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Native-like Spider Silk Produced in Metabolically Engineered Bacterium
Microscopic picture of 285 kilodalton recombinant spider silk fiber
Researchers have long envied spiders’ ability to manufacture silk that is light-weighted while as strong and tough as steel or Kevlar. Indeed, finer than human hair, five times stronger by weight than steel, and three times tougher than the top quality man-made fiber Kevlar, spider dragline silk is an ideal material for numerous applications. Suggested industrial applications have ranged from parachute cords and protective clothing to composite materials in aircrafts. Also, many biomedical applications are envisioned due to its biocompatibility and biodegradability.
Unfortunately, natural dragline silk cannot be conveniently obtained by farming spiders because they are highly territorial and aggressive. To develop a more sustainable process, can scientists mass-produce artificial silk while maintaining the amazing properties of native silk? That is something Sang Yup Lee at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Daejeon, the Republic of Korea, and his collaborators, Professor Young Hwan Park at Seoul National University and Professor David Kaplan at Tufts University, wanted to figure out. Their method is very similar to what spiders essentially do: first, expression of recombinant silk proteins; second, making the soluble silk proteins into water-insoluble fibers through spinning.
For the successful expression of high molecular weight spider silk protein, Professor Lee and his colleagues pieced together the silk gene from chemically synthesized oligonucleotides, and then inserted it into the expression host (in this case, an industrially safe bacterium Escherichia coli which is normally found in our gut). Initially, the bacterium refused to the challenging task of producing high molecular weight spider silk protein due to the unique characteristics of the protein, such as extremely large size, repetitive nature of the protein structure, and biased abundance of a particular amino acid glycine. “To make E. coli synthesize this ultra high molecular weight (as big as 285 kilodalton) spider silk protein having highly repetitive amino acid sequence, we helped E. coli overcome the difficulties by systems metabolic engineering,” says Sang Yup Lee, Distinguished Professor of KAIST, who led this project. His team boosted the pool of glycyl-tRNA, the major building block of spider silk protein synthesis. “We could obtain appreciable expression of the 285 kilodalton spider silk protein, which is the largest recombinant silk protein ever produced in E. coli. That was really incredible.” says Dr. Xia.
But this was only step one. The KAIST team performed high-cell-density cultures for mass production of the recombinant spider silk protein. Then, the team developed a simple, easy to scale-up purification process for the recombinant spider silk protein. The purified spider silk protein could be spun into beautiful silk fiber. To study the mechanical properties of the artificial spider silk, the researchers determined tenacity, elongation, and Young’s modulus, the three critical mechanical parameters that represent a fiber’s strength, extensibility, and stiffness. Importantly, the artificial fiber displayed the tenacity, elongation, and Young’s modulus of 508 MPa, 15%, and 21 GPa, respectively, which are comparable to those of the native spider silk.
“We have offered an overall platform for mass production of native-like spider dragline silk. This platform would enable us to have broader industrial and biomedical applications for spider silk. Moreover, many other silk-like biomaterials such as elastin, collagen, byssus, resilin, and other repetitive proteins have similar features to spider silk protein. Thus, our platform should also be useful for their efficient bio-based production and applications,” concludes Professor Lee.
This work is published on July 26 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) online.
2010.07.28 View 20031 -
KAIST Wins Official Membership of ERCIS
The Center for Software Policy Study of KAIST has recently become the 20th official member of the European Research Center for Information Systems (ERCIS) by signing an agreement with the organization, university authorities said on Thursday (Oct. 22).
The ERCIS is a network of scientists who conduct cooperative research in the field of integrated information systems development and organizational design. The Center undertakes interdisciplinary research with the participation of computer scientists, business management experts and law scholars.
KAIST will seek to activate exchange of professors, research fellows and graduate students with ERCIS members, as well as implementing credit exchange and dual degree programs.
ERCIS, was first organized by the German state of North Rhine-Westfahlia, is currently managed by the University of Muenster, a global leader in the field of information systems and business administration. Joining the ERCIS are one university each from New Zealand, the Netherlands, Germany, Russia, Liechtenstein, the United States, Switzerland, Spain, Slovenia, Ireland, Britain, Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Poland, France, Finland and Australia.
KAIST"s Center for Software Policy Study is currently preparing for the establishment of a support system for developers of the mobile application software as part of the EUREKA project. Korea is playing a leading role in this project on the strength of its competitiveness in the mobile phone industry.
EUREKA is a pan-European intergovernmental network for market-oriented, industrial R&D aimed at enhancing European competitiveness through its support to businesses, research centers and universities who carry out pan-European projects to develop innovative products, processes and services.
2009.10.22 View 14760 -
KAIST Professor Unveils New Method of Manufacturing Complex Nano-wire
A KAIST research team led by Prof. Sang-Ouk Kim of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering has discovered a new nanowire manufacturing method, university sources said on Monday (May 11).
The KAIST researchers successfully demonstrated soft graphoepitaxy of block copolymer assembly as a facile, scalable nanolithography for highly ordered sub-30-nm scale features. Graphoepitaxy is a new technique that uses artificial surface relief structure to induce crystallographic orientation in thin films.
Various morphologies of hierarchical block copolymer assembly were achieved by means of disposable topographic confinement of photoresist pattern. Unlike usual graphoepitaxy, soft graphoepitaxy generates the functional nanostrutures of metal and semiconductor nanowire arrays without any trace of structure-directing topographic pattern.
The discovery was featured in the May 7 edition of Nano-Letters. Application has been made for the domestic patent of the new method.
The new method is expected to be advantageous for multi-layer overlay processing required for complex device architecture, the sources said.
2009.05.12 View 11918 -
KAIST, Microsoft Research to Set up Research Collaboration Center
KAIST, Korea"s premier institution for science and technology research and education, and Microsoft Research (MSR), the research arm of Microsoft Corp, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish a joint research collaboration center in Korea on Oct. 20.
The research collaboration center to be located at the KAIST campus in the Daedeok science and technology town 150 kilometers south of Seoul will be dedicated to promoting joint researches, curriculum innovation, talent fostering and academic exchange in the Asian region.
The MOU signing ceremony at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul was attended by President Nam-Pyo Suh and Vice President Soon-Heung Chang from KAIST, and Craig Mundie, Chief Research and Strategy Officer of Microsoft Corp, and Hsiao-Wuen Hon, Managing Director of MSR Asia from Microsoft.
“We are excited to be working so closely with Microsoft Research,” KAIST President Suh said. “This is the first of many alliances we hope to establish with the world’s industrial leaders that will enable us to resolve some of the toughest problems in computer science and accelerate the next generation of innovation in computing technology and its application in other scientific researches.”
Dr. Hon said: “For over 10 years, Microsoft Research has been committed to working with leading universities throughout Asia to spur computer science research and to strengthen Asia’s knowledge economies by helping foster their capabilities. The Microsoft-KAIST Research Collaboration Center demonstrates our continued efforts to strengthen relations with universities in Korea and build new partnerships with academia here.”
In the last three years, Microsoft Research and KAIST have engaged in close collaboration through research projects, student support programs, and various academic exchange activities. One of the major projects was to construct software development library specifically dedicated to systems biology. A number of excellent students from KAIST participated in the internship program at Microsoft Research in Beijing, China and Redmond, United States.
The establishment of the Microsoft-KAIST research collaboration center will bring the collaborative relations between KAIST and MSR to a new level. The center will provide a platform which unites the innovative minds of KAIST and Microsoft Research to develop technologies that will impact the way people live, learn, work, and play, a KAIST spokesman said.
2008.10.30 View 18686 -
Satellite Research Lab Named After Late Hyundai Chairman Chung
KAIST, Aug. 11, 2008 -- KAIST held a naming ceremony for a research lab which was named after the late Hyundai Asan Chairman Mong-Hun Chung on Monday (Aug. 11) at the KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center.
During the ceremony, a seminar room was also named after Dr. Soon-dal Choi, President of Daeduk College, for his distinguished contributions to the development of Korean space science.
Back in 1992, the late chairman Chung donated 3.4 billion won (US$3.4 million) to KAIST to build a satellite laboratory for the development of core space technologies and the nurturing of skilled manpower.
The naming ceremony was held in commemoration of the 16th anniversary of the launch of Korea"s first small satellite "Uribyeol 1" on Aug. 11, 1992. Chung died in 2003.
Dr. Soon-Dal Choi who laid the ground work for Korea"s space development program, served as the inaugural director general of the KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center, the birthplace of Korea"s artificial satellite.
On hand at the naming ceremony were a slew of dignitaries including Jeong-Eun Hyun, Hyundai Group Chairwoman and wife of the late Chung; and about 10 chief executives of Hyundai Group companies; Seong-Hyo Park, Mayor of the Daejeon Metropolitan City; Ms. So-Yeon Lee, Korea"s first astronaut; and KAIST President Nam-Pyo Suh.
President Suh noted that late Chairman Chung made great contributions to Korea"s artificial satellite development with his donation to the satellite laboratory. He said Dr. Choi is the father of the nation"s satellite program who provided the vision of space development in Korea at a time when Korea lagged behind in the artificial satellite technology.
2008.08.12 View 17532 -
KAIST Retains Top Spot in Systems and Software Engineering
For two consecutive years, KAIST, Korea"s top science and technology university, topped the list of the world"s most published institutions in the field of systems and software engineering, according to a survey conducted by the Journal of Systems and Software.
The survey assessed systems and software engineering scholars and institutions by the number of papers they published in six major journals of the field from 2001 to 2005.
Geographically, seven of the top 15 institutions are from the Asia-Pacific region, six from the United States and two from Europe. In previous assessments, institutions from the Americas took the lion"s share.
KAIST topped the list of 15 in 2006 and again in 2007. The runner-up for 2007 is China"s National Chiao Tung University. Norway"s Simula Research Laboratory and Korea"s Seoul National University were ranked third and fourth, respectively. Rounding up the top ten list are Carnegie Mellon University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Iowa State University, and University of Texas at Dallas, all from the United States; and City University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Two KAIST professors, Chung Chin-Wan and Kim Myoung-Ho, were among the top ten most published scholars. Chung"s papers were mostly about his researches in database, web, and multimedia, while Kim"s researches concerned database systems and distributed information processing.
The Journal of Systems and Software, a computer science journal specializing in the software systems, is published by Elsevier, the Dutch-based world"s largest publisher of medical and scientific literature.
2008.02.28 View 15247
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Pop Singer Kim Makes Second Donation to KAIST
Popular singer Kim Jang-Hoon donated 50 million won to KAIST for the development of Korea"s prestigious S&T university on Thursday, Feb. 14.
It was the singer"s second gift to KAIST in a year. Kim donated the same amount of money in March 2007 to express his gratitude to Professor Oh Jun-Ho and his research team for allowing him to use HUBO, South Korea"s first humanoid robot, for his concerts in 2006.
In a brief donation ceremony at the KAIST president"s office, Kim said he hoped he would be of any help in the development of science in Korea.
2008.02.18 View 14142 -
KAIST Opens CFTS
- To research the prevention of the illegal production of security technologies
- Total 1.5 billion won of research expenses and 102 researchers to be invested for the next three years- Opening ceremony at the computer science building, KAIST on April 13 at 10 am
KAIST (President Nam-Pyo Suh) will open ‘the Center of Fusion Technology for Security (CFTS)’ under the auspices of the Korea Minting & Security Printing Corporation (KOMSCO, President Hae-Sung Lee) to undertake researches over the prevention of illegal reproduction of security technologies. The opening ceremony was held at the computer science building, KAIST on Friday, April 13.
Total .1.5 billion won of research expenses and 102 researchers will be invested in the center for the next three years.
Main research fields are ▲ advanced IT-based information concealment methods ▲ utilization of energy transfer luminescence in host guest nano-substances ▲ the utilization of quantum-dot, non-crystal carbon and piezoelectric elements ▲ development of radio frequency identification (RFID), optical, biological security element-applied technologies, etc.
“We’ll develop fusion technologies for security that can easily detect forgeries and alterations of security products by introducing advanced IT, optical, chemical engineering, and biological elements. The development of core technologies applied to security products will activate domestic security markets and enable the export of relevant technologies,” said General Research Director Heung-Kyu Lee, a professor of Computer Sciences.
2007.04.19 View 15968 -
KAIST-Oracle Korea agrees on industry-academy cooperation
- To establish ERP systems throughout the entire fields of KAIST to provide advanced education and research services
- To perform Joint R&D in the field of ubiquitous- Agreement signed at KAIST on April 5
KAIST (President Nam-Pyo Suh) and Oracle Korea (President Sam-Soo Pyo) signed an agreement on the industry-academy cooperation program for the establishment and joint researches of advanced education services system on April 5 at 11 am.
KAIST and Oracle Korea will establish an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system ‘ORACLE People Soft (PSFT) Campus Solution’ at KAIST. ‘PSFT Campus Solution’ refers to a university-oriented ERP system dominating world market share and will be introduced to KAIST for the first time among Korean universities. The establishment of ERP system and next-generation web services throughout KAIST will enhance KAIST’s management abilities over education and research, thereby making possible the offering of advanced education services. The both also agreed to promote joint researches in the field of ubiquitous.
Major cooperation items are ▲ the establishment and operation of ERP systems, ▲ the creation of advanced education services model for universities in Korea and East Asia and the setting-up of foundation for standard information services, ▲ the exploration of and participation in joint concerns, ▲ the establishment of joint information association for the exchanges of science and technology information, ▲ joint researches and development projects by the both parties, and ▲ education and training for the advancement of education institutes.
“The cooperation with world-class IT corporate Oracle can produce significant fruits of human power fostering and technology development in advanced fields,” KAIST President Nam-Pyo Suh said.
“The industry-academy cooperation by Oracle having a variety of world’s top IT technologies and KAIST will be a stepping stone for the advancement of domestic education institutes. I’ll devote myself to developing the models of state-of-the-art universities in the 21st century via close mutual cooperation,” said Sam-Soo Pyo, President of Oracle Korea.
2007.04.12 View 18046 -
Dual Degree Programs with TU Berlin
Dual Degree Programs with TU Berlin- Five students to be exchanged each year from this year, receive degrees from both schools- Final stage of negotiation with GIT, UCSB- On-going DDP negotiations with Delft University of Technology in Netherlands, Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, Technical University of Denmark, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Tsinghua University in China, Tokyo Institute of Technology- DDPs with Ecole Polytechnique, INSA Lyon of France, and University of Karlsruhe of Germany underway at department levels
KAIST (President Nam-Pyo Suh) will begin Dual Degree Programs (DDP) with Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin).
The both recently reached an accord on the implementation of DDP and will exchange maximum five students each year, starting this year. The DDP allows each school involved to exchange students who meet the counterpart’s requirements one-by-one with prior consensus of departments to accept the students and to confer its own diplomas on students who complete the prescribed graduation requirements.
TU Berlin, established in 1770, currently holds 28,344 enrolled students, among which 5,829 students are from abroad (over 20%) and provides lectures for more than 50 subjects in the fields of Humanities, Social Sciences, Economics and so on with its emphases on Natural Science and Engineering. TU Berlin has fostered a multitude of distinguished scientists, including 1986 Nobel Prize Recipient in Physics Ernst Ruska who developed an electronic microscope for the first time in the world.
KAIST has now been eagerly promoting the DDPs with many distinguished foreign universities. It is on the final stage of the DDP negotiation with Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) and University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), and has already agreed with Tsinghua University in China to implement the DDPs in several advanced fields. Also, an agreement with Tokyo Institute of Technology (TIT) is soon to be made.
With Ecole Polytechnique and INSA Lyon of France, and University of Karlsruhe of Germany, the negotiation is underway at department levels, and the DDPs are also being promoted with Milan Technical University of Italy, Delft University of Technology of Netherlands, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) of Sweden, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NUNT).
“As global interests in East Asia arise, interests in KAIST by many foreign universities also increase. We are planning to expand the scope of this program to provide KAIST students with more opportunities of studying abroad and to attract more outstanding foreign students,” KAIST Dean of Academic Affairs Kwang-Hyung Lee explained.
- Dual Degree Program (DDP)In DDP, schools involved can maintain their own curriculums and confer their own degrees on students who complete the graduation requirements. Therefore, students can receive degrees from both schools involved. Meanwhile, DDP is not the same concept with Joint Degree Program (JDP), in which schools involved establish a joint curriculum and confer a single joint degree on students.
2007.03.19 View 21822
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KAIST President's Advisory Council starts to operate
KAIST President’s Advisory Council starts to operate
Composed of distinguished experts (six from abroad and seven from home) in the fields of industry, academy, and research
To suppose development plan, provide political advices, and help fund-raising
Consultation by distinguished experts from home and abroad starts to make KAIST (President Nam-Pyo Suh) one of world’s top technology and science universities.
KAIST held the first meeting of KAIST President’s Advisory Council (PAC), which has been composed for consultation over KAIST development plan (draft), at KAIST conference room, Wednesday, November 8, 2006.
At the meeting, general introduction of KAIST and presentation of business plan by each college were made, and KAIST Education Innovation Center’s undergraduate education innovation plan (draft) and research plan by each of five KAIST institutes were explained. At the meeting, the PAC members discussed items to be carried out for the development plan (draft) and advised substantial measures to achieve the goals. After the meeting, the PAC members visited two laboratories to observe research sites.
KAIST PAC is composed of celebrities possessing rich global management experiences at the top of the fields of industry, academy, and research from home and abroad and will perform various substantial roles such as suggesting development plans, providing political advices, and assisting fund-raising to advance KAIST into one of the world’s top 10 universities.
The overseas members of KAIST PAC are Neil Pappalardo, Chairman of MEDITECH, Hock Tan, Chairman of Technology Inc., Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, President of Japanese Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology and former president of Tokyo University, John Holzrichter, President of Fannie and John Hertz Foundation, Jongmoon Lee, Chairman of AmBex Inc., and Byungjoon Park, CEO of Bureau Veritas CPS.
And, the domestic members of KAIST PAC are Kyesik Min, Vice-chairman of Hyundai Heavy Industries, Heekuk Lee, President of LG Electronics, Youngchul Hong, Chairman of KISWIRE, Heebum Lee, Chairman of Korean International Trade Association, Yoonwoo Lee, Vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics, Dongjin Kim, Vice-chairman of Hyundai Motors, Youngsik Myung, President of GS CALTEX.
2006.11.14 View 14716
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KAIST Develops Thinking, Feeling Human-Like Robot
By Kim Tae-gyu / Staff ReporterTHE KOREA TIMES 2005.1.31(page 1)
South Korean scientists created the world"s first artificial species, a software robot with ``genes"" and ``chromosomes.""
Kim Jong-hwan, professor at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, said Sunday his team had developed a robot with 14 chromosomes, which gives the machine a ``personality.""
``This robot is a software-based one, sometimes called a sobot. It has a unique synthetic character determined by its specific combination of 14 chromosomes,"" the 47-year-old Kim said.
When Kim"s team gave a stimulus to the chromosome-equipped sobots, they showed totally different responses even under the same environment due to their distinctive personalities.
Several cognitive sensors enable the prototype models to identify 47 differing outside stimuli. The virtual robots also have 77 behavior patterns.
``Because a sobot is basically a software system, it can easily travel to other robots and multiply. In the middle of such processes, it can evolve through crossover and mutation,"" Kim said.
With the development of associated technologies, Kim expected the number of chromosomes would be augmented as sobots evolve to a more sophisticated species in the future.
The capacity to load large volumes of data is related to the evolution of sobots. Currently, 14 chromosomes consist of roughly 2,000 bytes of data.
The effort to incorporate the sobot into a platform, robot hardware, is now underway and Kim"s team looks to unveil the new-concept species as soon as next month.
``Diverse behavior patterns driven by sobots" specific personalities will be precisely translated into action just like the soul rules the body,"" Kim said.
Kim did not think the robotic evolution would lead to the human race being threatened; the concept of the recent blockbuster ``I, Robot.""
``If we design the chromosomes safely, the self-reproducing robot will not post a threat back to us,"" Kim said.
Kim first revealed the robotic breakthrough at a keynote speech of the International Conference on Autonomous Robots and Agents, held in New Zealand last December.
Kim is also known as pioneer in the field of robot football and has headed the Federation of International Robot-soccer Association (FIRA) since its foundation in 1999.
voc200@koreatimes.co.kr
2005.02.02 View 17919