UCL
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Editing Parkinson's Disease – KAIST Makes World's First Discovery of an Inflammatory RNA Editing Enzyme
< Professor Minee Choi of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (top left). Professor Sonia Gandhi (top right) and Professor Klenerman of the University College London (bottom right) >
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder in which the α-synuclein protein abnormally aggregates within brain cells, causing neuronal damage. Through international collaboration, researchers at KAIST have revealed that RNA editing plays a crucial role in regulating neuroinflammation, a key pathology of Parkinson's disease.
KAIST (represented by President Kwang-Hyung Lee) announced on the 27th of April that a research team led by Professor Minee L. Choi from the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, in collaboration with University College London (UCL) and the Francis Crick Institute, discovered that the RNA editing enzyme ADAR1 plays an important role in controlling immune responses in astrocytes, glial cells that trigger protective reactions in the brain, and demonstrated that this mechanism is critically involved in the progression of Parkinson’s disease.
Professor Choi's research team created a co-culture model composed of astrocytes and neurons derived from stem cells originating from Parkinson's disease patients, in order to study the inflammatory responses of brain immune cells. They then treated the model with α-synuclein aggregates, which are known to cause Parkinson’s disease, and analyzed how the immune cells' inflammatory responses changed.
< Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the inflammatory RNA editing model in Parkinson's disease >
As a result, it was found that early pathological forms of α-synuclein, known as oligomers, activated the Toll-like receptor pathway, which acts as a danger sensor in astrocytes, as well as the interferon response pathway, an immune signaling network that combats viruses and pathogens. During this process, the RNA editing enzyme ADAR1 was expressed and transformed into an isoform with an altered protein structure and function.
Notably, the RNA editing activity of ADAR1, which normally functions to regulate immune responses during viral infections by converting adenosine (A) to inosine (I) through a process known as A-to-I RNA editing, was found to be abnormally focused on genes that cause inflammation rather than operating under normal conditions. This phenomenon was observed not only in the patient-derived neuron models but also in postmortem brain tissues from actual Parkinson’s disease patients.
< Figure 2. Experimental design and inflammatory response induction in astrocytes following treatment with α-synuclein oligomers (abnormally folded protein fragments) >
This directly proves that the dysregulation of RNA editing induces chronic inflammatory responses in astrocytes, ultimately leading to neuronal toxicity and pathological progression.
This study is significant in that it newly identified the regulation of RNA editing within astrocytes as a key mechanism behind neuroinflammatory responses. In particular, it suggests that ADAR1 could serve as a novel genetic target for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.
It is also noteworthy that the study reflected actual pathological characteristics of patients by utilizing patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cell-based precision models for brain diseases.
Professor Minee L. Choi stated, “This study demonstrates that the regulator of inflammation caused by protein aggregation operates at the new layer of RNA editing, offering a completely different therapeutic strategy from existing approaches to Parkinson's disease treatment." She further emphasized, “RNA editing technology could become an important turning point in the development of therapeutics for neuroinflammation.”
< Figure 3. When treated with α-synuclein oligomers, the causative agent of Parkinson's disease, A-to-I RNA editing is induced to change genetic information by ADAR in patient-derived stem cell-differentiated glial cells, confirming that α-synuclein is likely to be associated with the progression of Parkinson's disease through RNA editing >
This study was published in Science Advances on April 11, with Professor Choi listed as a co-first author.
Paper Title: Astrocytic RNA editing regulates the host immune response to alpha-synuclein, Science Advances Vol.11, Issue 15. (DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adp8504)
Lead Authors: Karishma D’Sa (UCL, Co-First Author), Minee L. Choi (KAIST, Co-First Author), Mina Ryten (UCL, Corresponding Author), Sonia Gandhi (Francis Crick Institute, University of Cambridge, Corresponding Author)
This research was supported by the Brain Research Program and the Excellent Young Researcher Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea, as well as KAIST’s Daekyo Cognitive Enhancement Program.
2025.05.02 View 384 -
KAIST Uncovers the Principles of Gene Expression Regulation in Cancer and Cellular Functions
< (From left) Professor Seyun Kim, Professor Gwangrog Lee, Dr. Hyoungjoon Ahn, Dr. Jeongmin Yu, Professor Won-Ki Cho, and (below) PhD candidate Kwangmin Ryu of the Department of Biological Sciences>
A research team at KAIST has identified the core gene expression networks regulated by key proteins that fundamentally drive phenomena such as cancer development, metastasis, tissue differentiation from stem cells, and neural activation processes. This discovery lays the foundation for developing innovative therapeutic technologies.
On the 22nd of January, KAIST (represented by President Kwang Hyung Lee) announced that the joint research team led by Professors Seyun Kim, Gwangrog Lee, and Won-Ki Cho from the Department of Biological Sciences had uncovered essential mechanisms controlling gene expression in animal cells.
Inositol phosphate metabolites produced by inositol metabolism enzymes serve as vital secondary messengers in eukaryotic cell signaling systems and are broadly implicated in cancer, obesity, diabetes, and neurological disorders.
The research team demonstrated that the inositol polyphosphate multikinase (IPMK) enzyme, a key player in the inositol metabolism system, acts as a critical transcriptional activator within the core gene expression networks of animal cells. Notably, although IPMK was previously reported to play an important role in the transcription process governed by serum response factor (SRF), a representative transcription factor in animal cells, the precise mechanism of its action was unclear.
SRF is a transcription factor directly controlling the expression of at least 200–300 genes, regulating cell growth, proliferation, apoptosis, and motility, and is indispensable for organ development, such as in the heart.
The team discovered that IPMK binds directly to SRF, altering the three-dimensional structure of the SRF protein. This interaction facilitates the transcriptional activity of various genes through the SRF activated by IPMK, demonstrating that IPMK acts as a critical regulatory switch to enhance SRF's protein activity.
< Figure 1. The serum response factor (SRF) protein, a key transcription factor in animal cells, directly binds to inositol polyphosphate multikinase (IPMK) enzyme and undergoes structural change to acquire DNA binding ability, and precisely regulates growth and differentiation of animal cells through transcriptional activation. >
The team further verified that disruptions in the direct interaction between IPMK and SRF lead to the reduced functionality and activity of SRF, causing severe impairments in gene expression.
By highlighting the significance of the intrinsically disordered region (IDR) in SRF, the researchers underscored the biological importance of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs). Unlike most proteins that adopt distinct structures through folding, IDPs, including those with IDRs, do not exhibit specific structures but play crucial biological roles, attracting significant attention in the scientific community.
Professor Seyun Kim commented, "This study provides a vital mechanism proving that IPMK, a key enzyme in the inositol metabolism system, is a major transcriptional activator in the core gene expression network of animal cells. By understanding fundamental processes such as cancer development and metastasis, tissue differentiation from stem cells, and neural activation through SRF, we hope this discovery will lead to the broad application of innovative therapeutic technologies."
The findings were published on January 7th in the international journal Nucleic Acids Research (IF=16.7, top 1.8% in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology), under the title “Single-molecule analysis reveals that IPMK enhances the DNA-binding activity of the transcription factor SRF" (DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkae1281).
This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea's Mid-career Research Program, Leading Research Center Program, and Global Research Laboratory Program, as well as by the Suh Kyungbae Science Foundation and the Samsung Future Technology Development Program.
2025.01.24 View 7100 -
'Jumping Genes' Found to Alter Human Colon Genomes, Offering Insights into Aging and Tumorigenesis
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and their collaborators have conducted a groundbreaking study targeting 'jumping genes' in the entire genomes of the human large intestine. Published in Nature on May 18 2023, the research unveils the surprising activity of 'Long interspersed nuclear element-1 (L1),' a type of jumping gene previously thought to be mostly dormant in human genomes. The study shows that L1 genes can become activated and disrupt genomic functions throughout an individual's lifetime, particularly in the colorectal epithelium.
(Paper Title: Widespread somatic L1 retrotransposition in normal colorectal epithelium, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06046-z)
With approximately 500,000 L1 jumping genes, accounting for 17% of the human genome, they have long been recognized for their contribution to the evolution of the human species by introducing 'disruptive innovation' to genome sequences. Until now, it was believed that most L1 elements had lost their ability to jump in normal tissues of modern humans. However, this study reveals that some L1 jumping genes can be widely activated in normal cells, leading to the accumulation of genomic mutations over an individual's lifetime. The rate of L1 jumping and resulting genomic changes vary among different cell types, with a notable concentration observed in aged colon epithelial cells. The study illustrates that every colonic epithelial cell experiences an L1 jumping event by the age of 40 on average.
The research, led by co-first authors Chang Hyun Nam (a graduate student at KAIST) and Dr. Jeonghwan Youk (former graduate student at KAIST and assistant clinical professor at Seoul National University Hospital), involved the analysis of whole-genome sequences from 899 single cells obtained from skin (fibroblasts), blood, and colon epithelial tissues collected from 28 individuals. The study uncovers the activation of L1 jumping genes in normal cells, resulting in the gradual accumulation of genomic mutations over time. Additionally, the team explored epigenomic (DNA methylation) sequences to understand the mechanism behind L1 jumping gene activation. They found that cells with activated L1 jumping genes exhibit epigenetic instability, suggesting the critical role of epigenetic changes in regulating L1 jumping gene activity. Most of these epigenomic instabilities were found to arise during the early stages of embryogenesis. The study provides valuable insights into the aging process and the development of diseases in human colorectal tissues.
"This study illustrates that genomic damage in normal cells is acquired not only through exposure to carcinogens but also through the activity of endogenous components whose impact was previously unclear. Genomes of apparently healthy aged cells, particularly in the colorectal epithelium, become mosaic due to the activity of L1 jumping genes," said Prof. Young Seok Ju at KAIST.
"We emphasize the essential and ongoing collaboration among researchers in clinical medicine and basic medical sciences," said Prof. Min Jung Kim of the Department of Surgery at Seoul National University Hospital. "This case highlights the critical role of systematically collected human tissues from clinical settings in unraveling the complex process of disease development in humans."
"I am delighted that the research team's advancements in single-cell genome technology have come to fruition. We will persistently strive to lead in single-cell genome technology," said Prof. Hyun Woo Kwon of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at Korea University School of Medicine.
The research team received support from the Research Leader Program and the Young Researcher Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea, a grant from the MD-PhD/Medical Scientist Training Program through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, and the Suh Kyungbae Foundation.
< Figure 1. Experimental design of the study >
< Figure 2. Schematic diagram illustrating factors influencing the soL1R landscape. >
Genetic composition of rc-L1s is inherited from the parents. The methylation landscape of rc-L1 promoters is predominantly determined by global DNA demethylation, followed by remethylation processes in the developmental stages. Then, when an rc-L1 is promoter demethylated in a specific cell lineage, the source expresses L1 transcripts thus making possible the induction of soL1Rs.
2023.05.22 View 7526 -
Professor Poong Hyun Seong Elected INSC Chair
Professor Emeritus Poong Hyun Seong from the Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering was elected as the Chairman of the International Nuclear Societies Council (INSC). His two-year term began on January 1.
The INSC is an organization made up of nuclear societies all over the world, representing more than 80,000 nuclear professionals. The INSC founded in 1990 acts as a global forum to establish common goals of nuclear power usage, delivering the views and ideas of professionals throughout their regional societies.
The INSC has advocated for nuclear power to be deemed an indispensable clean energy resources that can mitigate the climate change. The council has engaged in public awareness and publicity activities promoting the advantages of nuclear energy for developing next-generation power plants such as small nuclear reactors, local heating system, seawater desalination, and fair production of energy.
Professor Seong is a globally renowned scholar in the fields of nuclear instrumentation control and human factor engineering. He retired last year after 30-year career at KAIST. He took on leadership roles in the Korea Nuclear Society and served as a member of the Korea Nuclear Safety and Security Commission as well as Atomic Energy Commission. A fellow at the America Nuclear Society, Professor Seong served as the first vice chair of the INSC and he received the Don Miller Award in 2019. The award established in 2009 by the American Nuclear Society in honor of former ANS President Don Miller is given to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the advancement of nuclear instrumentation and control of human-machine interfaces.
He led the leadership role to help the Korean government steered into efficient and reasonable energy policymaking. More recently, as the Korean government decided to abandon nuclear energy, he actively opposed the government’s pivot. Professor Seong said, “Advanced countries like the US, UK, France, and Japan push forward the production of renewable energy by driving nuclear power plant under their pledges toward carbon neutrality by 2050. However, we are very concerned about the government’s policy shift to decrease the number of nuclear power plants while increasing the fossil fuel usage. I don’t think we can realize carbon neutrality by 2050 with the current policy.”
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2021.01.13 View 6970 -
Big Ideas on Emerging Materials Explored at EMS
Renowned scholars and editors from academic journals joined the Emerging Materials e-Symposium (EMS) held at KAIST and shared the latest breakthroughs and big ideas in new material development last month. This e-symposium was organized by Professor Il-Doo Kim from the KAIST Department of Materials Sciences and Engineering over five days from September 21 through 25 via Zoom and YouTube. Professor Kim also serves as an associate editor of ACS Nano.
Esteemed scholars and editors of academic journals including ACS Nano, Nano Energy, and Energy Storage Materials made Zoom presentations in three main categories: 1) nanostructures for next-generation applications, 2) chemistry and biotechnology for applications in the fields of environment and industry, and 3) material innovation for technological applications.
During Session I, speakers including Professor John A. Rogers of Northwestern University and Professor Zhenan Bao of Stanford University led the session on Emerging Soft Electronics and 3D printing.
In later sessions, other globally recognized scholars gave talks titled Advanced Nanostructuring for Emerging Materials, Frontiers in Emerging Materials Research, Advanced Energy Materials and Functional Nanomaterials, and Latest Advances in Nanomaterials Research.
These included 2010 Nobel Prize laureate and professor at Manchester University Andre Geim, editor-in-chief of ACS Nano and professor at UCLA Paul S. Weiss, Professor Paul Alivisatos of UC Berkeley, Professor William Chueh of Stanford University, and Professor Mircea Dinca of MIT.
KAIST President Sung-Chul Shin, who is also a materials physicist, said in his opening address, “Innovation in materials science will become an important driving force to change our way of life. All the breakthroughs in materials have extended a new paradigm that has transformed our lives.”
“Creative research projects alongside global collaborators like all of you will allow the breakthroughs that will deliver us from these crises,” he added.
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2020.10.06 View 15155 -
Professor Sungyeol Choi Receives Science and ICT Ministerial Commendation
< Professor Sungyeol Choi >
Professor Sungyeol Choi from the Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering received the Science and ICT Ministerial Commendation on the 9th Annual Nuclear Safety and Promotion Day last month, in recognition of his contributions to the promotion of nuclear energy through the safe management of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste.
Professor Choi developed high-precision, multi-physics codes that can predict and prevent abnormal power fluctuations caused by boron hideout within nuclear fuel in a pressurized water reactor, solving the problem that has caused economic losses of tens of billions of won every year from industrial sites.
He is now developing a new technology that can reduce high-level waste by recycling spent nuclear fuel, while preventing nuclear material from being used for nuclear weapons, which is one of the biggest challenges faced by the nuclear industry.
In 2017, his first year in office as a KAIST professor, Professor Choi was selected as the youngest and the only member under 50 of the Standing Scientific Advisory Committee at the Information Exchange Meeting on Partitioning and Transmutation (IEMPT), an authoritative association on the disposal of high-level nuclear waste.
The following year, he became the first Korean to receive the Early Career Award, which is given to one person every two years by the International Youth Nuclear Congress.
2020.01.15 View 5588 -
Gallium-Based Solvating Agent Efficiently Analyzes Optically Active Alcohols
A KAIST research team has developed a gallium-based metal complex enabling the rapid chiral analysis of alcohols. A team working under Professor Hyunwoo Kim reported the efficient new alcohol analysis method using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in iScience.
Enantiopure chiral alcohols are ubiquitous in nature and widely utilized as pharmaceuticals. This importance of chirality in synthetic and medicinal chemistry has advanced the search for rapid and facile methods to determine the enantiomeric purities of compounds. To date, chiral analysis has been performed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with chiral columns.
Along with the HPLC technique, chiral analysis using NMR spectroscopy has gained tremendous attention as an alternative to traditionally employed chromatographic methods due to its simplicity and rapid detection for real-time measurement. However, this method carries drawbacks such as line-broadening, narrow substrate scope, and poor resolution. Thus, compared with popular methods of chromatographic analysis, NMR spectroscopy is infrequently used for chiral analysis.
In principle, a chiral solvating agent is additionally required for the NMR measurement of chiral alcohols to obtain two distinct signals. However, NMR analysis of chiral alcohols has been challenging due to weak binding interactions with chiral solvating agents. To overcome the intrinsic difficulty of relatively weak molecular interactions that are common for alcohols, many researchers have used multifunctional alcohols to enhance interactions with solvating agents.
Instead, the KAIST team successfully varied the physical properties of metal complexes to induce stronger interactions with alcohols rather than the strategy of using multifunctional analytes, in the hopes of developing a universal chiral solvating agent for alcohols. Compared to the current method of chiral analysis used in the pharmaceutical industry, alcohols that do not possess chromophores can also be directly analyzed with the gallium complexes.
Professor Kim said that this method could be a complementary chiral analysis technique at the industry level in the near future. He added that since the developed gallium complex can determine enantiomeric excess within minutes, it can be further utilized to monitor asymmetric synthesis. This feature will benefit a large number of researchers in the organic chemistry community, as well as the pharmaceutical industry.
(Figure: Schematic view of the in-situ direct 1H NMR chiral analysis.)
-Profile:
Professor Hyunwoo Kim
Department of Chemistry
KAIST
http://mdos.kaist.ac.kr
hwk34@kaist.ac.kr
For more on this article,
please go to https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci2019.07051
2019.11.14 View 11352 -
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 7632 -
Synthesizing Single-Crystalline Hexagonal Graphene Quantum Dots
(Figure: Uniformly ordered single-crystalline graphene quantum dots of various sizes synthesized through solution chemistry.)
A KAIST team has designed a novel strategy for synthesizing single-crystalline graphene quantum dots, which emit stable blue light. The research team confirmed that a display made of their synthesized graphene quantum dots successfully emitted blue light with stable electric pressure, reportedly resolving the long-standing challenges of blue light emission in manufactured displays. The study, led by Professor O Ok Park in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, was featured online in Nano Letters on July 5.
Graphene has gained increased attention as a next-generation material for its heat and electrical conductivity as well as its transparency. However, single and multi-layered graphene have characteristics of a conductor so that it is difficult to apply into semiconductor. Only when downsized to the nanoscale, semiconductor’s distinct feature of bandgap will be exhibited to emit the light in the graphene. This illuminating featuring of dot is referred to as a graphene quantum dot.
Conventionally, single-crystalline graphene has been fabricated by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on copper or nickel thin films, or by peeling graphite physically and chemically. However, graphene made via chemical vapor deposition is mainly used for large-surface transparent electrodes. Meanwhile, graphene made by chemical and physical peeling carries uneven size defects.
The research team explained that their graphene quantum dots exhibited a very stable single-phase reaction when they mixed amine and acetic acid with an aqueous solution of glucose. Then, they synthesized single-crystalline graphene quantum dots from the self-assembly of the reaction intermediate. In the course of fabrication, the team developed a new separation method at a low-temperature precipitation, which led to successfully creating a homogeneous nucleation of graphene quantum dots via a single-phase reaction.
Professor Park and his colleagues have developed solution phase synthesis technology that allows for the creation of the desired crystal size for single nanocrystals down to 100 nano meters. It is reportedly the first synthesis of the homogeneous nucleation of graphene through a single-phase reaction.
Professor Park said, "This solution method will significantly contribute to the grafting of graphene in various fields. The application of this new graphene will expand the scope of its applications such as for flexible displays and varistors.”
This research was a joint project with a team from Korea University under Professor Sang Hyuk Im from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea, the Nano-Material Technology Development Program from the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), KAIST EEWS, and the BK21+ project from the Korean government.
2019.08.02 View 33590 -
Deciphering Brain Somatic Mutations Associated with Alzheimer's Disease
Researchers have found a potential link between non-inherited somatic mutations in the brain and the progression of Alzheimer’s disease
Researchers have identified somatic mutations in the brain that could contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Their findings were published in the journal Nature Communications last week.
Decades worth of research has identified inherited mutations that lead to early-onset familial AD. Inherited mutations, however, are behind at most half the cases of late onset sporadic AD, in which there is no family history of the disease. But the genetic factors causing the other half of these sporadic cases have been unclear.
Professor Jeong Ho Lee at the Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering and colleagues analysed the DNA present in post-mortem hippocampal formations and in blood samples from people aged 70 to 96 with AD and age-matched controls. They specifically looked for non-inherited somatic mutations in their brains using high-depth whole exome sequencing.
The team developed a bioinformatics pipeline that enabled them to detect low-level brain somatic single nucleotide variations (SNVs) – mutations that involve the substitution of a single nucleotide with another nucleotide. Brain somatic SNVs have been reported on and accumulate throughout our lives and can sometimes be associated with a range of neurological diseases.
The number of somatic SNVs did not differ between individuals with AD and non-demented controls. Interestingly, somatic SNVs in AD brains arise about 4.8 times more slowly than in blood. When the team performed gene-set enrichment tests, 26.9 percent of the AD brain samples had pathogenic brain somatic SNVs known to be linked to hyperphosphorylation of tau proteins, which is one of major hallmarks of AD.
Then, they pinpointed a pathogenic SNV in the PIN1 gene, a cis/trans isomerase that balances phosphorylation in tau proteins, found in one AD patient’s brain. They found the mutation was 4.9 time more abundant in AT8-positive – a marker for hyper-phosphorylated tau proteins– neurons in the entorhinal cortex than the bulk hippocampal tissue. Furthermore, in a series of functional assays, they observed the mutation causing a loss of function in PIN1 and such haploinsufficiency increased the phosphorylation and aggregation of tau proteins.
“Our study provides new insights into the molecular genetic factors behind Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases potentially linked to somatic mutations in the brain,” said Professor Lee.
The team is planning to expand their study to a larger cohort in order to establish stronger links between these brain somatic mutations and the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease.
(Figure 1. Bioinformatic pipeline for detecting low-level brain somatic mutations in AD and non-AD.)
(Figure 2. Pathogenic brain somatic mutations associated with tau phosphorylation are significantly enriched in AD brains.)
(Figure 3. A pathogenic brain somatic mutation in PIN1 (c. 477 C>T) is a loss-of-function and related functional assays show its haploinsufficiency increases phosphorylation and aggregation of tau.)
2019.07.19 View 36060 -
Professor Yim Appointed As Associate Editor of Nuclear Technology
Professor Man-Sung Yim from the Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering was appointed as the associate editor (for the Asian region) of Nuclear Technology ― a leading international research journal of the American Nuclear Society. Professor Yim will serve his term for three years from May 2019.
The American Nuclear Society, established in 1954, is comprised of more than 11,000 global members and aims to advance nuclear science, engineering, and technology while supporting the peaceful and beneficial applications of nuclear energy. Since its first publication in 1971, Nuclear Technology has been a representative journal of the society, reporting state-of-the-art information on all phases of the practical applications of nuclear technology.
Professor Yim is being recognized worldwide for his pioneering nuclear education, research, and policy studies in the fields of non-proliferation, safeguards for severe accident management, and waste management. He served as the head professor of the Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering and established the Nonproliferation Education and Research Center (NEREC) at KAIST.
Professor Yim remarked, “Asia has an important role to play at the forefront of the world’s nuclear research considering that nuclear development is most actively being carried out in the Asian region these days.”
2019.05.17 View 7933 -
Chair Professor Seong Honored with Don Miller Award
(Professor Poong-Hyun Seong)
Chair Professor Poong-Hyun Seong from the Department of Nuclear & Quantum Engineering was selected as the recipient of the Don Miller Award by the American Nuclear Society.
The award, established in 2009 by the American Nuclear Society in honor of former ANS President Don Miller, is given to an individual or team who has made a significant contribution to the advancement of one or both of the fields of nuclear instrumentation and control of human-machine interfaces through individual or combined activities. The award ceremony will be held on June 10 during the 2019 annual meeting of the ANS in Minneapolis in the US.
Professor Seong is being recognized for his pioneering research and training in the fields of nuclear instrumentation control and human factor engineering at Korea. His research significantly contributed to safety improvements in nuclear power plants and have been recognized worldwide. Professor Seong, a fellow of the ANS, now serves as the first vice chair of the International Nuclear Societies Council and will take up the role of chair in 2021.
Professor Seong said that, “ Korea is one of the most outstanding countries working on research in the fields of nuclear instrumentation control and human factors. KAIST PhDs are teaching at many universities at home and abroad. I look forward this award bringing new hope to our nuclear research and the domestic nuclear industry, which is now in difficult times.”
2019.04.11 View 5434