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KAIST Confirms Reduction of Amyloid-β Using Red OLED-Restores Memory in Alzheimer’s Model
<Professor Kyung Cheol Choi, Dr. Byeongju Noh, Ph.D candidate Young-Hun Jung, Ph.D candidate Minwoo Park, Dr.Ja Wook Koo, Researcher Jiyun Lee, Researcher Ji-Eun Lee, Dr. Hyang Sook Hoe, Dr. Hyun-Ju Lee, Dr. Sora Kang, Researcher Seokjun Oh>
A Korean research team, raising the question “Which OLED light color can actually improve memory and pathological markers in Alzheimer’s patients?”, has identified the most effective OLED color capable of enhancing cognitive function using only light—with no drugs involved. The OLED platform developed for this study can precisely control color, brightness, flicker frequency, and exposure duration, suggesting potential future development into personalized OLED-based electroceuticals.
On the 24th, KAIST (President Kwang Hyung Lee) announced that a joint research team led by Professor Kyung Cheol Choi from the School of Electrical Engineering at KAIST and Dr. Ja Wook Koo and Dr. Hyang Sook Hoe from the Korea Brain Research Institute (KBRI) developed a uniform-illuminance, three-color OLED photostimulation technology and confirmed that “red 40-Hz light” was the most effective among blue, green, and red in improving Alzheimer's pathology and memory function.
To overcome the structural limitations of conventional LEDs—such as brightness imbalance, heat generation risk, and variability caused by animal movement—the researchers developed an OLED-based photostimulation platform that emits light uniformly. Using this platform, they compared white, red, green, and blue light under identical conditions (40-Hz frequency, brightness, and exposure time) and found that red 40-Hz light produced the most significant improvement.
In an early-stage (3-month-old) Alzheimer’s animal model, improvement in pathology and memory was observed after only two days of stimulation. When early Alzheimer’s model mice were exposed to one hour of light per day for two days, both white and red light improved long-term memory. Additionally, the amount of amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques—protein aggregates known as a major factor in Alzheimer’s disease—was reduced in key brain regions such as the hippocampus, and levels of the plaque-clearing enzyme ADAM17 increased.
This indicates that even very short periods of light stimulation can reduce harmful proteins in the brain and improve memory function. In particular, with red light, the inflammatory cytokine IL-1β, known to exacerbate inflammation and contribute to Alzheimer’s progression, decreased significantly, demonstrating an anti-inflammatory effect.
Moreover, the more plaque was reduced, the greater the improvement in memory—direct evidence that pathological improvement leads to cognitive enhancement.
In the mid-stage (6-month-old) Alzheimer’s model, statistically significant pathological improvement was seen only with red light. In a two-week long-term stimulation experiment under the same conditions, both white and red light improved memory, but a statistically meaningful reduction in plaques appeared only under red light.
< The mechanism by which red OLED stimulation of neurons reduces amyloid-β in Alzheimer’s model mice >
Differences at the molecular level were also clear. Under red light, levels of ADAM17 (which helps remove plaques) increased, while levels of BACE1, an enzyme responsible for producing plaques, decreased—demonstrating a dual effect of both inhibiting plaque formation and promoting plaque removal. In contrast, white light only lowered BACE1, showing more limited therapeutic effects compared to red light.
This scientifically identifies that the color of light is a key factor determining therapeutic efficacy.
To determine which neural circuits were activated by light stimulation, the team analyzed the expression of c-Fos, an immediate-early gene that is activated when neurons fire.
They found activation throughout the visual–memory circuit, extending from the visual cortex → thalamus → hippocampus, providing direct neurological evidence that light stimulation awakens the visual pathway, enhancing hippocampal function and memory.
Thanks to the uniform-illuminance OLED platform, light was evenly delivered regardless of animal movement, ensuring stable experimental results and high reproducibility across repeated tests.
This study is the first to demonstrate that cognitive function can be improved using only light, without drugs, and that Alzheimer’s pathological markers can be regulated through combinations of light color, frequency, and duration.
The OLED platform developed in this study allows fine control over color, brightness, flicker ratio, and exposure time, making it suitable for personalized stimulation design in future human clinical research.
The research team plans to expand conditions such as stimulation intensity, energy, duration, and combined visual–auditory stimulation, aiming toward clinical-stage development.
Dr. Byeongju Noh (from Professor Kyung Cheol Choi’s research team) said, “This study experimentally demonstrates the importance of color standardization and confirms that red OLED is the key color that activates ADAM17 and suppresses BACE1 across disease stages.”
Professor Kyung Cheol Choi emphasized, “Our uniform-illuminance OLED platform overcomes the structural limitations of traditional LEDs and enables high reproducibility and safe evaluation. We expect wearable RED OLED electroceuticals for everyday use to present a new therapeutic paradigm for Alzheimer’s disease.”
The research findings were published online on October 25 in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, a leading international journal in biomedical and materials science.
Paper Title: Color Dependence of OLED Phototherapy for Cognitive Function and Beta-Amyloid Reduction through ADAM17 and BACE1
DOI: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsbiomaterials.5c01162
Co-authors:Byeongju Noh, Hyun-Ju Lee, Jiyun Lee, Jiyun Lee, Ji-Eun Lee, Bitna Joo, Young-Hun Jung, Minwoo Park, Sora Kang, Seokjun Oh, Jeong-Woo Hwang, Dae-Si Kang, Yongmin Jeon, So-Min Lee, Hyang Sook Hoe, Ja Wook Koo, Kyung Cheol Choi
This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Science and ICT, and the Korea Brain Research Institute Basic Research Program. (2017R1A5A1014708, 2022M3E5E9018226, H0501-25-1001, 25-BR-02-02, 25-BR-02-04)
2025.11.24 View 1614 -
Makes Summer Cooler and Winter Warmer Without Power
<(Front row from left)Professor Young Min Song, Ph.D candidate Hyung Rae Kim, M.S candidate Hyunkyu Kwak, (Back row from left)Ph.D candidate Hyo Eun Jeong, Dr. Sehui Chang, Ph.D candidate Do Hyeon Kim, (Circle from left) Professor Dae-Hyeong Kim, Dr. Yoonsoo Shin, Dr. Se-Yeon Heo>
The poplar (Populus alba) has a unique survival strategy: when exposed to hot and dry conditions, it curls its leaves to expose the ventral surface, reflecting sunlight, and at night, the moisture condensed on the leaf surface releases latent heat to prevent frost damage. Plants have evolved such intricate mechanisms in response to dynamic environmental fluctuations in diurnal and seasonal temperature cycles, light intensity, and humidity, but there have been few instances of realizing such a sophisticated thermal management system with artificial materials. Through this research, the KAIST research team has developed an artificial material that mimics the thermal management strategy of the poplar leaf, significantly increasing the applicability of power-free, self-regulating thermal management technology in applications such as building facades, roofs, and temporary shelters.
KAIST announced on November 18 that the research team led by Professor Young Min Song of the School of Electrical Engineering, in collaboration with Professor Dae-Hyeong Kim’s team at Seoul National University, has developed a flexible hydrogel-based ‘Latent-Radiative Thermostat (LRT)’ that mimics the natural heat regulation strategy of the poplar leaf.
The LRT developed by the research team is a bio-inspired thermal regulator that autonomously switches between cooling and heating modes. This technology is a new thermal management technique that can simultaneously realize latent heat regulation through the evaporation and condensation of water, and radiative heat regulation using light reflection and transmission, all within a single device.
The primary functional material is a composite that integrates lithium ions (Li+) and hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) within a polyacrylamide (PAAm) hydrogel. Li+ maintains warmth by condensing and absorbing moisture to regulate latent heat, and HPC changes between transparent and opaque states according to temperature changes, regulating the reflection and absorption of sunlight to switch between cooling and heating modes.
When the temperature rises, HPC molecules aggregate, causing the hydrogel to become opaque, which reflects sunlight and strengthens the natural cooling effect. The resulting LRT automatically switches among four thermal management modes based on the surrounding temperature, humidity, and sunlight.
<Figure 1. Schematic of a hydrogel-based self-regulating temperature controller inspired by the thermal management strategy of poplar leaves.>
▶ In night/cold environments below the dew point temperature, it maintains warmth by absorbing and condensing moisture in the air and releasing heat. ▶ On cold days with weak sunlight, it transmits sunlight and the absorbed moisture absorbs near-infrared radiation to produce a heating effect. ▶ In hot and dry conditions, internal moisture evaporates, resulting in powerful evaporative cooling. ▶ Under strong sunlight and high-temperature conditions, the HPC becomes opaque to reflect sunlight, and simultaneously, evaporative cooling operates to lower the temperature. That is, it is a bioinspired thermal management device that autonomously switches between cooling and heating modes according to the surrounding environment without requiring power.
Through this research, the LRT has demonstrated the performance to stay cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. The research team confirmed that the thermal regulation properties can be finely tuned to various climate conditions by adjusting the concentrations of Li+ and HPC, and the durability and mechanical strength of the material were significantly improved by adding TiO2 nanoparticles. In outdoor experiments, the LRT maintained temperatures up to 3.7 °C lower in the summer and up to 3.5 °C higher in the winter compared to conventional cooling materials. Furthermore, a simulation covering 7 climate zones (ASHRAE standards) showed an annual energy saving of up to 153 MJ/m2 compared to existing roof coatings. This study is a case of the engineering implementation of the sophisticated thermal management strategies observed in nature. It is anticipated to serve as a next-generation thermal management platform for environments where power-based cooling and heating are difficult, such as building facades, roofs, and temporary shelters.
<Figure 2. Outdoor temperature measurement results and simulated energy savings.>
In a statement, Professor Young Min Song said, “This research is significant as it technically reproduced nature's intelligent thermal regulation strategy, presenting a thermal management device that self-adapts to seasonal and climate changes. It can be expanded into an intelligent thermal management platform applicable to various environments in the future.” This study was co-first authored by PhD candidate Hyung Rae Kim (School of Electrical Engineering, KAIST). Professor Young Min Song (School of Electrical Engineering, KAIST) participated as a corresponding author. The research was published online on November 4th in Advanced Materials (IF 26.8), a world-leading journal in the field of material science.
※ Paper Title: Hydrogel Thermostat Inspired by Photoprotective Foliage Using Latent and Radiative Heat Control, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202516537
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) grant funded by the Korea government(MSIT) (RS-2025-16063568, RS-2025-16902996, RS-2023-NR077254, RS-2022-NR068140). This work was supported by the InnoCORE program of the Ministry of Science and ICT(GIST InnoCORE KH0830). This work also was supported by the Technology Innovation Program(or Industrial Strategic Technology Development Program-Bio-industry Technology Development Project)(RS-2024-00467230, Development of a Digital Healthcare Device for Non-invasive Continuous Monitoring of Myocardial Infarction Biomarkers Based on Mid-Infrared Nano-Optical Filters) funded By the Ministry of Trade Industry & Energy(MOTIE, Korea)
2025.11.18 View 1466 -
AI Opens a New Era in Medical Science and Bio
< (From left) KAIST Professors Yoonjae Choi, Tae-Kyun Kim, Jong Chul Ye, Hyunwoo Kim, Seunghoon Hong, Sang Yup Lee >
KAIST announced on the 14th of November that it has been selected as a major participating institution in the 'Lunit Consortium' for the 'AI Specialized Foundation Model Development Project' supervised by the Ministry of Science and ICT, and has officially started developing an AI foundation model for the medical science and bio fields. Through this project, KAIST plans to develop an 'AI Foundation Model Specialized for Medical Science' that encompasses the entire lifecycle of bio and medical data, and lead the creation of an AI based life science innovation ecosystem. The 'Lunit Consortium' includes 7 companies-Lunit, Trillion Labs, Kakao Healthcare, Igenscience, SK Biopharm, and Rebellion-along with 9 medical and research institutions, including KAIST, Seoul National University, NYU, National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, and Yonsei Severance Hospital. This consortium will be supported by 256 state of the art B200 GPUs to build and demonstrate a 'Chain of Evidence-Based Full-Cycle Medical Science AI Model', an AI system that connects and analyzes medical data from beginning to end, and a 'Multi-Agent Service', a system where multiple AIs collaborate to perform diagnosis and prediction. KAIST's participation in this project involves a joint research team formed by professors from the School of Computing and the Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI. Professors Yoonjae Choi, Tae-Kyun Kim, Jong Chul Ye, Hyunwoo Kim, and Seunghoon Hong will serve as the research team, and Vice President for Research Sang Yup Lee will take on an advisory role. The research team is not merely collecting data but they are establishing a strategy (L1~L7 stages) to precisely process and systematically manage medical and life science data so that the AI can actually learn and utilize it. Through this, they plan to develop and verify an AI model that connects and analyzes diverse life science data, including medical information, gene/protein data, and new drug candidates. The data the research team aims to integrate includes a wide range from language to actual patient treatment information. Specifically, L1 represents language data, L2 is the structure of molecules, L3 is proteins and antibodies, L4 is omics data encompassing genetic and protein information, L5 is drug information, L6 is medical science research and clinical data, and L7 is real-world clinical data obtained from actual hospitals. In essence, the data handled by the AI connects everything from speech and text to molecules, proteins, drugs, clinical research, and actual patient treatment information.
< The process of training AI by viewing X ray images and doctor's interpretation (text) together (MedViLL from Professor Jae-Yoon Choi' s lab) >
Vice President Sang Yup Lee is a world-renowned scholar in the fields of synthetic biology and systems metabolic engineering, leading the establishment of a bio manufacturing platform and policy advice through the convergence of life science, engineering, and AI. He advises on the analysis of life information (omics) such as genes and proteins and designs a feedback system for verifying experimental results, supporting the Korean-developed medical AI model to secure international reliability and competitiveness. Vice President Lee stated, "AI technology is breaking down the boundaries of life science and engineering, creating a new paradigm for knowledge creation," adding, "KAIST will utilize full cycle medical science data to accelerate the era where AI uncovers the causes of diseases and predicts treatments." KAIST President Kwang Hyung Lee said, "KAIST will contribute to creating an AI-based life science innovation ecosystem, lead the innovation of national strategic industries through world-class AI-bio convergence research, and drive the progress of human health and science and technology." The model developed in the Lunit Consortium will be released as an Open License for commercial use, and is expected to expand into various medical and healthcare services such as national health chatbots. With this participation, KAIST plans to strengthen research on AI-based life science data infrastructure establishment, medical AI standardization, and AI ethics and policy advice, leading the AI transition of national bio and medical science research.
2025.11.14 View 1749 -
Professor Sang Yup Lee Selected as IETI 'Laureate Distinguished Fellow'
<Professor Sang Yup Lee of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering>
Professor Sang Yup Lee of KAIST Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering has been selected as a 'Laureate Distinguished Fellow,' the highest rank of fellow, by the International Engineering and Technology Institute (IETI).
Professor Lee is a globally renowned biotechnologist who has been leading research on the sustainable production of bio-based chemicals, and he received the 'ENI Award' in 2018. With this selection, he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the world's top scholars, including recipients of the Nobel, Fields, and Turing Prizes.
IETI is an international academic organization established in Hong Kong in 2015 to promote innovation and international cooperation in the fields of engineering, technology, and science. Each year, the institute selects researchers with significant academic influence worldwide and appoints them into three grades: Laureate Distinguished Fellow, Distinguished Fellow, and Fellow. Professor Lee has been named to the most prestigious grade among these.
<IETI 2025 Fellow Selection Photo>
A total of 70 new fellows were selected in 2025. Among them, 14 individuals were named Laureate Distinguished Fellows, which includes recipients of top honors such as the Nobel, Fields, and Turing Prizes. Besides Professor Lee, this group includes Dudley Herschbach of Harvard University (Nobel Prize in Chemistry), Vint Cerf of Google (Turing Award), and Shigefumi Mori of Kyoto University (Fields Medal).
IETI stated that the selection process involved a rigorous five-step procedure: nomination, qualification review, document screening, expert voting, and final evaluation. It also expressed hope that the newly appointed fellows will demonstrate academic leadership in their respective research fields and contribute to global scientific and technological innovation and the promotion of international cooperation.
2025.11.10 View 1557 -
IEEE President Professor Kramer Holds Special Lecture on Artificial Intelligence in the Electrical Engineering Department
Kathleen A. Kramer, President of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to electrical and electronic technology, visited our university on the 30th and delivered a special lecture under the theme, 'Drawing the Future of Artificial Intelligence Together.'
< IEEE Leadership and KAIST EE Meeting KITIS Director (Sung-Hyun Hong), KAIST EE Professors (Joonwoo Bae), (Ian Oakley), (Hye-Won Jeong), (Chang-Shik Choi), (Dong-Soo Han), Head of EE Department (Seunghyup Yoo), IEEE President (Kathleen A. Kramer), IEEE Senior Sales Director (Francis Staples), IEEE Regional Manager for APAC (Ira Tan), KAIST EE Professor (Hee-Jin Ahn), Head of Semiconductor System Engineering Department (Sung-Hwan Cho)>
Standing at the colloquium podium by invitation of the Department of Electrical Engineering (Head: Seung-Hyup Yoo), President Kramer emphasized based on IEEE's core vision, 'Advancing Technology for Humanity,' that "Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a concept of the distant future; it has become a technology that is transforming human lives at the center of innovation."
< Photo of IEEE President's KAIST EE Colloquium Lecture >
She further added, "Technology must advance with human values at its core, and AI based on ethics and inclusiveness can lead to true innovation," sharing her insights on the direction of AI development and the social responsibility of technology.
Seung-Hyup Yoo, Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering, stated, "We expect President Kramer's visit to be a stepping stone that will not only widely promote our department's capabilities in advanced fields such as AI, semiconductors, signal processing, and robotics to the international academic community but also strengthen cooperation in various ways."
< Tea Meeting with the IEEE Leadership and the Vice Presidents . KITIS Director (Sung-Hyun Hong), IEEE Senior Sales Director (Francis Staples), IEEE President (Kathleen A. Kramer), KAIST Executive Vice President for Research (Sang Yup Lee), Head of EE Department (Seunghyup Yoo), IEEE Regional Manager for APAC (Ira Tan)>
Meanwhile, prior to the lecture, President Kramer paid a courtesy visit to Sang-Yup Lee, KAIST Executive Vice President for Research, and reaffirmed the commitment of both organizations to advancing sustainable technology and building an ethical and inclusive research ecosystem to contribute to a better life for humanity.
2025.11.06 View 1113 -
KAIST Uncovers the Mechanism Behind Overactive Immune Cells
<(From Right) Professor Eui-Cheol Shin, Ph.D candidate So-Young Kim, Professor Su-Hyung Park, Professor Hyuk Soo Eun, Dr. Hoyoung Lee>
“Why do immune cells that are supposed to eliminate viruses suddenly turn against our own body?”
There are instances where killer T cells—which are meant to precisely remove virus-infected cells—malfunction like overheated engines, attacking even healthy cells and damaging tissues. A KAIST research team has now identified the key mechanism that regulates this excessive activation of killer T cells, offering new insights into controlling immune overreactions and developing therapies for immune-related diseases.
KAIST (President Kwang Hyung Lee) announced on November 5 that a research team led by Professors Eui-Cheol Shin and Su-Hyung Park from the Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, in collaboration with Professor Hyuk Soo Eun from Chungnam National University College of Medicine, has uncovered the molecular basis of nonspecific activation in killer T cells and proposed a new therapeutic strategy to control it.
Killer T cells (CD8⁺ T cells) selectively eliminate infected cells to prevent viral spread. However, when excessively activated, they can attack uninfected cells, causing inflammation and tissue damage. Such overactive immune responses can lead to severe viral infections and autoimmune diseases.
In 2018, Professor Shin’s team was the first in the world to discover that killer T cells can be nonspecifically activated by cytokines and randomly attack host cells—a phenomenon they termed “bystander activation of T cells”. The current study builds on that discovery by revealing the molecular mechanism driving this abnormal process.
The team focused on a cytokine called interleukin-15 (IL-15). Experiments showed that IL-15 can abnormally excite killer T cells by a bystander activation mechanism, causing them to attack uninfected host cells. However, when there is a concurrent antigen-specific stimulation, IL-15-induced bystander activation is suppressed.
The researchers further identified that this suppression occurs through an intracellular signaling process. When the concentration of calcium ions (Ca²⁺) changes, a protein called calcineurin activates, which in turn triggers a regulatory protein known as NFAT, suppressing IL-15-induced bystander activation of killer T cells. In other words, the calcineurin–NFAT pathway activated by antigen stimulation acts as a brake on overactivation by a bystander mechanism.
The team also discovered that some immunosuppressants, which are known to block the calcineurin pathway, may not always suppress immune responses—in certain contexts, they can instead promote IL-15-induced bystander activation of killer T cells. This finding underscores that not all immunosuppressants work the same way and that treatments must be carefully tailored to each patient’s immune response.
Through gene expression analysis, the researchers identified a gene set that increase only in abnormally activated killer T cells induced by IL-15 as markers. They further confirmed that these same markers were elevated in bystander killer T cells from patients with acute hepatitis A, suggesting that the markers could be used for disease diagnosis.
<In a normal immune response, killer T cells are activated by antigen stimulation and selectively eliminate only virus-infected cells, thereby controlling viral replication and promoting the patient’s rapid recovery. However, when killer T cells are nonspecifically overactivated by interleukin-15, they may randomly attack normal cells as well, causing excessive tissue damage and leading to severe disease. Future research may identify diseases in which such nonspecific hyperimmune responses occur, making it possible to develop new drugs to control them>
This study provides crucial clues for understanding the pathogenesis of various immune-related diseases, including severe viral infections, chronic inflammatory disorders, autoimmune diseases, and organ transplant rejection. It also paves the way for developing novel immunoregulatory therapies targeting IL-15 signaling.
Professor Eui-Cheol Shin explained that, “this study shows that killer T cells are not merely defenders—they can transform into ‘nonspecific attackers’ depending on the inflammatory environment. By precisely regulating this abnormal activation, we may be able to develop new treatments for intractable immune diseases.”
This research was published in the journal Immunity on October 31, with Dr. Hoyoung Lee and Ph.D. candidate So-Young Kim as co–first authors.
Title: “TCR signaling via NFATc1 constrains IL-15-induced bystander activation of human memory CD8⁺ T cells”, DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2025.10.002
The study was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), and the Institute for Basic Science (IBS).
2025.11.06 View 2100 -
KAIST Develops Room-Temperature 3D Printing Technology for ‘Electronic Eyes’—Miniaturized Infrared Sensors
<(From Left) Professor Ji Tae Kim of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Professor Soong Ju Oh of Korea University and Professor Tianshuo Zhao of the University of Hong Kong>
The “electronic eyes” technology that can recognize objects even in darkness has taken a step forward. Infrared sensors, which act as the “seeing” component in devices such as LiDAR for autonomous vehicles, 3D face recognition systems in smartphones, and wearable healthcare devices, are regarded as key components in next-generation electronics. Now, a research team at KAIST and their collaborators have developed the world’s first room-temperature 3D printing technology that can fabricate miniature infrared sensors in any desired shape and size.
KAIST (President Kwang Hyung Lee) announced on the 3rd of November that the research team led by Professor Ji Tae Kim of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, in collaboration with Professor Soong Ju Oh of Korea University and Professor Tianshuo Zhao of the University of Hong Kong, has developed a 3D printing technique capable of fabricating ultra-small infrared sensors—smaller than 10 micrometers (µm)—in customized shapes and sizes at room temperature.
Infrared sensors convert invisible infrared signals into electrical signals and serve as essential components in realizing future electronic technologies such as robotic vision. Accordingly, miniaturization, weight reduction, and flexible form-factor design have become increasingly important.
Conventional semiconductor fabrication processes were well suited for mass production but struggled to adapt flexibly to rapidly changing technological demands. They also required high-temperature processing, which limited material choices and consumed large amounts of energy.
To overcome these challenges, the research team developed an ultra-precise 3D printing process that uses metal, semiconductor, and insulator materials in the form of liquid nanocrystal inks, stacking them layer by layer within a single printing platform.
This method enables direct fabrication of core components of infrared sensors at room temperature, allowing for the realization of customized miniature sensors of various shapes and sizes.
Particularly, the researchers achieved excellent electrical performance without the need for high-temperature annealing by applying a “ligand-exchange” process, where insulating molecules on the surface of nanoparticles are replaced with conductive ones.
As a result, the team successfully fabricated ultra-small infrared sensors measuring less than one-tenth the thickness of a human hair (under 10 µm).
<Figure 1. 3D printing of infrared sensors.a. Room-temperature printing process for the electrodes and photoactive layer that make up the infrared sensor.b. Structure and chemical composition of the printed infrared microsensor. c.Printed infrared sensor micropixel array.>
Professor Ji Tae Kim commented, “The developed 3D printing technology not only advances the miniaturization and lightweight design of infrared sensors but also paves the way for the creation of innovative new form-factor products that were previously unimaginable. Moreover, by reducing the massive energy consumption associated with high-temperature processes, this approach can lower production costs and enable eco-friendly manufacturing—contributing to the sustainable development of the infrared sensor industry.”
The research results were published online in Nature Communications on October 16, 2025, under the title “Ligand-exchange-assisted printing of colloidal nanocrystals to enable all-printed sub-micron optoelectronics” (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-64596-4).
This research was supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT of Korea through the Excellent Young Researcher Program (RS−2025−00556379), the National Strategic Technology Material Development Program (RS−2024−00407084), and the International Cooperation Research Program for Original Technology Development (RS−2024−00438059).
2025.11.03 View 3851 -
KAIST Researchers Uncover Critical Security Flaws in Global Mobile Networks
Breakthrough Discovery Reveals How Attackers Can Remotely Manipulate User Data Without Physical Proximity
DAEJEON, South Korea — In an era when recent cyberattacks on major telecommunications providers have highlighted the fragility of mobile security, researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have identified a class of previously unknown vulnerabilities that could allow remote attackers to compromise cellular networks serving billions of users worldwide.
The research team, led by Professor Yongdae Kim of KAIST's School of Electrical Engineering, discovered that unauthorized attackers could remotely manipulate internal user information in LTE core networks — the central infrastructure that manages authentication, internet connectivity, and data transmission for mobile devices and IoT equipment.
The findings, presented at the 32nd ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security in Taipei, Taiwan, earned the team a Distinguished Paper Award, one of only 30 such honors selected from approximately 2,400 submissions to one of the field's most prestigious venues.
A New Class of Vulnerability
The vulnerability class, which the researchers termed "Context Integrity Violation" (CIV), represents a fundamental breach of a basic security principle: unauthenticated messages should not alter internal system states. While previous security research has primarily focused on "downlink" attacks — where networks compromise devices — this study examined the less-scrutinized "uplink" security, where devices can attack core networks.
"The problem stems from gaps in the 3GPP standards," Professor Kim explained, referring to the international body that establishes operational rules for mobile networks. "While the standards prohibit processing messages that fail authentication, they lack clear guidance on handling messages that bypass authentication procedures entirely."
The team developed CITesting, the world's first systematic tool for detecting these vulnerabilities, capable of examining between 2,802 and 4,626 test cases — a vast expansion from the 31 cases covered by the only previous comparable research tool, LTEFuzz.
Widespread Impact Confirmed
Testing four major LTE core network implementations — both open-source and commercial systems — revealed that all contained CIV vulnerabilities. The results showed:
Open5GS: 2,354 detections, 29 unique vulnerabilities
srsRAN: 2,604 detections, 22 unique vulnerabilities
Amarisoft: 672 detections, 16 unique vulnerabilities
Nokia: 2,523 detections, 59 unique vulnerabilities
The research team demonstrated three critical attack scenarios: denial of service by corrupting network information to block reconnection; IMSI exposure by forcing devices to retransmit user identification numbers in plaintext; and location tracking by capturing signals during reconnection attempts.
Unlike traditional attacks requiring fake base stations or signal interference near victims, these attacks work remotely through legitimate base stations, affecting anyone within the same MME (Mobility Management Entity) coverage area as the attacker — potentially spanning entire metropolitan regions.
Industry Response and Future Implications
Following responsible disclosure protocols, the research team notified affected vendors. Amarisoft deployed patches, and Open5GS integrated the team's fixes into its official repository. Nokia, however, stated it would not issue patches, asserting compliance with 3GPP standards and declining to comment on whether telecommunications companies currently use the affected equipment.
"Uplink security has been relatively neglected due to testing difficulties, implementation diversity, and regulatory constraints," Professor Kim noted. "Context integrity violations can pose serious security risks."
The research team, which included KAIST doctoral students Mincheol Son and Kwangmin Kim as co-first authors, along with Beomseok Oh and Professor CheolJun Park of Kyung Hee University, plans to extend their validation to 5G and private 5G environments. The tools could prove particularly critical for industrial and infrastructure networks, where breaches could have consequences ranging from communication disruption to exposure of sensitive military or corporate data.
The research was supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT through the Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation, as part of a project developing security technologies for 5G private networks.
With mobile networks forming the backbone of modern digital infrastructure, the discovery underscores the ongoing challenge of securing systems designed in an era when such sophisticated attacks were barely conceivable — and the urgent need for updated standards to address them.
2025.11.03 View 2250 -
KAIST Fabricates Green Hydrogen Cells in Just 10 Minutes Like Using a Microwave
<(From Left) Ph.D candidate Hyeongmin Yu, Ph.D candidate Seungsoo Jang, Ph.D candidate Donghun Lee, Ph.D candidate Gayoung Yoon, Professor Kang Taek Lee>
Solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs), a key technology for producing green hydrogen without carbon emissions, require a high-temperature “sintering” process to harden ceramic powders. Researchers at KAIST have successfully shortened this process from six hours to just ten minutes, while also reducing the required temperature from 1,400°C to 1,200°C. This innovation dramatically cuts both energy consumption and production time, marking a major step forward for the green hydrogen era.
KAIST (President Kwang Hyung Lee) announced on the 25th of October that a research team led by Professor Kang Taek Lee from the Department of Mechanical Engineering has developed an ultra-fast manufacturing method capable of producing high-performance green hydrogen electrolysis cells in only ten minutes.
The core of this technology lies in sintering—a process in which ceramic powders are baked at high temperatures to form a dense, tightly bonded structure. Proper sintering is critical: it ensures that gases do not leak (as hydrogen and oxygen mixing could cause explosions), oxygen ions move efficiently, and the electrodes adhere firmly to the electrolyte to allow smooth current flow. In short, the precision of the sintering process directly determines the cell’s performance and lifetime.
To address these challenges, the KAIST team applied a “volumetric heating” technique that uses microwaves to heat the material uniformly from the inside out. This approach shortened the sintering process by more than thirtyfold compared to conventional methods. Whereas traditional sintering requires prolonged heating above 1,400°C, the new process uses microwaves to heat the material internally and evenly, achieving stable electrolyte formation at just 1,200°C within 10 minutes.
In conventional fabrication, the essential materials—ceria (CeO₂) and zirconia (ZrO₂)—tend to intermix at excessively high temperatures, degrading material quality. KAIST’s new method allows these two materials to bond firmly at the right temperature without mixing, producing a dense, defect-free bilayer electrolyte.
The total “processing time” includes heating, holding, and cooling. The conventional sintering process required about 36.5 hours, whereas KAIST’s microwave-based technique completes the entire cycle in only 70 minutes—over 30 times faster.
<Figure 1. (a) Schematic illustration of the microwave-based ultrafast sintering process and the conventional sintering process (b) Cross-sectional SEM images of the bilayer ceramic electrolyte according to the sintering process>
The resulting electrochemical cells demonstrated remarkable performance: they produced 23.7 mL of hydrogen per minute at 750°C, maintained stable operation for over 250 hours, and exhibited excellent durability. Using 3D digital twin simulations, the team further revealed that ultra-fast microwave heating improves electrolyte density and suppresses abnormal grain growth of nickel oxide (NiO) particles within the fuel electrode, thereby enhancing hydrogen production efficiency.
<Figure 2. 3D reconstruction, contact area, and electrochemically active site images of the solid oxide electrochemical cell according to the sintering process>
Professor Kang Taek Lee stated, “This research introduces a new manufacturing paradigm that enables the rapid and efficient production of high-performance solid oxide electrolysis cells.” He added, “Compared to conventional processes, our approach drastically reduces both energy consumption and production time, offering strong potential for commercialization.”
This study was co-first-authored by Hyeongmin Yu and Seungsoo Jang, both Ph.D. candidates in Mechanical Engineering at KAIST, with Donghun Lee and Gayoung Youn as collaborators. The research was published online on October 2 in Advanced Materials (Impact Factor: 26.8) and was selected as the Inside Front Cover feature paper for its scientific significance.
※ Paper title: “Ultra-Fast Microwave-Assisted Volumetric Heating Engineered Defect-Free Ceria/Zirconia Bilayer Electrolytes for Solid Oxide Electrochemical Cells”, DOI: 10.1002/adma.202500183)
This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT through the H2 Next Round Program, the Mid-Career Researcher Program, and the Global Research Laboratory (GRL) Program.
2025.10.29 View 1919 -
AI Finds Urban Commercial Districts Resilient to Climate Risk
< (From left) Integrated M.S.-Ph.D candidate Keonhee Jang, Postdoctoral Researcher Namwoo Kim, Professor Yoonjin Yoon, Researcher Seok-woo Yoon, Postdoctoral Researcher Young-jun Park, (Top) M.S candidate Juneyoung Ro >
KAIST announced on October 29th that its Urban AI Research Institute (Director, Distinguished Professor Yoonjin Yoon of Civil and Environmental Engineering conducted joint research in the field of 'Urban AI' with MIT's Senseable City Lab (Director, Professor Carlo Ratti) and disclosed the results at the 'Smart Life Week 2025' exhibition held at COEX, Seoul, in late September.
KAIST and MIT have been pursuing the 'Urban AI Joint Research Program' to interpret major urban problems using artificial intelligence. At this exhibition, the research results were presented in a form that citizens could directly experience, focusing on three themes: ▲Urban Climate Change, ▲Green Environment, and ▲Data Inclusivity.
Through this collaboration, the two institutions demonstrated that AI technology can expand beyond a tool for calculating urban problems to a new intelligence that promotes social understanding and empathy. They carried out three projects: ▲Urban Heat and Sales, ▲Nature That Heals, Seoul, and ▲Data Sonification.
The first project, 'Urban Heat and Sales,' is a study that analyzes the impact of climate change on urban commercial areas and the small business ecosystem using AI. An AI model was trained on over 300 million data points, including sales and weather for 96 business categories across 426 administrative dong (neighborhoods) in Seoul, to quantify the effect of climatic factors, such as temperature and humidity, on sales by industry type.
The results were visualized into 40,896 'Urban Heat Resilience' indicators, which score how well each region and business category can adapt to and recover from climate change. This allows the level of commercial area resilience to climate risk to be grasped at a glance, showing which areas are strong against temperature risks.
According to the study, for the convenience store sector, 64.7% of the total 426 dong were analyzed as 'climate-neutral areas,' which are relatively stable against climate change, while the remaining 35.3% belong to 'climate-sensitive areas,' which are significantly affected by climate change. This suggests that the operating environment for convenience stores varies significantly by region in terms of climate impact, and the data can be utilized for future location strategy planning from an urban resilience perspective.
< '3D Mesh Structure' that visually represents sales data for 426 regions in Seoul. The height and color of each region indicate the scale of sales. The left shows the distribution of sales in Seoul under actual temperature conditions, and the right shows the sales change predicted by AI when the temperature rises by 5 degrees. >
Visitors to the exhibition could select a region and business type on a real Seoul map and experience a system where the AI predicted sales changes in real-time based on future temperature rise scenarios.
This prediction model is a proprietary technology developed by KAIST, and plans are underway to expand cooperation with other major global cities, such as Boston and London. This research is expected to propose a new direction for establishing opening strategies for small business owners and developing urban climate risk response policies.
< Numerous visitors listening to explanations and experiencing the KAIST-MIT exhibition space >
The second project, 'Nature That Heals, Seoul,' is an extension of MIT's global project 'Feeling Nature' to Seoul. It combines urban environment data (Street View, maps, satellite images, etc.) with citizen survey data to train an AI to estimate the 'psychological green'—the actual psychological experience of green spaces felt by Seoul citizens.
This approach goes beyond simply calculating the area of trees or parks, offering new urban design directions that reflect citizens' emotional resilience and well-being. This research is expected to provide scientific evidence for future Seoul green space policies and locally tailored urban design.
The final project, 'Data Sonification,' is the world's first AI technology that translates over 300 million data points into sounds, like music, to be 'heard.' The AI uses data such as temperature, humidity, and sales to represent information through sound: for example, the pitch rises when the temperature goes up, and the sound lowers when sales decrease. This provides a new sensory experience of 'listening' to urban data through sound instead of sight.
This technology is a prime example of 'Barrier-Free AI' (AI for All), an inclusive AI technology that helps people with visual impairments or children—who may have difficulty accessing visual information—to intuitively understand data.
< A visitor experiencing Data Sonification, the world's first AI technology that converts data into sound >
Man-ki Kim, Chairman of the Seoul AI Hub (Seoul AI Foundation), which sponsored this research, stated, "We have achieved meaningful results by analyzing the urban environment and citizens' lives with artificial intelligence through collaboration with world-class research institutions like KAIST and MIT," adding, "This research has laid the groundwork for understanding urban change from the perspective of citizens and connecting it to policy and daily life."
Director Yoonjin Yoon remarked, "This exhibition demonstrated that artificial intelligence can evolve beyond a technology that merely calculates the city to an intelligence that understands and empathizes with people and the city," and concluded, "We will create data and experiences together with citizens, and collaborate with various cities worldwide to open a more inclusive and sustainable urban future."
This achievement is a global collaborative research project in the AI sector involving the KAIST Urban AI Research Institute and the MIT Senseable City Lab, and was conducted with sponsorship from the Seoul AI Hub.
※Research Results Images/Videos: https://05970c0c.slw-6vy.pages.dev/
2025.10.29 View 2045 -
“AI,” the New Language of Materials Science and Engineering Spoken at KAIST
<(From Left) M.S candidate Chaeyul Kang, Professor Seumgbum Hong, Ph. D candidate Benediktus Madika, Ph.D candidate Batzorig Buyantogtokh, Ph.D candiate Aditi Saha, >
Collaborating authors include Professor Joshua Agar (Drexel University), Professors Chris Wolverton and Peter Voorhees (Northwestern University), Professor Peter Littlewood (University of St Andrews), and Professor Sergei Kalinin (University of Tennessee).
Paper Title: Artificial Intelligence for Materials Discovery, Development, and Optimization
The era has arrived in which artificial intelligence (AI) autonomously imagines and predicts the structures and properties of new materials. Today, AI functions as a researcher’s “second brain,” actively participating in every stage of research, from idea generation to experimental validation.
KAIST (President Kwang Hyung Lee) announced on October 26 that a comprehensive review paper analyzing the impact of AI, Machine Learning (ML), and Deep Learning (DL) technologies across materials science and engineering has been published in ACS Nano (Impact Factor = 18.7). The paper was co-authored by Professor Seungbum Hong and his team from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at KAIST, in collaboration with researchers from Drexel University, Northwestern University, the University of St Andrews, and the University of Tennessee in the United States.
The research team proposed a full-cycle utilization strategy for materials innovation through an AI-based catalyst search platform, which embodies the concept of a Self-Driving Lab—a system in which robots autonomously perform materials synthesis and optimization experiments.
Professor Hong’s team categorized materials research into three major stages—Discovery, Development, and Optimization—and detailed the distinctive role of AI in each phase:
In the Discovery Stage, AI designs new structures, predicts properties, and rapidly identifies the most promising materials among vast candidate pools.
In the Development Stage, AI analyzes experimental data and autonomously adjusts experimental processes through Self-Driving Lab systems, significantly shortening research timelines.
In the Optimization Stage, AI employs Reinforcement Learning, which identifies optimal conditions through Bayesian Optimization, which efficiently finds superior results with minimal experimentation, to fine-tune designs and process conditions for maximum performance.
In essence, AI serves as a “smart assistant” that narrows down the most promising materials, reduces experimental trial and error, and autonomously optimizes experimental conditions to achieve the best-performing outcomes.
The paper further highlights how cutting-edge technologies such as Generative AI, Graph Neural Networks (GNNs), and Transformer models are transforming AI from a computational tool into a “thinking researcher.” Nonetheless, the team cautions that AI’s predictions are not error-proof and that key challenges persist, such as imbalanced data quality, limited interpretability of AI predictions, and integration of heterogeneous datasets.
To address these limitations, the authors emphasize the importance of developing AI systems capable of autonomously understanding physical principles and ensuring transparent, verifiable decision-making processes for researchers.
The review also explores the concept of the Self-Driving Lab, where AI autonomously designs experimental plans, analyzes results, and determines the next experimental steps—without manual operation by researchers. The AI-Based Catalyst Search Platform exemplifies this concept, enabling robots to automatically design, execute, and optimize catalyst synthesis experiments.
In particular, the study presents cases in which AI-driven experimentation has dramatically accelerated catalyst development, suggesting that similar approaches could revolutionize research in battery and energy materials.
<AI Driving Innovation Across the Entire Cycle of New Material Discovery, Development, and Optimization>
“This review demonstrates that artificial intelligence is emerging as the new language of materials science and engineering, transcending its role as a mere tool,” said Professor Seungbum Hong. “The roadmap presented by the KAIST team will serve as a valuable guide for researchers in Korea’s national core industries including batteries, semiconductors, and energy materials.”
Benediktus Madika (Ph.D. candidate), Aditi Saha (Ph.D. candidate), Chaeyul Kang (M.S. candidate), and Batzorig Buyantogtokh (Ph.D. candidate) from KAIST’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering contributed as co-first authors.
Collaborating authors include Professor Joshua Agar (Drexel University), Professors Chris Wolverton and Peter Voorhees (Northwestern University), Professor Peter Littlewood (University of St Andrews), and Professor Sergei Kalinin (University of Tennessee).
Paper Title: Artificial Intelligence for Materials Discovery, Development, and Optimization
DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.5c04200
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) with funding from the Ministry of Science and ICT (RS-2023-00247245).
2025.10.27 View 2098 -
"KAIST Opens Up! Cutting-Edge Research Sites Revealed... 'OPEN KAIST 2025' to be Held
< 2025 OPEN KAIST Poster >
KAIST announced on the 23rd of October that it will hold the 'OPEN KAIST 2025' event, which publicly opens research labs, experiment rooms, and research centers on campus, for two days starting from October 30th at the main campus in Daejeon.
OPEN KAIST, which began in 2001 and marks its 13th event this year, is a representative research exhibition event operated biennially by the KAIST College of Engineering (Dean Jae Woo Lee), aiming for programs where citizens can directly experience the research environment and encounter science more closely.
This year, 16 departments and the KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center are participating, operating a total of 39 programs across five areas: △Experience/Demonstration △Lab Tour △Lecture △Department Introduction △Achievement Exhibition. In particular, the opportunities to directly observe and learn about core future fields such as AI, drones, brain science, nuclear energy, and semiconductors have been greatly enhanced.
Professor Jun Han's lab in the School of Computing will introduce technology where AI understands 3D space and constructs virtual environments. Participants will confirm the process of objects in a video being rearranged through a demonstration and learn about the role of AI in future society and the direction of development for spatial perception technology.
Professor Hyochoong Bang's lab in the Department of Aerospace Engineering will unveil next-generation drone technologies, including multicopters, unmanned helicopters, and Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft. Participants will understand their characteristics and usage environments, observe the already flight-tested technologies up close, and get a panoramic view of the changes the drone industry will bring.
Professor Minee Choi's lab in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences offers an opportunity to experience the relationship between the brain and behavior. Participants will use an online application to create their own mini-brain, virtually examine the effects of exercise or vitamin intake on the brain, and directly experience research equipment and the experimental environment.
The Department of Mathematical Sciences has prepared two special lectures for youth. The lecture ‘Secrets Hidden in the Growth Data Patterns of Mammals’ will explore universal mathematical rules within the growth data of various mammals, from the American shrew mole weighing barely 10g to the blue whale exceeding 200 tons. The subsequent lecture, ‘Can This Knot Really Be Undone? — A Mathematical Way to Understand Space’, will explain the mathematical thought process for understanding space, using everyday knots like shoelaces as examples, tailored to the youth's level.
The Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering program includes radiation detection practice and a look at the potential utilization of next-generation nuclear technologies such as SMRs and microreactors. The Department of Industrial Design will introduce how design research connects to solving real-life problems through lab tours and exhibitions.
The Semiconductor Research Facility Tour allows participants to directly enter a cleanroom to observe the process equipment and manufacturing stages, experiencing the completion process of ultrafine semiconductors.
In addition, a variety of other programs are prepared, including a lecture by Professor Hyungjun Kim of the Moon Soul Graduate School of Future Strategy titled ‘Meta-Earth: Climate Crisis and Earth's Changes through Data’, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering’s ‘Centrifuge Modeling Test: Earthquake Research using Centrifugal Force’, and a game development special lecture and exhibition by the School of Computing's game production club 'Haze'.
< OPEN KAIST Event Scene >
Jae Woo Lee, Dean of the College of Engineering, stated, "We prepared this event to open up KAIST's education and research sites and provide visitors with an opportunity to directly experience and communicate about challenging and creative science and technology innovation."
KAIST President Kwang Hyung Lee said, "OPEN KAIST is a meaningful occasion to share the research environment with the public," and "I hope this event serves as an opportunity for youth and citizens to feel the value of science and foster dreams of future challenges."
For individual visitors, 'OPEN KAIST 2025' can be freely viewed according to the on-site situation by referring to the booklet distributed at the information desk on the day of the event, without prior application. Detailed schedules and programs can be checked on the website (https://openkaist.ac.kr).**
2025.10.23 View 2548