Ewha Research Team Leads Original Technology Development Projects in Life Sciences, Neuroscience, and Environmental Engi
- 작성처
- Date2024.08.21
- 14539
Ewha Research Team Leads Original Technology Development Projects in Life Sciences, Neuroscience, and Environmental Engineering
Researchers from Ewha Womans University were selected for the Original Technology Development Project, funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea, to drive the development of key technologies for advancing industrial innovation and growth.
Professor Roh Tae-Young from the Department of Life Science (Graduate School) has been selected for the Future Convergence Technology Pioneer Project (strategic) under the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) Research Program promoted by the Ministry of Science and ICT. Professor Roh will be awarded KRW 4.5 billion over a period of up to five years (two + three years) to investigate the mechanisms behind dormancy and activation in liver stem cells using epigenomic analysis.
The Future Convergence Technology Pioneer Project supports convergence research focused on developing key original technologies capable of creating or transforming paradigms in new technologies and industries. With his selection for this project, Professor Roh plans to present a technological solution to challenges in stem cell research that cannot be addressed with current technologies. The Pioneer Research Center (PRC) aims to secure technological competitiveness that can be applied to liver diseases and other types of cancer, by building a stem cell dormancy model, developing techniques to retain stemness and track cancerization, discovering biomarkers for detecting dormancy and developing related new drugs, and advancing technologies for dormancy-activation transitions.
The PRC at Ewha is a convergence research team that includes Professor Roh Tae-Young (principal investigator) and Professor Hyuk-jin Cha from the College of Pharmacy at Seoul National University. The research team is expected to develop technologies for biomarker discovery and stem cell fate regulation through (epigenetic) genomic profiling and gene regulatory network identification based on a stem cell/organoid model in the liver regeneration process, and ultimately conduct convergence research that enables the clinical application of the original technologies required for the treatment of liver diseases, including cirrhosis, alcoholic fatty liver disease, hepatitis, and liver cancer, and tissue regeneration.
The research team, led by Professor Lyoo In Kyoon from the Ewha Brain Institute, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, has also been selected to conduct a new project for the 2024 Future Convergence Technology Pioneer Project (strategic). Under this project, Professor Lyoo’s team will be awarded KRW 4.5 billion over four and a half years until December 2028 to conduct a project titled “Development of a Mental Health Care Platform for High-risk Professionals Through Mind Vital Sign Monitoring”.
The research team will use wearable devices to gather various digital biomarkers from high-risk occupational groups exposed to severe job stress and conduct advanced AI modeling research using big data for precision medicine, including high-quality multimodal brain imaging data. Subsequently, the team plans to build an integrated platform that monitors and predicts the risks of mental health issues and human error in real time and provides immediate digital treatment.
This research involves a number of renowned experts in the fields of advanced neuroscience, medicine, pharmacology, AI modeling, development of digital biomarkers and digital therapeutics. Through this interdisciplinary convergence research, the team aims to establish an AI-based integrated management solution for mental health risks that employs new technologies distinct from existing methods, thereby providing more systematic solutions to various stress-related situations that have recently emerged as pressing social concerns. Additionally, the research findings are expected to be applied to practical settings in collaboration with Samsung Electronics and utilized by various requesting organizations including the National Fire Agency, Seoul Metropolitan Fire & Disaster Headquarters, Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, and Korean National Police Agency.
Professor Chanhyuk Park of the Department of Environmental Engineering was selected for Original Technology Development Project (pioneering) for Nano and Future Materials under the Ministry of Science and ICT’s Nano and Future Materials Technology Development Program. Professor Park will receive a total of KRW 5 billion in research funding by 2028 to develop original technologies for environmental nanomaterials aimed at the treatment of unregulated hazardous pollutants in wastewater generated by new industrial manufacturing processes and the recovery of resources.
Ceramic membrane technology based on environmental nanomaterials is gaining attention for its ability to effectively treat wastewater containing high concentrations of hazardous substances produced in the manufacturing processes of new industrial sectors such as semiconductors, secondary batteries, and displays. Ceramic membranes provide excellent physical and chemical durability, maintaining stable performance even under high-temperature and high-pressure conditions. They are particularly effective at removing hazardous substances such as heavy metals and organic pollutants, while also enabling the recovery and recycling of essential resources used in new industrial manufacturing processes, such as nitrogen- and fluorine-based compounds, from wastewater. Additionally, ceramic membranes consume less energy than other wastewater treatment technologies and retain their performance even after extended use.
As the lead research institution, Ewha will collaborate with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Pusan National University, the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS), and the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT) to conduct research on wastewater treatment technologies with tangible benefits for the public. The research will focus on developing key technologies for treating unregulated water pollutants, including carcinogens found in wastewater from new industries, while also repurposing them as valuable resources, ultimately contributing to the improvement of public safety concerning water sources.