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2024년 청소년 과학대장정(첨단 바이오) GBME학과 참여
2024-08-13
과학기술정보통신부와 한국과학창의재단이 주최한 2024년 청소년 과학대장정에 글로벌바이오메디컬공학과가 참여하였습니다. 중학생 34명과 함께 한 이야기를 성균웹진에서 소개하여 링크 첨부합니다. 성균웹진 | 커버스토리 | 커버스토리 (skku.edu) 유튜브 링크(https://youtube.com/shorts/kParm7nkyuc?si=nWMcWfNSFdpmJ7Hf)

2024 Freshman Orientation
2024-05-20
After the entrance ceremony on February 27th, the “2024 Freshman Orientation” was held at Pine Resort in Yongin for 3 days. Named 'Orientation of SKKU Institute for Convergence', a newly established orientation was conducted with the Department of Energy unlike previous years. A total of 124 students from both departments participated in the orientation and enjoyed their time.

IBS Neuroscience Imaging Research Center Director, Seong Gi Kim, Awarded ISMRM Gold Medal
2024-05-08
IBS Neuroscience Imaging Research Center Director, Seong Gi Kim, Awarded ISMRM Gold Medal - First Asian recipient in the field of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)… Medal presentation on May 6 IBS Neuroscience Imaging Research Center Director, Seong Gi Kim (Chair Professor of Biomedical Engineering), has been awarded the prestigious Gold Medal at the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), the world's leading academic conference in the MRI field. He is the first Asian scientist to receive this honor. The ISMRM Gold Medal recognizes significant contributions to the field of magnetic resonance each year and is awarded to the top 2-4 researchers. Professor Kim is one of the first scientists to apply functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques* to humans since 1992. After holding a professorship at the University of Pittsburgh under Professor Paul Lauterbur, a recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his contributions to the invention of MRI, Kim returned to Korea to contribute to the advancement of neuroscience. He joined IBS in 2013. At this year's annual meeting, his contributions to understanding the basic physiological basis of fMRI signals through human and animal studies were recognized. *Functional magnetic resonance imaging measures changes in oxygen saturation due to brain activation. Professor Kim's research focuses on elucidating the correlation between phenomena occurring in brain cells and the signals captured by MRI. His notable achievements include developing new MRI methods to measure brain blood flow and volume, clarifying the relationship between brain cell activity and changes in blood flow and volume, elucidating the correlation between fMRI signals, and understanding the causality of information processing between activated brain areas. The Gold Medal was awarded to a total of three recipients: Professor Seong Gi Kim of Sungkyunkwan University, Professor Leon Axel of New York University (a medical scientist), and Professor Yi Wang of Cornell University (a physicist). In the field of medical science, Professor Kaori Togashi of Kyoto University in Japan received the award in 2020, while in the field of MR science, Director Seong Gi Kim is the first Asian recipient. Among the past recipients of the ISMRM Gold Medal, Richard Ernst, a Nobel laureate in Chemistry in 1991, and Paul Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield, Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine in 2003, are notable. Director Kim said, "IBS Neuroscience Imaging Research Center possesses the world's highest-quality high-field MRI facilities for both humans (7 Tesla) and animals (15.2 Tesla)." He added, "Establishing the IBS-Sungkyunkwan University N Center, the top MRI research facility, in Korea and receiving this award are significant achievements." He also stated, "It is even more honorable to achieve such results through basic research rather than through the development of new imaging technologies or clinical research in the field of MRI." *Tesla (T): Unit of magnetic field strength, with 1 Tesla being approximately 20,000 times the strength of Earth's magnetic field. ISMRM has 8,000 professional members from 58 countries, and its annual conference is the largest event attended by researchers, clinicians, government agencies, academia, and industry leaders. The award ceremony took place on May 6 in Singapore. 2024 Gold Medal Award Winners - ISMRM

BME Welcomes New Assistant Professor
2022-09-05
BME is pleased to introduce new faculty member, Professor Park Hangue, in the fall of 2022. After completing his bachelor's degree in electrical and computer engineering at Seoul National University, Professor Park Hangue gained experience in semiconductor integrated circuits during his master's and Samsung Electronics tenure and conducted research on capsule endoscopy. Later, he received a Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology for research on improving cat gait using closed neural stimulation. After that, as an assistant professor at Texas A&M University for 5 years, he conducted interesting studies on neural signal control and neural prosthetic system design using electrical stimulation. The main purpose of the study is to supplement human incomplete motor skills and rehabilitate after trauma, and has recently expanded its scope of use to enhance human and improve motor skills. The focus of the research is on designing semiconductor integrated circuit-based biomimicry to efficiently communicate with the nervous system and have minimal power consumption & size, and its effectiveness is thoroughly verified through human and animal experiments. Welcome to BME!

Researcher Lim Eun-Ji has won the Summa Cum Laude award at the ISMRM
2022-06-15
At the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine in 2022, Lim Eun-ji, a GBME Ph.D. student (Professor Park Jae-seok) won the Summa Cum Laude, which is awarded in the top 5% of the total abstracts. This student had a presentation of her research titled "Self-calibrating aliasing-controlled simple multi-sliced image reconstruction from generalized 3D Fourier encoding perspective" as power pitch. This study uses variable density sampling and 3D Fourier signal models in multi-band MRI to accurately isolate and restore signals of multiple bands superimposed on the acquired data to each fault signal by simultaneously obtaining low resolution reference signal samples without additional image acquisition. Fig.1) Banner and Awards Page Fig.2) Main research contents Fig.3) Results Fig.4) Presentation moment at the conference

Prof. Lee Joon Yeol has won the SKKU Teaching Award
2022-06-15
Our university selected a total of 20 professors as winners of the SKKU Teaching Award. The SKKU Teaching Award is an honorable award that rewards instructors who have led the improved quality of education. This award aims to raise the pride and honor of instructors with excellent educational capabilities and to promote and spread motivation for providing quality education. Professor Lee Joon-yeol won in the GBME department. The SKKU Teaching Award ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. on Friday, May 13 in the first meeting room of the 600th Anniversary Hall. Contact: Office of Education's staff (02-760-1055/pleasemi@skku.edu)

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Research Story

How Brain Changes as We Age: Thalamocortical Connectivity and the Formation of Functional Networks
2024-08-05
In our daily lives, our brains seamlessly process streams of visual information from the world around us while simultaneously understanding the causal structure of events. These essential cognitive functions, known as external sensory processing and internal world modeling, are critical for navigating complex environments. Our brain achieves this through large-scale functional systems responsible for these processes. Recently, an international collaboration of scientists led by the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) has explored the role of thalamocortical connectivity during the development of brain networks. One longstanding question in neuroscience is how the brain's large-scale functional networks form during development. This study investigated the changes in connectivity between the thalamus and cerebral cortex from infancy to adulthood and how these changes influence the formation of the brain's functional networks. For the first time, researchers have revealed that thalamocortical connectivity is crucial for the emergence and specialization of the brain's functional networks, particularly those processing external and internal information. Traditionally seen as a relay station for sensory information, the thalamus also influences higher cognitive functions. Sensory connections between the thalamus and cortex become established quickly at an early age, while higher-order cognitive connections develop later at maturity. However, the exact mechanisms and timeline of these developments have remained unclear. This study began to address these challenges by employing advanced neuroimaging techniques, transcriptomic analyses, and computational models on cross-sectional and longitudinal datasets, to map the development of thalamocortical connectivity across different age groups. This study revealed that during infancy, thalamocortical connectivity reflects early sensorimotor network differentiation and gene expression patterns related to brain development. As children grow, this connectivity shifts to establish connections with the salience network, differentiating external and internal functional cortical systems. Simulations confirmed thalamic connectivity's role in developing key features of the mature brain, such as functional segregation and the sensory-association axis. "Our study for the first time provides a detailed map of how thalamocortical connectivity contributes to the large-scale functional organization in the human brain from infancy through young adulthood," said lead author PARK Shinwon. "By integrating advanced neuroimaging techniques, gene expression analysis, and computational modeling, we were able to systematically track and analyze the changes in brain connectivity across different developmental stages. This comprehensive approach has allowed us to uncover the pivotal role of the thalamus in the emergence and specialization of brain networks." Unlike earlier studies that focused on regional properties of individual thalamic nuclei, this research provides a comprehensive view of the global integration of the thalamus into cortical networks. These findings offer potential implications for understanding and studying clinical conditions characterized by compromised internal and external processing, such as autism, schizophrenia, and other neurodevelopmental conditions. The corresponding author, HONG Seok Jun, a principal investigator at the IBS Center for Neuroscience Imaging Research stated, "Understanding how thalamocortical connectivity evolves and influences brain function provides a crucial foundation for identifying the mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental conditions. This research opens up new possibilities for early diagnosis and targeted interventions, which could significantly improve outcomes for individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions." In the future, the researchers plan to investigate how thalamocortical connectivity changes in children with autism and how these changes correlate with clinical symptoms and cognitive functions. They also plan to expand their research focus to include other subcortical structures such as the striatum and cerebellum. This broader approach in systems neuroscience will help us gain a more comprehensive understanding of how various brain regions interact and develop. Figure 1. Thalamic connectopic maps (CMAP) and neocortical projection maps (NEOMAP) demonstrate the developmental changes in brain connectivity. Panel (a) shows CMAP 1 & 2 and NEOMAP 1 & 2 for infants (29–44 weeks), illustrating early differentiation of sensorimotor networks. Panel (b) displays these maps for children and young adults (8–22 years), highlighting the establishment of connections with the salience network and the differentiation between externally and internally oriented systems. Network profiles, sorted based on the Yeo-Krienan 7 Network Atlas, are depicted in box plots indicating the median and interquartile range (IQR). Panel (c) presents a schematic of the external-to-internal axis division derived from the NEOMAPs of childhood and young adulthood, showing the crucial role of the salience network.

IBS Neuroscience Imaging Research Center Director, Seong Gi Kim, Awarded ISMRM Gold Medal
2024-05-08
IBS Neuroscience Imaging Research Center Director, Seong Gi Kim, Awarded ISMRM Gold Medal - First Asian recipient in the field of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)… Medal presentation on May 6 IBS Neuroscience Imaging Research Center Director, Seong Gi Kim (Chair Professor of Biomedical Engineering), has been awarded the prestigious Gold Medal at the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), the world's leading academic conference in the MRI field. He is the first Asian scientist to receive this honor. The ISMRM Gold Medal recognizes significant contributions to the field of magnetic resonance each year and is awarded to the top 2-4 researchers. Professor Kim is one of the first scientists to apply functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques* to humans since 1992. After holding a professorship at the University of Pittsburgh under Professor Paul Lauterbur, a recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his contributions to the invention of MRI, Kim returned to Korea to contribute to the advancement of neuroscience. He joined IBS in 2013. At this year's annual meeting, his contributions to understanding the basic physiological basis of fMRI signals through human and animal studies were recognized. *Functional magnetic resonance imaging measures changes in oxygen saturation due to brain activation. Professor Kim's research focuses on elucidating the correlation between phenomena occurring in brain cells and the signals captured by MRI. His notable achievements include developing new MRI methods to measure brain blood flow and volume, clarifying the relationship between brain cell activity and changes in blood flow and volume, elucidating the correlation between fMRI signals, and understanding the causality of information processing between activated brain areas. The Gold Medal was awarded to a total of three recipients: Professor Seong Gi Kim of Sungkyunkwan University, Professor Leon Axel of New York University (a medical scientist), and Professor Yi Wang of Cornell University (a physicist). In the field of medical science, Professor Kaori Togashi of Kyoto University in Japan received the award in 2020, while in the field of MR science, Director Seong Gi Kim is the first Asian recipient. Among the past recipients of the ISMRM Gold Medal, Richard Ernst, a Nobel laureate in Chemistry in 1991, and Paul Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield, Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine in 2003, are notable. Director Kim said, "IBS Neuroscience Imaging Research Center possesses the world's highest-quality high-field MRI facilities for both humans (7 Tesla) and animals (15.2 Tesla)." He added, "Establishing the IBS-Sungkyunkwan University N Center, the top MRI research facility, in Korea and receiving this award are significant achievements." He also stated, "It is even more honorable to achieve such results through basic research rather than through the development of new imaging technologies or clinical research in the field of MRI." *Tesla (T): Unit of magnetic field strength, with 1 Tesla being approximately 20,000 times the strength of Earth's magnetic field. ISMRM has 8,000 professional members from 58 countries, and its annual conference is the largest event attended by researchers, clinicians, government agencies, academia, and industry leaders. The award ceremony took place on May 6 in Singapore. 2024 Gold Medal Award Winners - ISMRM

Prof. Kim Seong-Gi's lab published on Neuron
2024-04-12
Prof. Seong-Gi Kim published 'Whole-brain mapping of effective connectivity by fMRI with cortex-wide patterned optogenetics' in Neuron on June, 2023. Further details can be obtained from the following link. Kim, Seonghoon, et al. "Whole-brain mapping of effective connectivity by fMRI with cortex-wide patterned optogenetics." Neuron 111.11 (2023): 1732-1747.

Prof. Jang-Yeon Park's Lab published in Science
2022-10-18
Prof. Jang-Yeon Park published 'In vivo direct imaging of neuronal activity at high temporospatial resolution' in Science on October, 2022. Further details can be obtained from the following link. Toi, Phan Tan, et al. "In vivo direct imaging of neuronal activity at high temporospatial resolution." Science 378.6616 (2022): 160-168.

Prof. Park Chun Gwon published in Biomaterials
2022-10-13
Prof. Park Chun Gwon published 'Image-guided in situ cancer vaccination with combination of multi-functional nano-adjuvant and an irreversible electroporation technique' in Biomaterials on October, 2022. Further details can be obtained from the following link. Press article : http://www.lecturernews.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=106458 Han, Jun-Hyeok, et al. "Image-guided in situ cancer vaccination with combination of multi-functional nano-adjuvant and an irreversible electroporation technique." Biomaterials 289 (2022): 121762.

Prof. Woo Choong-Wan's Lab published in Science Advances
2022-10-13
Prof. Woo Choong-Wan's Lab published 'When self comes to a wandering mind : Brain representations and dynamics of self-generated concepts in spontaneous thought' in Science Advances on August 31th, 2022. Further details can be obtained from the following link. Kim, Byeol, et al. "When self comes to a wandering mind: Brain representations and dynamics of self-generated concepts in spontaneous thought." Science advances 8.35 (2022): eabn8616.

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