4 Cases of SKKU Selected among 

the 100 National R&D Excellence Achievements in 2022

▲ (from the left) Prof. Seong Sik Shin (SKKU Advanced Institute of Nano Technology), 

Prof. Choong-Wan Woo (Department of Biomedical Engineering), Prof. Ju-Young Shin (Department of Pharmacy), Prof. Joo Sang Lee (School of Medicine)

On November 8, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced that 4 research achievements of SKKU faculty were selected for the ‘2022 National R&D Excellence 100’. The Ministry of Science and ICT has been selecting excellent national R&D achievements every year since 2006 to enhance public understanding and interest in the role of science and technology and to inspire pride in scientists and engineers.

At SKKU, Prof. Seong Sik Shin (SKKU Advanced Institute of Nano Technology) was selected in the energy and environment field, Prof. Choong-Wan Woo (Department of Biomedical Engineering) was selected in the convergence technology field, Prof. Ju-Young Shin (Department of Pharmacy) and Prof. Joo Sang Lee (School of Medicine) were selected in the life and marine field, respectively.

Prof. Seong Sik Shin was selected for the best performance in the energy and environment field for his thesis on ‘Development of Materials and Technologies for High-Efficiency Perovskite Solar Cells Based on Low-temperature Process’. Prof. Shin was recognized for his achievement in developing the world’s highest-performance perovskite solar cell that exceeds 25% of photoelectric conversion efficiency by identifying the mechanism for developing and synthesizing defect-free oxide semiconductor materials using a low-temperature process. His research is being evaluated for contributing to the realization of a carbon-neutral society through the development of high-performance solar cells and securing global competitiveness through the localization of oxide semiconductor materials for solar cells. In particular, Prof. Shin’s research was also selected as the cover paper of the international academic journal ‘Nature’ in February 2021.

Prof. Choong-Wan Woo, who was selected for the convergence technology field, was recognized for his achievement in developing a brain imaging biomarker that can predict the degree of pain. Pain is caused by the body’s response to external harmful stimuli, but is influenced by factors such as human emotions and memories, and occurs through complex functional interactions between various areas of the brain that form the brain’s functional connectome. Prof. Woo developed a neuroimaging biomarker that can read persistent pain based on the brain functional connectome together with Prof. Tor Wager’s research team at Dartmouth University in the United States, and successfully predicted the intensity of persistent pain in 109 healthy experiment participants. In addition, the pain scores of 192 back pain patients were also predicted with high accuracy. His achievements are expected to help understand the brain mechanisms of chronic pain and ultimately help patients with pain.

Prof. Ju-Young Shin was recognized for his achievements in creating and laying the groundwork for vaccine safety by linking vaccination registration data and health insurance claim data. Although the cervical cancer vaccine is free, the vaccination rate is low due to concerns over abnormal reactions. Accordingly, Prof. Shin’s research team linked vaccination registration data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency with health insurance claim data from the National Health Insurance Service to determine the relative risk of adverse reactions in the vaccinated group compared to the non-vaccinated group and after vaccination in the vaccinated group, and the temporal risk of adverse events in the period was evaluated. Through this, it is evaluated that the basis for establishing a reasonable vaccination policy has been prepared and the safety of the vaccine has been proven. In addition, it is expected to serve as a catalyst for the research ecosystem linked to big data in the domestic health and medical field.

Prof. Joo Sang Lee was recognized for his achievement in developing a new medical platform, SELECT, that can dramatically improve existing personalized medicine. Recently, personalized medicine for cancer patients, which selects and treats the most suitable treatment based on big data, is on the rise. Prof. Lee’s research team can provide patients with the most efficient treatment by predicting which anticancer drugs will be effective based on the patient’s genetic data before cancer treatment, through the personalized media platform SELECT. The researchers analyzed data from about 50 clinical trials involving 5,000 patients, including various cancer types, targeted treatments, and immunotherapy conducted at cancer centers around the world, and were able to predict the response rate and survival rate of patients for about 70% of anticancer drugs. It has been shown that there is a possibility of presenting an effective treatment for more than twice as many patients as compared to conventional cancer personalized treatment. In the future, it is expected to offer hope to cancer patients and medical staff through verification through clinical trials and the improvement of predictive power through artificial intelligence models.