continuously strengthen international cooperation to become not only the best engineering university in the Arab region but in the world.” At this year’s forum, thirty international presidents and vice presidents from 24 universities in 15 countries including Georgia Tech, Technical University of Denmark, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, University of Queensland, Tokyo University, Nanyang Technological University, University Teknologi Malaysia and Hong Kong Institute of Science and Technology along with forty national figures such as the presidents of Hanyang University and Handong Global University, governmental bureaucrats and representatives from national business and institutions participated.
2010.10.20
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Yoon-Gyeong Shim donates two billion won's worth of stocks to KAIST.
“We hope KAIST will succeed my late husband’s will.” A 47-year-old widow donated two billion won’s worth of stock to KAIST in respect to her late husband’s will for the scientific development and training of scientifically talented people of Korea. On the 27 of September, KAIST announced that the late CEO of Seoul Alloy Metal’s widow, Yoon-Gyeong Shim, donated her and her children’s inheritance of two billion won’s worth of stocks to KAIST through an agent. While wondering how to spend their inherited two billion won, the family found certificates and contracts of donation in the late CEO Geyong-Dae Kim’s possession. The late lamented Mr. Kim had been donating a certain amount of money monthly for those in need, including undernourished children. Shim decided to donate to Korea’s IT-leading KAIST to succeed her late husband’s will, the husband who lived a life of sharing and dedicated his whole life in the IT department. Shim’s two children, Hyunjae (19 years old) and Youngjae (17 years old) happily participated in this decision. The company represented by Kim, Seoul Alloy Metals, is a national company that produces basic conjugates used in electric and electronic machinery, with founding technology in the environmental-friendly smokeless lead-free solder division. “I believe my late husband, who passed away before his time, would be glad with our family’s decision,” said Shim. “We may be living in a faraway country called New Zealand but my children and I are proud Koreans and we are very glad to give a small hand to Korea’s proud KAIST. We hope KAIST can succeed my late husband’s passion and will for the development of scientific technology. We wish it can be used not only for the development of KAIST, but for the development of Korea.” “KAIST is grateful of Shim’s decision to donate to KAIST,” said President Suh. “To follow the lofty will of the decedent, KAIST will try our best to train the best scientifically talented people and become the best university in the world.” Since appointment of President Suh at KAIST, KAIST has put an effort to spread a donating culture. As a result, KAIST donators have expanded omnidirectionally, including professors, staff, students, alumni, parents of students, and the general public. The number of donations was 1,004 in 2006, 2,139 in 2007, 3,066 in 2008, and 3,304 in 2009.
2010.09.29
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KAIST was invited to the World Economic Forum's fourth "Summer Davos."
KAIST attended the World Economic Forum’s “Summer Davos Forum” held from September 13 to 15 in Tianjin, China. The Summer Davos Forum hosted various sessions and meetings with international dignitaries from governments, business and public organizations, and academia on the main theme of “Driving Growth through Sustainability.” On September 14, four subjects including “Electric Vehicles,” “Humanoid Robotics,” “Next Generation of Biomaterials,” and “New Developments in Neuroengineering” were presented by KAIST, followed by discussions with forum participants. Professor Jae-Seung Jeong of the Bio and Brain Engineering Department, Sang-Yup Lee of the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, Joon-Ho Oh of the Mechanical Engineering Department, and President Nam-Pyo Suh participated in the forum as presenters of the topic. Of these speakers, Professors Jae-Seung Jeong and Sang-Yup Lee were nominated by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as members of the “Young Global Leader” and “Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies,” respectively. President Suh was also invited to the CEO Insight Group and delivered an opening speech on OLEV (Online Electric Vehicle) and the Mobile Harbor. President Suh plans to sign an MOU for research cooperation with Jong-Hoo Kim of Bell Lab and Shirley Jackson of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the near future, respectively. Since 2007, the WEF, in charge of the world’s largest international conference called “Davos Forum” has hosted a “Summer Davos Forum,” also called as the “Annual Meeting of New Champions.” The Summer Davos Forum consists of nations, rising global companies, next generation of global leaders, and cities or nations that lead technological innovations. Unlike the annual Davos Forum held in January, the “Annual Meeting of New Champions” is held in September of each year in Tianjin and Dalian, China. Since 2009, the WEF has added a special session called IdeasLab in the Davos and Summer Davos Forums. Through IdeasLab, prominent universities from all over the world, research organizations, venture businesses, NGOs, and NPOs are invited to exchange and discuss innovative and creative ideas that can contribute to the development of mankind. Until now, universities including INSEAD, EPFL-ETH, MIT, Oxford, Yale, Harvard, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Tsinghua University, and Keio University have been invited to the IdeasLab. KAIST is the first Korean university to attend this session.
2010.09.17
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KAIST hosts training program for Indian MBA students
The College of Business of KAIST held an academic exchange program, inviting MBA students from the Indian Institute of Management. 65 students from India visited Korea and would have a two-week training course including field trips to various companies in the nation. For details, please click the link of Arirang News broadcasted on August 19, 2010. http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nseq=106066&code=Ne2&category=2
2010.08.20
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An internationally renowned academic journal published the research result produced by a KAST research team on its cover.
Fc DAAP VEGF-Trap Photograph showing the gross features of tumor growth along the mesentery-intestinal border. T: tumor. Scale bars represent 5 mm. Professor Gou-Young Koh of the Biological Sciences Department, KAIST, and his research team published their research result in Cancer Cell, a peer-review scientific journal, as a cover article dated August 17, 2010. It is the first time for the journal to pick up a paper written by a Korean research team and publish it as the cover. It has been known that a vascular growth factor (VEGF) is closely related to the growth of a tumor. The research team recently discovered that in addition to VEGF, another growth factor, angiopoietin-2 (Ang2), is also engaged with the increase of tumors. Professor Koh said, “VEGF and the angiopoietins play critical roles in tumor progression and metastasis, and a single inhibitor targeting both factors have not been available.” The team led by Professor Koh has developed a double anti-angiogenic protein (DAAP) that can simultaneously bind VEGF-A and the angiopoietins and block their actions. Professor Koh said in his paper, “DAAP is a highly effective molecule for regressing tumor angiogenesis and metastasis in implanted and spontaneous solid tumor; it can also effectively reduce ascites formation and vascular leakage in an ovarian carcinoma model. Thus, simultaneous blockade of VEGF-A and angiopoietins with DAAP is an effective therapeutic strategy for blocking tumor angiogenesis, metastasis, and vascular leakage.” So far, cancer patients have received Avastin, anticancer drug, to inhibit VEGF, but the drug has not successfully restrained the growth of cancer tumors and brought to some of the patients with serious side effects instead. Professor Koh said, “DAAP will be very effective to control the expansion of tumor growth factors, which will open up a new possibility for the development of more helpful cancer medicine with low side effects.”
2010.08.20
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KAIST has developed a powerless and wireless keyboard that can be folded and easily carried around.
The KAIST Institute for Information Technology Convergence (KIITC) has developed the next generation keyboard that does not need power and wires. The powerless/wireless keyboard developed by KIITC is flexible, foldable, portable, and compact, making the possession of keyboard easier and more convenient. The idea of this technology was derived from "Idea Contest for Future Device" opened by KIITC in 2007, and Future Device Team (Team Leader: Dr. Sungkwan Jung) of KIITC embodied the idea and developed full-flexible powerless/wireless keyboard by using the passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to support the convenient data input for daily mobile life. Through the technology, KAIST expects to realize ubiquitous computing and communication environment, open a new market for foldable keyboards, and secure the competitiveness of mobile devices industries in the world market. KIITC has also successfully transferred the technology of powerless/wireless keyboard to Hanyang Demitech for commercialization.
2010.08.12
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Bioengineers develop a new strategy for accurate prediction of cellular metabolic fluxes
A team of pioneering South Korean scientists has developed a new strategy for accurately predicting cellular metabolic fluxes under various genotypic and environmental conditions. This groundbreaking research is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS) on August 2, 2010. To understand cellular metabolism and predict its metabolic capability at systems-level, systems biological analysis by modeling and simulation of metabolic network plays an important role. The team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), led by Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee, focused their research on the development of a new strategy for more accurate prediction of cellular metabolism. “For strain improvement, biologists have made every effort to understand the global picture of biological systems and investigate the changes of all metabolic fluxes of the system under changing genotypic and environmental conditions,” said Lee. The accumulation of omics data, including genome, transcriptome, proteome, metabolome, and fluxome, provides an opportunity to understand the cellular physiology and metabolic characteristics at systems-level. With the availability of the fully annotated genome sequence, the genome-scale in silico (means “performed on computer or via computer simulation.”) metabolic models for a number of organisms have been successfully developed to improve our understanding on these biological systems. With these advances, the development of new simulation methods to analyze and integrate systematically large amounts of biological data and predict cellular metabolic capability for systems biological analysis is important. Information used to reconstruct the genome-scale in silico cell is not yet complete, which can make the simulation results different from the physiological performances of the real cell. Thus, additional information and procedures, such as providing additional constraints (constraint: a term to exclude incorrect metabolic fluxes by restricting the solution space of in silico cell) to the model, are often incorporated to improve the accuracy of the in silico cell. By employing information generated from the genome sequence and annotation, the KAIST team developed a new set of constraints, called Grouping Reaction (GR) constraints, to accurately predict metabolic fluxes. Based on the genomic information, functionally related reactions were organized into different groups. These groups were considered for the generation of GR constraints, as condition- and objective function- independent constraints. Since the method developed in this study does not require complex information but only the genome sequence and annotation, this strategy can be applied to any organism with a completely annotated genome sequence. “As we become increasingly concerned with environmental problems and the limits of fossil resources, bio-based production of chemicals from renewable biomass has been receiving great attention. Systems biological analysis by modeling and simulation of biological systems, to understand cellular metabolism and identify the targets for the strain improvement, has provided a new paradigm for developing successful bioprocesses,” concluded Lee. This new strategy for predicting cellular metabolism is expected to contribute to more accurate determination of cellular metabolic characteristics, and consequently to the development of metabolic engineering strategies for the efficient production of important industrial products and identification of new drug targets in pathogens.”
2010.08.05
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The thermal fluctuation and elasticity of cell membranes, lipid vesicles, interacting with pore-forming peptides were reported by a research team at KAIST.
A research team from KAIST, consisted of Sung-Min Choi, Professor of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering Department, and Ji-Hwan Lee, a doctoral student in the Department, published a paper on the “thermal fluctuation and elasticity of lipid vesicles interacting with pore-forming peptides.” The paper was carried by Physical Review Letters, an internationally renowned peer-review journal on physics on July 16, 2010. Cell membranes, which consist of lipid bilayers, play important roles in cells as barriers to maintain concentrations and matrices to host membrane proteins. During cellular processes such as cell fission and fusion, the cell membranes undergo various morphological changes governed by the interplay between protein and lipid membranes. There have been many theoretical and experimental approaches to understand cellular processes driven by protein-lipid membrane interactions. However, it is not fully established how the membrane elastic properties, which play an important role in membrane deformation, are affected by the protein-membrane interactions. Antimicrobial peptides are one of the most common examples of proteins that modify membrane morphology. While the pore-forming mechanisms of antimicrobial peptides in lipid bilayers have been widely investigated, there have been only a few attempts to understand the mechanisms in terms of membrane elastic properties. In particular, the effects of pore formation on the membrane fluctuation and elastic properties, which provide key information to understand the mechanism of antimicrobial peptide activity, have not been reported yet. The research team reports the thermal fluctuation and elasticity of lipid vesicles interacting with pore-forming peptides, which were measured by neutron spin-echo spectroscopy. The results of this study are expected to pay an important role in understanding the elastic behavior and morphological changes of cell membranes induced by protein-membrane interactions, and may provide new insights for developing new theoretical models for membrane fluctuations which include the membrane mediated interaction between protein patches. (a) (b) Figure (a) Schematics for bound melittin and pores in lipid bilayers (b) P NMR signal ratio (with/without Mn2+) of DOPC LUV-melittin vs P/L at 30˚C. The dashed line is a guide for eyes.
2010.07.23
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International Center was built to promote greater exchanges and collaborations between the international community and KAIST.
On July 9, 2010, KAIST held an opening ceremony for the construction of International Center. The Center will serve as an internal and external liaison for the university, providing a source of assistance to faculty, administrators, and students on matters related to international activities and initiatives. It will also pursue greater exchanges and collaborations between the international community and KAIST. The facility accommodates various meetings, exhibitions, library, language services, and other amenities. The International Cooperation Team of KAIST will be moved into this building and provide a variety of services, such as immigration regulations, cultural adjustment, employment, to assist international students, scholars, faculty, and staff at KAIST, as well as Korean students seeking opportunities to study, work, or travel abroad. An international nursery school will also be inside the building so that foreign faculty and students with children can have convenience and quality child care while they are teaching or studying. At the center will be held many different kinds of international event—one among them is KAIST-ONE, a festival held twice a year in spring and fall to introduce and share culture, education, and food of the global community at KAIST.
2010.07.19
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A new facility at KAIST opened on July 6, 2010.
Ryu Geun-Chul Sports Complelx will allow students, faculty and staff to pause a moment and exhale in the hustle and bustle of their daily lives. An opening ceremony celebrating the completion of a new facility for the KAIST family was held on July 6, 2010 at the campus. Had it not been for contributions of many people and organizations throughout the nation, among others, Dr. Geun-Chul Ryu, POSCO, Woori Bank, members of KAIST community, parents, and other citizens, it would be impossible to build the facility, said the university. The Complex, a three-story building with a basement, has an indoor court for basketball and volleyball with 3,000 individual seats, 200 meters of running track, indoor golf range, a fitness center, and other convenient facilities. Any members of KAIST community can visit the building and relax their body and mind stressed with work and study. It also provides a large space for ceremonial and cultural gatherings such as 2010 KAIST commencement ceremony. The official name of the building is “Ryu Geun-Chul Sports Complelx,” which was created in appreciation of Dr. Geun-Chul Ryu’s generous act who had donated 57.8 billion won worth of real estate to KAIST in August 2008.
2010.07.07
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"The 2010 Artificial Intelligence Robot War Competition" begins to receive applications
[Event Notice] “The 2010 Artificial Intelligence Robot War Competition” begins to receive applications A good opportunity to gauge the intelligence of your robots “The 2010 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Robot War Competition” will be held in October 2010, and the Competition has been receiving applications from contestants since April 1st. The deadline for the application will be May 31st, 2010. Qualified contestants must be a minimum of two, but less than six, team members, and they will compete in one of the two fields: System on Chip (SoC) Taekwon Robot and Humanoid Robot (HURO). Winners will be decided based on the intelligence capabilities presented by a robot’s platform that mimics key functions of the human brain. SoC Taekwon Robot will compete against one another by using a camera installed on its head to recognize visual images, locations, distances, and gestures of the other competing robot. HURO competition is a new entry begun this year, and winners will be determined in accordance with the robot’s ability to perform given missions and fights. Missions are to go through a track installed with obstacles, recognize colors and shapes of barriers, and knock down barriers to earn scores. Fighting will be performed in the form of a Korean martial art, Tae-kwon-do. The Korean government has nominated Robotics as one of the key growth engines to develop IT industry and Korean economy. Robotics converge many of different engineering fields, such as machinery, materials, components, and embedded software. In particular, the SoC is an essential technology for Korea to continuously take lead in the semi-conductor industry in the world, which is an important element for robotics. SoC stands for System on Chip, an integrated chip that assembles various chips and components to be fabricated together on a single chip, instead of building them on a circuit board. The SoC technology has advantages of higher performance, smaller space requirements, lower memory requirements, higher system reliability, and lower consumer costs. An artificial intelligence SoC robot is autonomous because it can adapt itself to changes in various environments and reach a given goal without constantly receiving external orders. For details of the event, please refer to the website of www.socrobotwar.org.
2010.04.06
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New drug targeting method for microbial pathogens developed using in silico cell
A ripple effect is expected on the new antibacterial discovery using “in silico” cells Featured as a journal cover paper of Molecular BioSystems A research team of Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee at KAIST recently constructed an in silico cell of a microbial pathogen that is resistant to antibiotics and developed a new drug targeting method that could effectively disrupt the pathogen"s growth using the in silico cell. Hyun Uk Kim, a graduate research assistant at the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, KAIST, conducted this study as a part of his thesis research, and the study was featured as a journal cover paper in the February issue of Molecular BioSystems this year, published by The Royal Society of Chemistry based in Europe. It was relatively easy to treat infectious microbes using antibiotics in the past. However, the overdose of antibiotics has caused pathogens to increase their resistance to various antibiotics, and it has become more difficult to cure infectious diseases these days. A representative microbial pathogen is Acinetobacter baumannaii. Originally isolated from soils and water, this microorganism did not have resistance to antibiotics, and hence it was easy to eradicate them if infected. However, within a decade, this miroorganism has transformed into a dreadful super-bacterium resistant to antibiotics and caused many casualties among the U.S. and French soldiers who were injured from the recent Iraqi war and infected with Acinetobacter baumannaii. Professor Lee’s group constructed an in silico cell of this A. baumannii by computationally collecting, integrating, and analyzing the biological information of the bacterium, scattered over various databases and literatures, in order to study this organism"s genomic features and system-wide metabolic characteristics. Furthermore, they employed this in silico cell for integrative approaches, including several network analysis and analysis of essential reactions and metabolites, to predict drug targets that effectively disrupt the pathogen"s growth. Final drug targets are the ones that selectively kill pathogens without harming human body. Here, essential reactions refer to enzymatic reactions required for normal metabolic functioning in organisms, while essential metabolites indicate chemical compounds required in the metabolism for proper functioning, and their removal brings about the effect of simultaneously disrupting their associated enzymes that interact with them. This study attempted to predict highly reliable drug targets by systematically scanning biological components, including metabolic genes, enzymatic reactions, that constitute an in silico cell in a short period of time. This research achievement is highly regarded as it, for the first time, systematically scanned essential metabolites for the effective drug targets using the concept of systems biology, and paved the way for a new antibacterial discovery. This study is also expected to contribute to elucidating the infectious mechanism caused by pathogens. "Although tons of genomic information is poured in at this moment, application research that efficiently converts this preliminary information into actually useful information is still lagged behind. In this regard, this study is meaningful in that medically useful information is generated from the genomic information of Acinetobacter baumannii," says Professor Lee. "In particular, development of this organism"s in silico cell allows generation of new knowledge regarding essential genes and enzymatic reactions under specific conditions," he added. This study was supported by the Korean Systems Biology Project of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, and the patent for the development of in silico cells of microbial pathogens and drug targeting methods has been filed. [Picture 1 Cells in silico] [Picture 2 A process of generating drug targets without harming human body while effectively disrupting the growth of a pathogen, after predicting metabolites from in silico cells]
2010.04.05
View 11987
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