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Vietnamese Alumni of Korean S&T Universities Gather in Hanoi
(Vietnamese KAIST alumni gather in Hanoi on November 24.)
(Dr.Huong Minh Nguyen at the Institute of Biotechnology in the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST). She is the representative of Vietnamese KAIST alumni.)
Some came from Ho Chi Minh and some even flew in from Singapore. For those KAIST alumni who gathered in Hanoi, the trip was well worth it. More than 100 Vietnamese alumni of KAIST, GIST, and UST attended the reunion in Hanoi on November 24. Presidents and vice president from three universities welcomed them and celebrated their successful careers after returning home or starting careers in other countries.
The reunion was co-hosted by KAIST, UST, and GIST in an effort to make a platform for continued networking for scientists who have studied at Korea’s science and technology universities. This joint reunion will be expected to include other science and technology universities and institutes in the future.
Among 1,873 international KAIST alumni from 106 countries, the number of Vietnamese graduates is the most dominant with 262 alumni, 14% of the total international alumni. Welcoming them, KAIST Vice President Soohyun Kim said that he was very impressed that all of the alumni are making a very impressive stride in their fields.
“You will be a big asset to make your country grow. You will also be a bridge for future collaborations with your institutions and KAIST and Korea. Vietnam holds great potential for future prosperity especially in science and technology and we look forward to seeing this network continue to benefit both countries.” Vice President Kim said all of the presidents shared the idea to make this gathering a regular event. “Other S&T universities will join to hold joint reunions in other countries in the future,” he added.
Dr. Huong Minh Nguyen at the Institute of Biotechnology in the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) is one of 22 KAIST alumni who joined the reunion and supported the idea. She is also the representative of Vietnamese KAIST alumni. Dr. Nguyen, who earned her MS and PhD in the Department of Biological Sciences in 2013, spent five and half years at KAIST. “All the members at the lab were taking care of each other. When I joined the lab back then, they treated me as a ‘baby sister’ in a family and our relationship grew like a sister and brotherhood. I still appreciate the bonding relationship we could make with our colleagues.”
She cites a supporting culture, a competent educational system that places a focus on practicality, and rich resources that help researchers try whatever they want as the distinct advantages of a KAIST education.
“I never heard my professor saying “No” to any of my suggestions in conducting research. Professors and lab members put all their efforts, resources, and facilities to getting my research started. They helped me obtain all the resources that I needed. It was a huge encouragement to me,” she added.
She started her Masters, along with four Vietnamese colleagues, right after graduating from the Hanoi University of Natural Sciences, a top science university in Vietnam. Their experience at KAIST during a 4-week exchange program during undergraduates made them decide their academic destination without any doubt. All of them finished their PhDs in 2013. Two of them moved back home and the two others are now in the US and Germany as postdoctoral fellows.
“At that time, I could go to other countries for my further studies. But I already experienced KAIST for a month when I was an undergraduate, so I was not hesitant to go to KAIST. All of the classes are in English so, for students who do not speak in Korean, language does not bring any problems in studying and conducting research.”
She said that KAIST alumni are enjoying very successful careers in Vietnam and many foreign countries. “We do not have any problems choosing our careers back home and other countries we wanted to work in.”
However, like many PhD candidates who feel pressure about their studies and an uncertain future, her days at KAIST also included challenging times while adjusting to Korean culture. She took Korean classes for three semesters voluntarily at the KAIST Language Center to better understand Korea and her lab members. Her efforts paid off well. She could easily communicate with her colleagues and felt she became a real part of the inner group. But the stress remained to prove herself in research and she still had to deal with some bias.
“I know some people think Vietnam is behind Korea. Many people think that we are not as good as Korean students because we are from Vietnam. I desperately wanted to prove that I am as good as my peers.” Studying together with Korean and other international PhD candidates, she realized that everyone has their own purposes and pressures. “Even though there are minor differences, every PhD candidate has the same issues with their uncertain futures. It was quite comforting when we shared that it’s not only my problem. To understand that it’s a problem we all share comforts us a lot and we came to support each other.
To better help students release such pressure and stress, she said the university needs to create more diverse institutional channels to communicate with them. “Looking back, I was younger and less competent to speak up about when we were stressed and needed to ask for help. I hope students can begin to release their pressure and stress through diverse channels and resolve the problems,” she said.
Asked about her future plans, she replied, “I don’t think I can do anything better than what I am doing now. I enjoy what I am doing now at my institute. But in the near very future, I want to visit Korea and KAIST again.”
2018.11.27 View 4188 -
Faster and More Powerful Aqueous Hybrid Capacitor
(Professor Jeung Ku Kang from the Graduate School of EEWS)
A KAIST research team made it one step closer to realizing safe energy storage with high energy density, high power density, and a longer cycle life. This hybrid storage alternative shows power density 100 times faster than conventional batteries, allowing it to be charged within a few seconds. Hence, it is suitable for small portable electronic devices.
Conventional electrochemical energy storage systems, including lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), have a high voltage range and energy density, but are subject to safety issues raised by flammable organic electrolytes, which are used to ensure the beneficial properties. Additionally, they suffer from slow electrochemical reaction rates, which lead to a poor charging rate and low power density with a capacity that fades quickly, resulting in a short cycle life.
On the other hand, capacitors based on aqueous electrolytes are receiving a great deal of attention because they are considered to be safe and environmentally friendly alternatives. However, aqueous electrolytes lag behind energy storage systems based on organic electrolytes in terms of energy density due to their limited voltage range and low capacitance.
Hence, developing aqueous energy storage with high energy density and a long cycle life in addition to the high power density that enables fast charging is the most challenging task for advancing next-generation electrochemical energy storage devices.
Here, Professor Jeung Ku Kang from the Graduate School of Energy, Environment, Water and Sustainability and his team developed an aqueous hybrid capacitor (AHC) that boasts high energy density, high power, and excellent cycle stability by synthesizing two types of porous metal oxide nanoclusters on graphene to create positive and negative electrodes for AHCs.
The porous metal oxide nanoparticles are composed of nanoclusters as small as two to three nanometers and have mesopores that are smaller than five nanometers. In these porous structures, ions can be rapidly transferred to the material surfaces and a large number of ions can be stored inside the metal oxide particles very quickly due to their small particle size and large surface area.
The team applied porous manganese oxide on graphene for positive electrodes and porous iron oxide on graphene for negative electrodes to design an aqueous hybrid capacitor that can operate at an extended voltage range of 2V.
Professor Kang said, “This newly developed AHC with high capacity and power density driven from porous metal oxide electrodes will contribute to commercializing a new type of energy storage system. This technology allows ultra-fast charging within several seconds, making it suitable as a power source for mobile devices or electric vehicles where solar energy is directly stored as electricity.”
This research, co-led by Professor Hyung Mo Jeong from Kangwon National University, was published in Advanced Functional Materials on August 15, 2018.
Figure 1. Image that shows properties of porous metal oxide nanoparticles formed on graphene in the aqueous hybrid capacitor
2018.11.09 View 7975 -
Team KAT Wins the Autonomous Car Challenge
(Team KAT receiving the Presidential Award)
A KAIST team won the 2018 International Autonomous Car Challenge for University Students held in Daegu on November 2.
Professor Seung-Hyun Kong from the ChoChunShik Graduate School of Green Transportation and his team participated in this contest with the team named KAT (KAIST Autonomous Technologies). The team received the Presidential Award with a fifty million won cash prize and an opportunity for a field trip abroad.
The competition was conducted on actual roads with Connected Autonomous Vehicles (CAV), which incorporate autonomous driving technologies and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication system.
In this contest, the autonomous vehicles were given a mission to pick up passengers or parcels. Through the V2X communication, the contest gave current location of the passengers or parcels, their destination, and service profitability according to distance and level of service difficulty.
The participating vehicles had to be equipped very accurate and robust navigation system since they had to drive on narrow roads as well as go through tunnels where GPS was not available. Moreover, they had to use camera-based recognition technology that was invulnerable to backlight as the contest was in the late afternoon.
The contest scored the mission in the following way: the vehicles get points if they pick up passengers and safely drop them off at their destination; on the other hand, points are deducted when they violate lanes or traffic lights. It will be a major black mark if a participant sitting in the driver’s seat needs to get involved in driving due to a technical issue.
Youngbo Shim of KAT said, “We believe that we got major points for technical superiority in autonomous driving and our algorithm for passenger selection.”
This contest, hosted by Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, was the first international competition for autonomous driving on actual roads. A total of nine teams participated in the final contest, four domestic teams and five teams allied with overseas universities such as Tsinghua University, Waseda University, and Nanyang Technological University.
Professor Kong said, “There is still a long way to go for fully autonomous vehicles that drive flexibly under congested traffic conditions. However, we will continue to our research in order to achieve high-quality autonomous driving technology.”
(Team KAT getting ready for the challenge)
2018.11.06 View 12748 -
KAIST Thanks Supporters for Building KAIST of Today
KAIST hosted its first Fundraising Gala on October 26, 2018. It was organized to demonstrate deep gratitude to those who have made contributions to KAIST, making it possible to progress every year.
The KAIST Development Foundation (KDF) endeavored to make a meaningful and inclusive event by collecting archives that show the history of donations while sending invitatio ns to all the members of KAIST, including donors and potential donors as well as professors and student representatives.
Approximately 200 distinguished guests attended the gala, including major donors, Chairperson of KDF Soo Young Lee and Chairman Beang Ho Kim, Former Minister of Science Dr. Geun Mo Jung, Former Minister of Science and Technology Woo Sik Kim, and KAIST alumni including the first Korean astronaut So-Yeon Yi.
(Student cheer leading club, ELKA)
At the gala, KAIST shared its 47 years of funding and an expenditure summary with major performances achieved from the year it was founded. According to the summary, KAIST has received more than 323.1 billion won since 1971. The total number of donors was 12,906 while the number of contribution reached 77,710.
Among the total funding (323.1 billion won), corporate gifts made up 43.1% of the total and individual gifts stood at 39.1%, showing that KAIST has received and is receiving support evenly from companies and individuals.
Taking a close look at the major donors, there is an interesting fact about KAIST’s fundraising culture. There has been continuous support from individuals who did not have any personal or academic ties with KAIST before donating. However, they have made large gifts to KAIST so that the best students in the fields of science and technology can be fostered for the sake of national development. The major donors included Young Han Kim (1999), Moon Soul Chung (2001), Byiung Joon Park (2007), Keun Chul Ryu (2008), Beong Ho Kim (2009), Chun Shik Cho and E won Oh (2010), Soo Young Lee (2012), Tae-won Chey (2014), Jeong Ja Cho (2015), and Chang Kun Sohn (2017).
Especially, M. S. Chung, B. H. Kim, C. S. Cho and S. Y. Lee made additional mega-gifts to KAIST, showing continuous support for KAIST’s development.
Nevertheless, the KAIST fundraising culture could not be created with major donors only. Among the total number of donors (12,906), alumni showed the strong engagement standing at 40.4% while parents and students were at 26.1% and 12.7% respectively. The contribution numbers follow the order of alumni (34.8%), parents (20.3%), staff (20%), professors (13.3%), and students (5.7%). These statistics imply that individual’s constant donations play a significant part in the fundraising culture of KAIST.
Additionally, engagement continues to rise every year, and it reached 12,039 gifts in 2017, which increased 5.7 times over ten years.
(from left: Executive Director of KDF Young-gul Kim KAIST President Sung-Chul Shin)
These valuable gifts are the vital fuel for KAIST’s progress. As of 2018, KAIST has spent 205.8 billion won: 81.9 billion won for construction and facilities operation, 79.7 billion won for academics and research, 39 billion won for academic management, and 5.2 billion won for scholarships.
The construction and facilities operation fund aided the evolution of physical infrastructure. KAIST endowed the ChungMoonSoul Building for promoting convergence between information and biotechnology, the Yang Bun Soon Building for bio and brain engineering studies, and the Chunghi & Byiung Jun Park KI Building for multi and interdisciplinary research. Their generous gifts built the foundation for KAIST taking off towards becoming a global leading university.
Meanwhile, the academic and research funds provided opportunities to professors and students to carry out creative research and academic missions. The academic management fund helped open new departments (i.e. The Cho Chun Shik Graduate School of Green Transportation and the Moon Soul Graduate School of Future Strategy) and their programs, for which their names came from the major donors.
(The first Korean astronaut So-Yeon Yi)
At the gala, special events were held for two exclusive moments that contributed to promoting and making a better image for KAIST to the public. One was the 10th anniversary of the space exploration of the first Korean astronaut Dr. Yi. The other was the 20th anniversary of the TV drama series, called ‘KAIST’ which was aired from 1999 to 2000. The writer and main casting crew members joined the event. They said that it was their first time to gather in one place after the show last aired and this event would be memorable for them as well.
President Sung-Chul Shin said, “These gifts play the role of seed money that helps KAIST obtain competence in a global scenario. I hope people have more interest in supporting KAIST through this event.”
1 Total Amount of Gift
2 Total Donors
3 Expenditure Number of Contribution
4 Expenditure
2018.10.29 View 8169 -
A Molecular Sensor for In-Situ Analysis of Complex Biological Fluids
A KAIST research group presented a molecular sensor with a microbead format for the rapid in-situ detection of harmful molecules in biological fluids or foods in a collaboration with a Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) research group. As the sensor is designed to selectively concentrate charged small molecules and amplify the Raman signal, no time-consuming pretreatment of samples is required.
Raman spectra are commonly known as molecular fingerprints. However, their low intensity has restricted their use in molecular detection, especially for low concentrations. Raman signals can be dramatically amplified by locating the molecules on the surface of metal nanostructures where the electromagnetic field is strongly localized. However, it is still challenging to use Raman signals for the detection of small molecules dissolved in complex biological fluids. Adhesive proteins irreversibly adsorb on the metal surface, which prevents the access of small target molecules onto the metal surface. Therefore, it was a prerequisite to purify the samples before analysis. However, it takes a long time and is expensive.
A joint team from Professor Shin-Hyun Kim’s group in KAIST and Dr. Dong-Ho Kim’s group in KIMS has addressed the issue by encapsulating agglomerates of gold nanoparticles using a hydrogel. The hydrogel has three-dimensional network structures so that molecules smaller than the mesh are selectively permeable. Therefore, the hydrogel can exclude relatively large proteins, while allowing the infusion of small molecules. Therefore, the surface of gold nanoparticles remains intact against proteins, which accommodates small molecules. In particular, the charged hydrogel enables the concentration of oppositely-charged small molecules. That is, the purification is autonomously done by the materials, removing the need for time-consuming pretreatment. As a result, the Raman signal of small molecules can be selectively amplified in the absence of adhesive proteins.
Using the molecular sensors, the research team demonstrated the direct detection of fipronil sulfone dissolved in an egg without sample pretreatment. Recently, insecticide-contaminated eggs have spread in Europe, South Korea, and other countries, threatening health and causing social chaos. Fipronil is one of the most commonly used insecticides for veterinary medicine to combat fleas. The fipronil is absorbed through the chicken skin, from which a metabolite, fipronil sulfone, accumulates in the eggs. As the fipronil sulfone carries partial negative charges, it can be concentrated using positively-charged microgels while excluding adhesive proteins in eggs, such as ovalbumin, ovoglobulin, and ovomucoid. Therefore, the Raman spectrum of fipronil sulfone can be directly measured. The limit of direct detection of fipronil sulfone dissolved in an egg was measured at 0.05 ppm.
Professor Kim said, “The molecular sensors can be used not only for the direct detection of harmful molecules in foods but also for residual drugs or biomarkers in blood or urine.” Dr. Dong-Ho Kim said, “It will be possible to save time and cost as no sample treatment is required.”
This research was led by graduate student Dong Jae Kim and an article entitled “SERS-Active Charged Microgels for Size- and Charge-Selective Molecular Analysis of Complex Biological Samples” was published on October 4, 2018 in Small and featured on the inside cover of the journal.
Figure 1. Schematic illustrating the concentration of charged small molecules and the exclusion of large adhesive proteins using a charged hydrogel microbead containing an agglomerate of gold nanoparticles. The Raman signal of the small molecules is selectively amplified by the agglomerate.
Figure 2. Confocal laser scanning microscope images showing the concentration of oppositely charged molecules, where negatively-charged microgels are denoted by red circles and positively-charged microgels are denoted by blue circles. Green fluorescence originates from negatively-charged dye molecules and red fluorescence originates from positively-charged dye molecules.
Figure 3. Raman spectra measured from fipronil sulfone-spiked eggs, where the concentrations of fipronil sulfone are denoted; 0 ppm indicates no fipronil sulfone in the egg. The characteristic peaks of fipronil sulfone are denoted by the dotted lines.
2018.10.23 View 6772 -
Six Professors Recognized for the National R&D Excellence 100
Six KAIST professors were listed among the 2018 National R&D Excellence 100 announced by the Ministry of Science and ICT and Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning.
Professor Il-Doo Kim from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering was recognized for his research on developing source technology for manufacturing a highly sensitive gas sensor with low power consumption. His work was recognized as most excellent in the field of mechanics and materials.
Additionally, Professor Ho Min Kim from the Graduate School of Medical Science & Engineering was listed as most excellent in the field of life and marine science for providing structural insights into the mechanism of proteins that regulates synapse development.
Meanwhile, Professor Byong-Guk Park from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering was listed as excellent in the field of mechanics and materials for his work on thermal spin current.
In the field of energy and environment, Professor Jae Woo Lee from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering was listed as excellent for his work on CO₂ conversion to carbon materials.
Last but not least, Professor Min H. Kim from the School of Computing and Professor Kyung Cheol Choi from the School of Electrical Engineering were recognized as being excellent in the field of information and electronics. Professor Kim was recognized for image processing technology that reconstructs interlaced high-dynamic range video while Professor Choi was lauded for realizing flexible displays on fabrics.
A certificate from the Minister of Ministry of Science and ICT will be conferred to the scientists and their names will be listed on a special 2018 National R&D Excellence 100 plaque to celebrate their achievement.
These six professors will be nominated for merits including the Order of Merit, the President’s commendation, and the Prime Minister’s commendation and given privileges during the process of new R&D project selection.
2018.10.18 View 5204 -
Permanent, Wireless Self-charging System Using NIR Band
(Professor Jung-Yong Lee from the Graduate School of Energy, Environment, Water and Sustainability)
As wearable devices are emerging, there are numerous studies on wireless charging systems. Here, a KAIST research team has developed a permanent, wireless self-charging platform for low-power wearable electronics by converting near-infrared (NIR) band irradiation to electrical energy. This novel technology can be applied to flexible, wearable charging systems without needing any attachments.
Colloidal-quantum-dots (CQDs) are promising materials for manufacturing semiconductors; in particular, PbS-based CQDs have facile optical tunability from the visible to infrared wavelength region. Hence, they can be applied to various devices, such as lighting, photovoltaics (PVs), and photodetectors.
Continuous research on CQD-based optoelectronic devices has increased their power conversion efficiency (PCE) to 12%; however, applicable fields have not yet been found for them. Meanwhile, wearable electronic devices commonly face the problem of inconvenient charging systems because users have to constantly charge batteries attached to an energy source.
A joint team led by Professor Jung-Yong Lee from the Graduate School of Energy, Environment, Water and Sustainability and Jang Wok Choi from Seoul National University decided to apply CQD PVs, which have high quantum efficiency in NIR band to self-charging systems on wearable devices.
They employed a stable and efficient NIR energy conversion strategy. The system was comprised of a PbS CQD-based PV module, a flexible interdigitated lithium-ion battery, and various types of NIR-transparent films.
The team removed the existing battery from the already commercialized wearable healthcare bracelet and replaced it with the proposed self-charging system. They confirmed that the system can be applied to a low power wearable device via the NIR band.
There have been numerous platforms using solar irradiation, but the newly developed platform has more advantages because it allows conventional devices to be much more comfortable to wear and charged easily in everyday life using various irradiation sources for constant charging.
With this aspect, the proposed platform facilitates more flexible designs, which are the important component for actual commercialization. It also secures higher photostability and efficient than existing structures.
Professor Lee said, “By using the NIR band, we proposed a new approach to solve charging system issues of wearable devices. I believe that this platform will be a novel platform for energy conversion and that its application can be further extended to various fields, including mobiles, IoTs, and drones.”
This research, led by PhD Se-Woong Baek and M.S. candidate Jungmin Cho, was published in Advanced Materials on May 11.
Figure 1. a) Conceptual NIR-driven self-charging system including a flexible CQD PVs module and an interdigitatedly structured LIB. b) Photographic images of a conventional wearable healthcare bracelet and a self-charging system-integrated wearable device.
Figure 2. Illustration of the CQD PVs structure and performance of the wireless self-charging platform.
2018.10.08 View 8786 -
AI ｜QC ITRC Opens at KAIST
(from left: Dean of College of Engineering Jong-Hwan Kim, Director of AI│QC ITRC June-Koo Rhee, Vice President for R&DB Heekyung Park and Director General for Industrial Policy Hong Taek Yong)
Artificial Intelligence｜The Quantum Computing Information Technology Research Center (AI｜QC ITRC) opened at KAIST on October 2.
AI｜QC ITRC, established with government funding, is the first institute specializing in quantum computing. Three universities (Seoul National University, Korea University, and Kyung Hee University), and four corporations, KT, Homomicus, Actusnetworks, and Mirae Tech are jointly participating in the center. Over four years, the institute will receive 3.2 billion KRW of research funds.
Last April, KAIST selected quantum technology as one of its flagship research areas. AI｜QC ITRC will dedicate itself to developing quantum computing technology that provides the computability required for human-level artificial intelligence. It will also foster leaders in related industries by introducing industry-academic educational programs in graduate schools.
QC is receiving a great deal of attention for transcending current digital computers in terms of computability. World-class IT companies like IBM, Google, and Intel and ventures including D-Wave, Rigetti, and IonQ are currently leading the industry and investing heavily in securing source technologies.
Starting from the establishment of the ITRC, KAIST will continue to plan strategies to foster the field of QC. KAIST will carry out two-track strategies; one is to secure source technology of first-generation QC technology, and the other is to focus on basic research that can preoccupy next-generation QC technology.
Professor June-Koo Rhee, the director of AI│QC ITRC said, “I believe that QC will be the imperative technology that enables the realization of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. AIQC ITRC will foster experts required for domestic academia and industries and build a foundation to disseminate the technology to industries.”
Vice President for R&DB Heekyung Park, Director General for Industrial Policy Hong Taek Yong from the Ministry of Science and ICT, Seung Pyo Hong from the Institute for Information & communications Technology Promotion, Head of Technology Strategy Jinhyon Youn from KT, and participating companies attended and celebrated the opening of the AI│QC ITRC.
2018.10.05 View 7261 -
Understanding Epilepsy in Pediatric Tumors; New Therapeutic Target of Intractable Epilepsy Identified
Pediatric brain tumors are characterized by frequent complications due to intractable epilepsy compared to adult brain tumors. However, the genetic cause of refractory epilepsy in pediatric brain tumors has not been elucidated yet, and it is difficult to treat patients because the tumors do not respond to existing antiepileptic drugs and debilitate children’s development.
A research team led by Professor Jeong Ho Lee of the Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering has recently identified a neuronal BRAF somatic mutation that causes intrinsic epileptogenicity in pediatric brain tumors. Their research results were published online in Nature Medicine on September 17.
The research team studied patients’ tissue diagnosed with ganglioglioma (GG), one of the main causes of tumor-associated intractable epilepsy, and found that the BRAF V600E somatic mutation is involved in the development of neural stem cells by using deep DNA sequencing. This mutation was carried out in an animal model to reproduce the pathology of GG and to observe seizures to establish an animal model for the treatment of epileptic seizures caused by pediatric brain tumors.
Using immunohistochemical and transcriptome analysis, they realized that the BRAF V600E mutation that arose in early progenitor cells during embryonic brain formation led to the acquisition of intrinsic epileptogenic properties in neuronal lineage cells, whereas tumorigenic properties were attributed to a high proliferation of glial lineage cells exhibiting the mutation. Notably, researchers found that seizures in mice were significantly alleviated by intraventricular infusion of the BRAF V600E inhibitor, Vemurafenib, a clinical anticancer drug.
The authors said, “Our study offers the first direct evidence that the BRAF somatic mutation arising from neural stem cells plays a key role in epileptogenesis in the brain tumor. This study also showed a new therapeutic target for tumor-associated epileptic disorders.”
In collaboration with the KAIST startup company, SoVarGen, the research team is currently developing innovative therapeutics for epileptic seizures derived from pediatric brain tumors. This study was supported by the Suh Kyungbae Foundation (SUHF) and the Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy.
(Figure: Preoperative and postoperative brain MRI (left panel), tumor H&E (right upper panel) and GFAP immunohistochemical (right lower panel) staining images from a patient with ganglioglioma (GG231) carrying the BRAFV600E mutation. The white arrow and the black arrowhead indicate the brain tumor and a dysplastic neuron, respectively.)
2018.09.19 View 5928 -
NEREC Summer Program Keeps Fellows Thinking, Engaged in Nuclear Nonproliferation
Nuclear technology is more than just technology. It is the fruit of the most advanced science and technology. It also requires high standards of policymaking and global cooperation for benefiting the technology.
As part of the fifth annual Nuclear Nonproliferation Education and Research Center (NEREC) Summer Fellows Program at KAIST, 24 students from 15 countries participated in six-week intensive education and training program. NEREC is the only university-based center dedicated to nuclear nonproliferation education and research established in 2014.
The program, which provides multidisciplinary lectures and seminars on nuclear technology and policy as well as international relations, was designed to nurture global nuclear technology experts well equipped in three areas: in-depth knowledge of technology, applicability gained from sound policy building, and negotiating for international cooperation. It now has grown into the most popular summer program at KAIST.
During the program from July 6 to August 18, participants were able to engage in enriching and stimulating learning experiences in tandem with policies and technology for the utilization and provision of peaceful and safe nuclear technology.
Participating fellows also had to conduct a group research project on a given topic. This year, they explored nuclear nonproliferation issues in relation to nuclear exports and brainstormed some recommendations for current policy. They presented their outcomes at the 2018 NEREC Conference on Nuclear Nonproliferation. After intensive lecture sessions and group research work, the fellows went off to key policy think-tanks, nuclear research institutes, and research power facilities in Korea, Japan, and China.
“NEREC emphasizes nuclear nonproliferation issues related to civilian nuclear power and the associated nuclear fuel cycle development from the point of technology users. I am very glad that the number of participants are increasing year by year,” said the Director of NEREC Man-Sung Yim, a professor in the Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering.
Participants’ majors vary from nuclear engineering to international relations to economics. The fellows divided into two groups of graduate and undergraduate courses. They expressed their deep satisfactory in the multidisciplinary lectures by scholars from KAIST, Seoul National University, and Korea National Defense University.
Many participants reported that they learned a lot, not only about policy and international relations but on the research they are conducting and what the key issues will be in dealing for producing meaningful research work.
Moad Aldbissi from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology is one of the students who shared the same view. He said, “Coming from a technical background in nuclear engineering, I managed to learn a lot about nuclear policy and international relations. The importance of integrating the technical and political fields became even clearer.”
Most students concurred that they recognized how important it was to make international collaboration in this powerful field for each country through this program.
“As an engineering student, I just approached this program like an empty glass in policy areas. While working with colleagues during the program, I came to understand how important it is to make cooperation in these fields for the better result of national development and international relations,” said Thanataon Pornphatdetaudom from the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
To Director Yim, this program is becoming well positioned to educate nuclear policy experts in a number of countries of strategic importance. He believes the continuous supply of these experts will contribute to promoting global nuclear nonproliferation and the peaceful use of nuclear energy while the use of nuclear technology continues.
2018.09.04 View 11566 -
Potential Drug to Cure Ciliopathies
(from left: Professor Joon Kim and PhD candidate Yong Joon Kim)
Ciliopathies are rare disorders involving functional and structural abnormalities of cilia. Although they are rare, they may reach 1 in 1,000 births. Unfortunately, there are no small-molecule drugs for treating ciliary defects. A KAIST research team conducted successful research that introduces a potential treatment that will be a foundation for developing drugs to treat the disease as well as a platform for developing small-molecule drugs for similar genetic disorders.
It was found that mutations in genes required for the formation or function of primary cilia cause ciliopathies and they result in cerebellar disorders, kidney dysfunction, and retinal degeneration.
Primary cilia are cell organelles playing a crucial role in the human body. They participate in intercellular signal transduction during embryonic development and allow retinal photoreceptor cells to function.
Currently, there are no approved drugs available for treating most ciliopathies. In fact, this is the case for most of the rare genetic disorders involving functional abnormalities through genetic mutation, and gene therapy is usually the only treatment available.
To tackle this issue, a team led by Professor Joon Kim from the Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering and Ho Jeong Kwon from Yonsei University constructed a cell that mimics a gene-mutated CEP290, one of the main causes of ciliopathies, through genome editing. They then used cell-based compound library screening to obtain a natural small-molecule compound capable of relieving defects in ciliogenesis, the production of cilia.
The CEP290 protein forms a complex with a ciliopathy protein called NPHP5 to support the function of the ciliary transition zone. In cases where the CEP290 protein is not formed due to a genetic mutation, NPHP5 will not function normally. Here, the compound was confirmed to partially restore the function of the complex by normalizing the function of NPHP5.
The team also identified that the compound is capable of retarding retinal degeneration by injecting the compound into animal models.
As a result, they discovered a lead compound for developing medication to treat ciliopathy patients involving retinal degeneration. Hence, the findings imply that chemical compounds that target other proteins interacting with the disease protein can mitigate shortages of a disease protein in recessive genetic disorders.
PhD candidate Yong Joon Kim stated, “This study shows how genetic disorders caused by genetic mutation can be treated with small-molecule drugs.”
Professor Kim said, “Since the efficacy of the candidate drug has been verified through animal testing, a follow-up study will also be conducted to demonstrate the effect on humans.”
This research was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation on July 23.
Figure 1. Identification of compounds that rescue ciliogenesis defects caused by CEP290 knockout
Figure 2. Eupatilin injection ameliorates M-opsin trafficking and electrophysiological response of cone photoreceptors in rd16 mice
2018.08.30 View 8646 -
Improved Efficiency of CQD Solar Cells Using an Organic Thin Film
(from left: Professor Jung-Yong Lee and Dr. Se-Woong Baek)
Recently, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of colloidal quantum dot (CQD)-based solar cells has been enhanced, paving the way for their commercialization in various fields; nevertheless, they are still a long way from being commercialized due to their efficiency not matching their stability. In this research, a KAIST team achieved highly stable and efficient CQD-based solar cells by using an amorphous organic layer to block oxygen and water permeation.
CQD-based solar cells are light-weight, flexible, and they boost light harvesting by absorbing near-infrared lights. Especially, they draw special attention for their optical properties controlled efficiently by changing the quantum dot sizes. However, they are still incompatible with existing solar cells in terms of efficiency, stability, and cost. Therefore, there is great demand for a novel technology that can simultaneously improve both PCE and stability while using an inexpensive electrode material.
Responding to this demand, Professor Jung-Yong Lee from the Graduate School of Energy, Environment, Water and Sustainability and his team introduced a technology to improve the efficiency and stability of CQD-based solar cells.
The team found that an amorphous organic thin film has a strong resistance to oxygen and water. Using these properties, they employed this doped organic layer as a top-hole selective layer (HSL) for the PbS CQD solar cells, and confirmed that the hydro/oxo-phobic properties of the layer efficiently protected the PbS layer. According to the molecular dynamics simulations, the layer significantly postponed the oxygen and water permeation into the PbS layer. Moreover, the efficient injection of the holes in the layer reduced interfacial resistance and improved performance.
With this technology, the team finally developed CQD-based solar cells with excellent stability. The PCE of their device stood at 11.7% and maintained over 90% of its initial performance when stored for one year under ambient conditions.
Professor Lee said, “This technology can be also applied to QD LEDs and Perovskite devices. I hope this technology can hasten the commercialization of CQD-based solar cells.”
This research, led by Dr. Se-Woong Baek and a Ph.D. student, Sang-Hoon Lee, was published in Energy & Environmental Science on May 10.
Figure 1. The schematic of the equilibrated structure of the amorphous organic film
Figure 2. Schematic illustration of CQD-based solar cells and graphs showing their performance
2018.08.27 View 8584