Elsevier
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Professor Hyun Gyu Park Appointed as Associate Editor for Biosensors and Bioelectronics
Professor Hyun Gyu Park from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering was appointed as an associate editor for Biosensors and Bioelectronics, an international journal published by Elsevier.
Biosensors and Bioelectronics is one of the top SCI journals in the fields of chemistry and analytical science (IF 9.518 as of 2018). Professor Park was recognized and appointed as the associate editor for this journal due to his outstanding research achievements in the fields of nucleic acid engineering, biosensors, and nanobiotechnology.
Professor Park will serve as the associate editor from this October until December 2021.
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2019.10.01 View 5764 -
1g-Ultrasound System for the Brain Stimulation of a Freely-moving Mouse
A KAIST research team developed a light-weight capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) and succeeded in the ultrasound brain stimulation of a freely-moving mouse. With this lightweight and compact system, researchers can conduct a versatile set of in vivo experiments.
Conventional methods for stimulating a specific brain region, such as deep brain stimulation (DBS) and optogenetics technology, are highly invasive because they have to insert probes into a target brain, which makes them difficult to use for clinical application. While transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial electrical stimulation (TES) are noninvasive, they have a wide range of stimulation and problems with in-depth stimulation, which makes them problematic for target-specific treatment.
Therefore, noninvasive and focused ultrasound stimulation technology is gaining a great deal of attention as a next-generation brain stimulation alternative. Since it is delivered noninvasively, it can be applied safely in humans as well as animal experiments. Focused ultrasound stimulation is more advantageous than conventional methods in terms of providing both local and deep stimulation.
Animal behavior experiments are essential for brain stimulation research; however, ultrasonic brain stimulation technology is currently in the early stages of development. So far, only research outcomes with fixed anesthetized mice have been studied because of the heavy ultrasonic device.
Professor Hyunjoo J. Lee from the School of Electrical Engineering and her team reported a technology that can provide ultrasound stimulation to the brain of a freely-moving mouse through a microminiaturized ultrasound device.
The team studied miniaturization and ultra-lightweight CMUTs through microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology and designed a device suitable for behavior experiments. The device weighing less than 1g (around 0.05% of the mouse’s weight) has the center frequency, size, focal length, and ultrasonic intensity to fit a mouse’s dimensions.
To evaluate the performance of the ultrasonic device, the team stimulated the motor cortex of the mouse brain and observed the movement reaction of its forefoot. They also measured the electromyography (EMG) of the trapezius.
As a result, the team confirmed that their ultrasonic device can deliver ultrasound to a depth of 3-4mm in the mouse brain and stimulate an area of the mouse brain that represents 25% of its total size.
Based on this research, the team is investigating the effects of ultrasound on sleep by stimulating the brain of sleeping mice.
Professor Lee said, “Going beyond experimenting on fixed anesthetized mice, this research succeeded in the brain stimulation of a freely-moving mouse. We are planning to study mice with diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease, dementia, depression, and epilepsy. I believe that this basic research can contribute to treating human brain-related diseases through ultrasound brain stimulation.
This research, led by Masters candidates Hyunggug Kim and Seongyeon Kim, was published in Brain Stimulation (10.1016/j.brs.2018.11.007) on November 17, 2018.
Figure 1. The miniature transducer for the transcranial ultrasound of a freely-moving mouse
Figure 2. Its structure and simulated 2D beam profile in the axial ad radial directions
2019.03.13 View 8592 -
Flexible Piezoelectric Acoustic Sensors for Speaker Recognition
A KAIST research team led by Professor Keon Jae Lee from the Department of Material Science and Engineering has developed a machine learning-based acoustic sensor for speaker recognition.
Acoustic sensors were spotlighted as one of the most intuitive bilateral communication devices between humans and machines. However, conventional acoustic sensors use a condenser-type device for measuring capacitance between two conducting layers, resulting in low sensitivity, short recognition distance, and low speaker recognition rates.
The team fabricated a flexible piezoelectric membrane by mimicking the basilar membrane in the human cochlear. Resonant frequencies vibrate corresponding regions of the trapezoidal piezoelectric membrane, which converts voice to electrical signal with a highly sensitive self-powered acoustic sensor.
This multi-channel piezoelectric acoustic sensor exhibits sensitivity more than two times higher and allows for more abundant voice information compared to conventional acoustic sensors, which can detect minute sounds from farther distances. In addition, the acoustic sensor can achieve a 97.5% speaker recognition rate using a machine learning algorithm, reducing by 75% error rate than the reference microphone.
AI speaker recognition is the next big thing for future individual customized services. However, conventional technology attempts to improve recognition rates by using software upgrades, resulting in limited speaker recognition rates. The team enhanced the speaker recognition system by replacing the existing hardware with an innovative flexible piezoelectric acoustic sensor. Further software improvement of the piezoelectric acoustic sensor will significantly increase the speaker and voice recognition rate in diverse environments.
Professor Lee said, “Highly sensitive self-powered acoustic sensors for speaker recognition can be used for personalized voice services such as smart home appliances, AI secretaries, always-on IoT, biometric authentication, and FinTech.”
These research “Basilar Membrane-Inspired Self-Powered Acoustic Sensor” and “Machine Learning-based Acoustic Sensor for Speaker Recognition” were published in the September 2018 issue of Nano Energy.
Firgure 1: A flexible piezoelectric acoustic sensor mimicking the human cochlear.
Figure 2: Speaker recognition with a machine learning algorithm.
2018.10.04 View 6777 -
Flexible Drug Delivery Microdevice to Advance Precision Medicine
(Schematic view of flexible microdevice: The flexible drug delivery device for controlled release fabricated via inorganic laser lift off.)
A KAIST research team has developed a flexible drug delivery device with controlled release for personalized medicine, blazing the path toward theragnosis.
Theragnosis, an emerging medical technology, is gaining attention as key factor to advance precision medicine for its featuring simultaneous diagnosis and therapeutics. Theragnosis devices including smart contact lenses and microneedle patches integrate physiological data sensors and drug delivery devices. The controlled drug delivery boasts fewer side-effects, uniform therapeutic results, and minimal dosages compared to oral ingestion. Recently, some research groups conducted in-human applications of controlled-release bulky microchips for osteoporosis treatment. However they failed to demonstrate successful human-friendly flexible drug delivery systems for controlled release.
For this microdevice, the team under Professor Daesoo Kim from the Department of Biological Science and Professor Keon Jae Lee from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, fabricated a device on a rigid substrate and transferred a 50 µm-thick active drug delivery layer to the flexible substrate via inorganic laser lift off. The fabricated device shows mechanical flexibility while maintaining the capability of precise administration of exact dosages at desired times. The core technology is to produce a freestanding gold capping layer directly on top of the microreservoir with the drugs inside, which had been regarded as impossible in conventional microfabrication.
The developed flexible drug delivery system can be applied to smart contact lenses or the brain disease treatments by implanting them into cramped and corrugated organs. In addition, when powered wirelessly, it will represent a novel platform for personalized medicine. The team already proved through animal experimentation that treatment for brain epilepsy made progress by releasing anti-epileptic medication through the device.
Professor Lee believes the flexible microdevice will further expand the applications of smart contact lenses, therapeutic treatments for brain disease, and subcutaneous implantations for daily healthcare system. This study “Flexible Wireless Powered Drug Delivery System for Targeted Administration on Cerebral Cortex” was described in the June online issue of Nano Energy.
(Photo: The flexible drug delivery device for contolled relase attached on a glass rod.)
2018.08.13 View 8167 -
College of Business Honored with the WRDS-SSNR Innovation Award
(Professor Inmoo Lee (far left), Robert Zarazowski (WRDS), Gregg Gordon (SSRN) and Professor Jae Kyu Lee)
The KAIST College of Business received the WRDS (Wharton Research Data Services)-SSNR Innovation Award for the Asia-Pacific region on October 31 during the AACSB Asia-Pacific Conference in Seoul.
The WRDS-SSRN Innovation Award is intended to elevate the visibility of pioneering research across a broad range of financial and economic topics. Three winners are selected annually from across North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific based on their ability to demonstrate innovation and research excellence.
The award was created through collaboration with SSRN, the world’s leading early-stage research platform and Elsevier, a global information analytics company specializing in science and health. It honors top business schools that produce exceptional data-driven research. A part of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, WRDS provides global corporations, universities, and regulatory agencies with the thought leadership, data access, and analytics needed to enable impactful research.
The Dean of the College of Business Youngbae Kim, said that KAIST has been taking the lead in responding to global trends, offering many innovative programs such as an MBA for Social Entrepreneurship and the Master Course for Green Growth Management. KAIST already has been selected as the Most Innovative University in the Asia-Pacific Region by Thomson Reuters for the last two years.
Robert Zarazowski, managing director of WRDS said they recognize and support the outstanding achievement taking place at KAIST as well as its commitment to growth and innovation in business education.
2017.11.03 View 6080 -
KAIST Hosted the 6th International Presidential Forum on Global Research Universities
More than 120 global leaders from higher education, private and public sectors, to discuss the promotion of economic growth through knowledge creation and entrepreneurship
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) held the 6th International Presidential Forum on Global Research Universities (IPFGRU) on October 15th at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul, Republic of Korea.
About 64 presidents and vice presidents from 57 research universities in 28 nations attended for a presentation and panel discussion on the topic of “The Role and Responsibility of Research Universities: Knowledge Creation, Technology Transfer, and Entrepreneurship.”Annually held, the forum is organized to promote excellence and innovation in higher education and provide a place for discussion among prominent research university leaders and key policy-makers in the private and public sectors from across the world.Among the notable universities attending the 2013 forum were the University of California, Irvine, the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Technische Universität Berlin, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Rice University, the University of Waterloo, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Government officials as well as representatives from business and industry such as Samsung Electronics, Korea Telecom, and Elsevier also joined the event.
The forum was proceeded with three separate sessions: Enabling Knowledge Creation, Entrepreneurship & University-Based Technology Transfer, and Higher Education & Strategic Knowledge Creation: Specialization & Performance, through which speakers and panelists examined how universities have played a role in knowledge creation and technology transfer, and ultimately how they have contributed to the development of national economies.
Keynote speakers were Michael Drake, chancellor of UC Irvine, and Jörg Steinbach, president of Technische Universität Berlin. Forum participants shared their experiences and insights in starting up knowledge- and technolgy-based new businesses.
Steve Kang, president of KAIST, talked about the purpose of the 2013 IPFGRU:
“In the face of an ever-changing economic climate driven by shifts in technological advancement, demographic trends, and global integration, the role of research universities is becoming ever more significant in achieving sustainable economic growth. This forum will help participants from around the world to define the choices ahead as universities seek the most productive and beneficial models for cooperation with industry, venture startups, and government.”For the 2013 IPFGRU, Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning, ROK, Saudi Aramco, Samsung Heavy Industries, S-Oil, Elsevier, Thomson Reuters, and the Korea Economic Daily were forum sponsors.
2013.11.04 View 9462 -
Cancer detection from an implantable, flexible LED
Professor Keon Jae Lee
A KAIST research team has developed a new type of biocompatible and bendable GaN LED biosensor.
Daejeon, the Republic of Korea, August 8, 2011—Can a flexible LED conformably placed on the human heart, situated on the corrugated surface of the human brain, or rolled upon the blood vessels, diagnose or even treat various diseases? These things might be a reality in the near future.
The team of Professor Keon Jae Lee (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, KAIST) has developed a new concept: a biocompatible, flexible Gallium Nitride (GaN) LED that can detect prostate cancer.
GaN LED, a highly efficient light emitting device, has been commercialized in LED TVs and in the lighting industry. Until now, it has been difficult to use this semiconductor material to fabricate flexible electronic systems due to its brittleness. The research team, however, has succeeded in developing a highly efficient, flexible GaN LED and in detecting cancer using a flexible LED biosensor.
Prof. Lee was involved in the first co-invention of "High Performance Flexible Single Crystal GaN" during his PhD course at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). This flexible GaN LED biosensor utilized a similar protocol to transfer thin GaN LED films onto flexible substrates, followed by a biocompatible packaging process; the system’s overall potential for use in implantable biomedical applications was demonstrated.
Professor John Roger (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, UIUC) said,
“Bio-integrated LEDs represent an exciting, new technology with strong potential to address important challenges in human health. This present work represents a very nice contribution to this emerging field.”
This paper was published in the online issue of Nano Energy Elsevier Journal (Editor, Prof. Zhong Lin Wang) dated September 16, 2011.
Flexible GaN LED produces blue light.
2011.09.20 View 10546 -
The 9th International Conference on Entertainment Computing Held, Sep 8-11, 2010
The cyber world is no longer an unrealistic place for a contemporary man who spends most of his time in front of a computer nowadays. The entertainment contents industry, which materializes the cyber world, leads the new knowledge economy and is emerging as a new growth engine for high value-added industry.
Professionals in entertainment computing gathered to discuss how to make the cyber space more elaborate and entertaining. The 9th 2010 International Conference on Entertainment Computing (ICEC) was held from September 8 to September 11 at Seoul COEX by KAIST and International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP).
This year’s theme is “Creative and Innovative Science, Computing and Design for Digital and Entertainment Contents in 21C”, with fifteen global leaders of industry-university-institute collaboration speakers including George Joblove (Executive VP of Sony Pictures Technologies), Massimiliano Gasparri (VP of Warner Bros. Advanced Digital Services), Don Marinelli (Executive Producer of Entertainment Technology Center at University of Carnegie Mellon), Keith Devlin (Founding Executive Director of Stanford Media-X and Executive Director of Stanford H-STAR), Roy Ascott (President of Planetary Collegium).
Speeches, paper sessions, workshops, exhibitions on the high-tech digital entertainment industry including computer graphics, cyber reality, telepresence, 3D/4D, mobile games, animation, special effects, robot design, content production and distribution, media art were held at the conference this year.
This event was sponsored by IEEE, ACM, IPS, ADADA, Elsevier, ETRI, SK Telecom, KIISE, KMMS, HCI Korea, KCGS and KCGS.
2010.09.17 View 12535