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The Korea Herald: Synthetic Biology Holds Key to Future
The Korea Herald
, a leading English newspaper in Korea, published an article on the production of gasoline by a metabolically engineered microorganism. For the article, please go to the link below:
The Korea Herald
March 14, 2014
"Synthetic biology holds key to future"
KAIST professor makes breakthrough in biorefining using E. coli’s metabolic process
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20140314001343
2014.03.17 View 7665 -
Professor Kyung-Wook Paik Receives the Best Presentation Award from 2014 Pan Pacific Symposium
The Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA) hosted its 19th Annual Pan Pacific Microelectronics Symposium on February 11-13, 2014 in Hawaii.
The 2014 conference, promoting international technical exchange and extensive networking among microelectronics professionals from around the world, presented over 50 papers from 17 countries.
Professor Kyung-Wook Paik of Materials Science Engineering at KAIST received the Best Presentation Award for his paper titled, “Novel Nanofiber Anisotropic Films for Nine Pitch Assembly” at the conference.
SMTA is an international network of professionals in electronics assembly technologies, including Microsystems, emerging technologies, and related business operations.
2014.03.17 View 9467 -
Tae-Wan Kim, a doctoral candidate, receives the best paper award from ECTC
The 2014 Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC) will take place on May 27-30 in Florida, USA. Tae-Wan Kim, a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Materials Science Engineering (MSE), KAIST, will receive the Intel Best Student Paper Award at the conference.ECTC is the premier international conference that brings together the best researchers and engineers in packaging, components and microelectronic systems science, technology and education in an environment of cooperation and technical exchange. The conference is sponsored by the Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology (CPMT) Society of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering).The paper describes research on novel nanofiber anisotropic conductive films for ultra fine pitch electronic package application, which was written under the guidance of Professor Kyung-Wook Paik of the MSE Department. In the past ten years, two of his students have received the best paper award from ECTC.
2014.03.14 View 11506 -
A research paper by Professor Myung-Chul Choi reviewed in Science (February 28, 2014)
A research paper entitled “Transformation of taxol-stabilized microtubules into inverted tubulin tubules triggered by a tubulin conformation switch” was published in
Nature Materials
this year, dated January 19, 2014.
Professor Myung-Chul Choi and Dr. Chae-Yeon Song from the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering at KAIST co-authored the paper together with researchers from the University of California in Santa Barbara and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Science,
dated February 28, 2014, has recently reviewed the paper in its section called "Perspectives."
2014.03.13 View 8921 -
Visit by Sir Paul Maxime Nurse, President of the Royal Society
Sir Paul Maxime
Nurse, who is an English geneticist and cell biologist, visited KAIST and gave
a lecture entitled The Great Ideas of
Biology on March 11, 2014.
Sir Paul was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in
Physiology or Medicine with Leland H. Hartwell and R. Timothy Hunt for their discoveries
of protein molecules that control the division of cells in the cell cycle.
He was Professor of Microbiology at the University
of Oxford, CEO of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund and Cancer Research UK, and
President of Rockefeller University in New York. Sir Paul is currently the President of
the Royal Society as well as Director and Chief Executive of the Francis Crick
Institute.
Founded in London in 1660, the Royal Society is composed of the world’s most distinguished scientists drawn from all areas of
science, engineering, and medicine.
Below is a summary of his lecture, The Great Ideas of Biology:
Four major ideas of biology
are the theory of genes, evolution by natural selection, the proposal that the
cell is the fundamental unit of all life, and the chemical composition of a cell.
When considering the
question “what is life?” these ideas come together. The special way cells reproduce
provides the conditions by which natural selection takes place, allowing living
organisms to evolve. The organization of chemistry within the cell provides
explanations for life’s phenomena.
In addition, an emerging idea
is the nature of biological self-organization with which living cells and organisms
process information and acquire specific forms. These great ideas have
influenced one another and changed the way we perceive biology and science
today.
2014.03.11 View 10538 -
KAIST Holds the 2014 System on Chip (SoC) Robot War in August and October
Domestic and international competitions for robots with artificial intelligence are organized by Professor Hoi-Jun Yoo of Electrical Engineering.
KAIST will host two robot competitions this year: The Robot Integration Festival will be held in August at the Convention Center in Daejeon and the International Robot Contest in October at the Kintex in Ilsan. Participating robots are developed based on the System on Chip (SoC).
SoC robots refer to an autonomous robot that has a processor, a memory, peripheral devices, logic, and other system components combined on a single chip, which enables the robots to handle tasks and make decisions without human intervention.
The competitions include three entries: Taekwon Robot, HURO-competition, and SoC Drone which was added for the first time this year.
The Taekwon Robot involves a one-on-one sparring match, using a Korean traditional martial art, between two robots. Competitors score points based on front and side kicks, as well as punching. The HURO-competition pits robots in a competition to perform assignments such as hurdling, barricade clearing, crossing bridges, and overcoming other obstacles. The SoC Drone evaluates robots' capability to track miniature cars and navigate between buildings while in flight. The drone should have two cameras and a SoC brainboard equipped to offer autonomous, remote-controlled flight.
The director of the competitions, Professor Hoi-Jun Yoo of Electrical Engineering at KAIST, commented that with the integration of Korea’s world-class semiconductor technology, the competitions would lead to improvements in robotics engineering and unmanned aerial vehicle technology.
The competitions are open to anyone interested in SoC robots and unmanned aerial vehicles. For more information about the competitions, please visit http://www.socrobotwar.org . The application deadline is April 15, 2014.
2014.03.11 View 10659 -
Book Announcement: Sound Visualization and Manipulation
The movie
Gravity
won seven Oscar awards this year, one of which was for its outstanding 3D sound mixing, immersing viewers in the full experience of the troubled space expedition.
3D audio effects are generated by manipulating the sound produced by speakers, speaker-arrays, or headphones to place a virtual sound source at a desired location in 3D space such as behind, above, or below the listener's head.
Two professors from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at KAIST have recently published a book that explains two important technologies related to 3D sound effects: sound visualization and manipulation.
Professor Yang-Hann Kim, an eminent scholar in sound engineering, and Professor Jung-Woo Choi collaborated to write Sound Visualization and Manipulation (Wily 2013), which uniquely addresses the two most important problems in the field in a unified way.
The book introduces general concepts and theories and describes a number of techniques in sound visualization and manipulation, offering an interrelated approach to two very different topics: sound field visualization techniques based on microphone arrays and controlled sound field generation techniques using loudspeaker arrays.
The authors also display a solid understanding of the associated physical and mathematical concepts applied to solve the visualization and manipulation problems and provide extensive examples demonstrating the benefits and drawbacks of various applications, including beamforming and acoustic holography technology.
The book will be an excellent reference for graduate students, researchers, and professionals in acoustic engineering, as well as in audio and noise control system development.
For detailed descriptions of the book:
http://as.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118368479.html
2014.03.10 View 13280 -
K-Glass: Korea's Answer to Google Glass
Wall Street Journal (blog) published an
article on the K-Glass developed by Professor Hoi-Jun Yoo of Electrical
Engineering at KAIST. For the article, please go to the link below:
K-Glass: Korea’s Answer to Google Glass, March 5, 2014
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/03/05/meet-k-glass-koreas-answer-to-google-glass/
2014.03.07 View 7742 -
Times Higher Education 2014 World Reputation Rankings
Times Higher Education released the 2014 World Reputation Rankings on March 6, 2014. KAIST moved from the 61-70 band in 2013 to the 51-60 place this year. For details, please visit the link below:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1403/S00091/times-higher-education-2014-world-reputation-rankings.htm
2014.03.07 View 7416 -
Seo-Eun Lee, an undergaruate student receives the Best Paper Award from Optical Society of Korea
Seo-Eun Lee, a student studying at KAIST’s Department of Biological Sciences, has won the Best Paper Award from Bio-Photonics Division at the 2014 Optical Society of Korea Winter Conference, held on 19th February at Daejeon Convention Center.
Only one outstanding paper per division is given an award among the total of 270 papers, and it is very unusual for an undergraduate student to win the award in the field that is not her major.
Lee has studied cell imaging using holography technology since June 2013 under the supervision of Professor Yong-Geun Park from the Department of Physics.
The Optical Society of Korea was founded in 1989, and as the largest academy in the field of optics in Korea, it holds academic presentations, seminars and lectures every year.
2014.03.06 View 10054 -
Welcoming the Class of 2014
“The four years from today will go quickly, and I urge you to make the most of your time in KAIST, a great educational and research institution where you will explore the frontiers of science and technology and take part in the creation of new knowledge,” President Kang told the freshmen at the convocation ceremony.
Freshmen Convocation for the Class of 2014 took place on March 3, 2014 at the auditorium on the main campus. Members of the KAIST community, along with hundreds of parents and guests, welcomed the incoming 800 freshmen, celebrating the beginning of their four-year college life.
Kwang-Joon Ahn, a graduate of the Korea Science Academy, and Ha-Rim Jin, a graduate of Daegu Il Science High School, were representatives of the incoming students, and they took the “Class of 2014 Pledge,” a commitment to uphold KAIST’s core values, which is "creativity and challenge (endeavoring spirit)," and to pursue intellectual passion and discovery.
President Steve Kang delivered congratulatory remarks, encouraging students to use their opportunities to the fullest while at KAIST to broaden their knowledge and experience. He also stressed the following four important principles they should cultivate to become the leaders of tomorrow: be grateful, excel in their field, keep open minds about what the globalized world would bring, and never give up on their dreams and belief.
President Kang said:
“Probably, many of you, the graduates of the best high schools in Korea, will find KAIST a tougher place to be in than you imagined. But challenges, particularly intellectual challenges, should be viewed as an opportunity to grow. It is ok to fail. In fact, without risking failures, there won’t be a meaningful growth because the real growth comes from overcoming challenges.”
“You can’t avoid failing in the course of your college life, but your perseverance to do it over will allow you to develop the skills and passion needed to become a leader who will contribute to the local community, as well as to the betterment of humanity.”
The KAIST Alumni Scholarship Foundation presented a scholarship of USD 3,700 to 24 freshmen.
The convocation ended with music performances by members of the student clubs at KAIST.
2014.03.04 View 8338 -
Spillover Phenomenon Identified Using Model Catalyst System
Researchers at KAIST have identified spillover phenomenon, which has remained controversial since its discovery in the early 1960s.
KAIST Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering’s Professor Min-Gi Choi and his team has explained the "spillover phenomenon," using their own model catalyst system where platinum is selectively located within the amorphous aluminosilicate.
The research results were published on the 25th February online edition of Nature Communications.
Spillover refers to a phenomenon that occurs when hydrogen atoms that have been activated on the surface of metals, such as platinum, move to the surface of the catalyst. It was predicted that this phenomenon can be used to design a catalyst with high activity and stability, and thus has been actively studied over the last 50 years.
However, many cases of the known catalysts involved competing reactions on the exposed metal surface, which made it impossible to directly identify the presence and formation mechanism of spillover.
The catalysts developed by the researchers at KAIST used platinum nanoparticles covered with aluminosilicate. This only allowed the hydrogen molecules to pass through and has effectively blocked the competing reactions, enabling the research team to study the spillover phenomenon.
Through various catalyst structure and reactivity analysis, as well as computer modeling, the team has discovered that Brönsted acid sites present on the aluminosilicate plays a crucial role in spillover phenomenon.
In addition, the spillover-based hydrogenation catalyst proposed by the research team showed very high hydrogenation and dehydrogenation activity. The ability of the catalyst to significantly inhibit unwanted hydrogenolysis reaction during the petrochemical processes also suggested a large industrial potential.
Professor Min-Gi Choi said, “This particular catalyst, which can trigger the reaction only by spillover phenomenon, can be properly designed to exceed the capacity of the conventional metal catalysts. The future goal is to make a catalyst with much higher activity and selectivity.”
The research was conducted through funds subsidized by SK Innovation and Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning.
The senior research fellow of SK Innovation Seung-Hun Oh said, “SK Innovation will continue to develop a new commercial catalyst based on the technology from this research.”
Juh-Wan Lim and Hye-Yeong Shin led the research as joint first authors under supervision of Professor Min-Gi Choi and computer modeling works were conducted by KAIST EEWS (environment, energy, water, and sustainability) graduate school’s Professor Hyeong-Jun Kim.
2014.03.03 View 10274