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LINC+ project team regional cooperation center pursues ‘historical records’ project with local non-profits and press companies Highly evaluated for preserving community values and national records Professor Choi Beom-soon receives ‘Prime Minister’s Award’ from the government for contributions to national records management [January 21, 2021] <Members of the ’Corporate Research Association Shade: Shade and Them’ are in a meeting to organize records on Korean atomic bomb victims archived at the Hapcheon Atomic Bomb Archives> The historical records project being pursued by YU (President Sur Gil-soo) has been recognized for its value as national records. The regional historic/cultural contents investigation/collection/discovery/recording project being pursued by the YU LINC+ Project Team Regional Cooperation Center (director Choi Beom-soon) is being highly evaluated for preserving the value of the local society and as national records. They are represented by ▲the records organization and digitalization project for the Korean atomic bomb victims records at the Hapcheon Atomic Bomb Archives ▲Gyeongsan cobalt mine civilian massacre records production project. In particular, this regional historical records project is meaningful in that it was initiated and led by the private sector including universities. The project was pursued under the leadership of the YU LINC+ Project Team Regional Cooperation Center together with the non-projfit organization <Corporate Research Association Shade: Shade and Them> and the local press company <Gyeongsan Newspaper>. Center Director Choi Beom-soon (YU Professor of Japanese Language and Literature) who led this project was recognized for his efforts for the discovery and preservation of regional historic records and was selected for the government prize for his contributions to the 2020 national records management and received the Prime Minister's Award. <’Corporate Research Association Shade: Shade and Them’ organizing records at the Hapcheon Atomic Bomb Archives> <Corporate Research Association Shade: Shade and Them> is a non-profit organization composed of alumni of the YU Department of History. They are producing contents in the humanities for the social minority. They are discovering and preserving the records of those who have been socially alienated and acting as a medium to convey it to the public. This organization pursued a digitalization project for the Hapcheon Atomic Bomb Archives records together with the YU LINC+ Project Team Regional Cooperation Center. Director Choi said, “We have been interacting with Hiroshima, which is a sister city of Daegu, and our sister university since 2015. During this, we became aware of the issue with Korean atomic bomb victims and held an international academic conference on the date of opening the Hapcheon Atomic Bomb Archives in August of 2017.” He further explained about the project saying, “With the establishment of the LINC+ Project Team Regional Cooperation Center in 2018, we began pursuing the digitalization of the records at the Hapcheon Atomic Bomb Archives as part of the community contribution project together with the ‘Corporate Research Association Shade: Shade and Them’. Up until now, personal information held by the Hapcheon Atomic Bomb Archives, oral testaments, and tens of thousands of records were organized and digitalized, and a total of 33 collection books were produced. In 2019, they contributed to finding 11 Korean atomic bomb victims that were omitted in the atomic bomb victim records of the Hiroshima region in Japan. The Gyeongsan cobalt mine civilian massacre case records production project pursued together with Gyeongsan Newspaper also made significant progress. Since first covering the cobalt mine case in Pyeongsan-dong, Gyeongsan in 1994, Gyeongsan Newspaper published a total of over 500 articles on the incident over a period of 26 years. This report served as a trigger for solidarity among surviving families, fact-finding missions, and restoring their honor, and they helped to win the lawsuit against the state to bear responsibility. The YU LINC+ Project Team Regional Cooperation Center and Gyeongsan Newspaper worked together to produce video records of surviving families and a book containing the testimonies of surviving families regarding the Gyeongsan cobalt mine civilian massacre, and also completing digitalizing the photographs and videos. Director Choi said, “This year, we plan to complete the Gyeongsan cobalt mine civilian massacre records production project that began back in 2019 by publishing a white book. YU will take be a leading advocate in preserving and finding regional historic cultures and accumulate various contents to create historic and cultural value for the region.”
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Stanford University research team in the US analyzed DB of the world’s largest academic journal citation indicators to announce the top scientists Only one in Korea in the ‘transportation sector’ Dealing with traffic big data, traffic safety, and autonomous driving cars, etc. as major research sectors [January 8, 2021] YU Department of Urban Planning and Engineering Professor Jung Yeon-shik (49) was selected as the top 2% scientists per global academic sector published by Stanford University in the US. A research team at Stanford recently used Scopus data to evaluate the life-long accomplishment sector and 2019 yearly achievement sector to publish a list of the top 2% scientist list for academic sectors in the entire world. Scopus is the world’s largest academic journal citation index database created by the publishing company Elsevier of the Netherlands in 2004. The research team evaluated researchers who published at least five theses in each academic sector based on a total of six index values, and provided information of the top researchers per sector in the database. Professor Jung was included in the top 2% of the 21,274 researchers who published more than five theses in the ‘logistics and transportation’ sector. There were only two domestic researchers included in the top 2% in the ‘logistics and transportation’ sector, and when excluding the researcher in the logistics sector, Professor Jung is the only Korean included in the ‘traffic’ sector. Professor Jung earned his PhD in traffic engineering at the University of California, Irvine in 2007 and has been serving as a professor of urban planning and engineering since 2016. He is mainly involved in education and research activities in fields that have recently become major issues such as traffic big data, traffic safety, and autonomous driving vehicles.
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First hospital outside of the capital area to introduce the high-tech angiography machine, ARTIS Diagnosis, procedures and surgery simultaneously possible at the hybrid surgery room... Treatment within the golden time Build aseptic surgery room, negative pressure quarantine rooms, etc. and expand advanced medical facilities and equipment [January 18, 2021] The YU Medical Center (Director Kim Sung-ho) announced that it completed the remodeling of the surgical critical care room and surgery room on the 14th. Through this remodeling, YU built an aseptic surgery room, thus constructing the optimal environment for artificial joint surgery, spinal surgery, and brain surgery. The aseptic surgery room circulates air through a HEPA filter that can remove over 99.7% of particles to sizes of 0.3㎛ in the air to reduce the risk of infection during operations. In addition, the high-tech two-directional angiography system ‘ARTIS icono Biplane’ that is the first outside of the capital area was installed in the hybrid surgery room. This is the third for all in Korea. This device allows two-directional imaging to reduce the burden of patients for contrast medium and it also applied the OPTIQ algorithm, which is the latest imaging technology, allowing it to obtain high resolution images with efficient radiation quantity. By allowing simultaneous diagnosis, procedures and surgery within the hybrid surgery room, it is possible to treat patients within the golden time. The surgical critical care room operating a total of 25 beds (general quarantine room: 5, negative pressure quarantine room: 5, general beds: 15) gained more space by moving the severe cardiovascular patients and neurosurgery patients, which were operated in the same place in the past. In order to prevent infections, which have become a bigger issue since COVID-19, the space between beds were kept at 3m and a negative pressure quarantine room was also furnished. The Ceiling Pendant System that mounts equipment on the ceiling of the surgery room to receive gas, oxygen and electricity was installed to enhance not only safety, but also convenience and efficiency when using surgery equipment. Director Kim Sung-ho said, “We will continue to do our best for safe surgeries as a hospital with grade 1 capacities for surgery room patient safety management.”
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Active support for COVID-19 response to the Laotian police hospital (Ha Mesa Hospital) Medical Center pursued health and medicine international development cooperation projects with Laos from 2010 Selected as supervisor for the modern police hospital building project in Laos worth 70 billion KRW [January 5, 2021] <The YU Medical Center handed over medical supplies to the Laos police hospital> YU Medical Center (Director Kim Tae-nyeon) stepped up to support Laos’ response to COVID-19. YU Medical Center visited the Laos police hospital (Ha Mesa Hospital) on December 23 to donate dental masks to help in its efforts to overcome and respond to COVID-19 in Laos. The medical center is planning to donate hand sanitizers and dental masks to support the disinfection activities of the Laos police hospital, which has had difficulties in responding to the pandemic, and donated 4,000 masks as the first relief supply. The YU Medical Center entered an MOU with the Laos Health Ministry in 2010 to improve the national health and medicine system and to construct a national medical center, and over the past 10 years, it has continuously expanded exchange and cooperation relations with Laos as it prepared to enter international development cooperation projects in health and medicine. <Laos Police Hospital Modern Hospital Construction Project consultant service signing ceremony> In result, it was selected as the supervising institute of the Laos police hospital modern hospital construction project that will be built using a loan of approximately 70 billion KRW for the project by the Export-Import Bank of Korea’s economic development cooperation fund (EDCF) for the first time in the Yeongnam region back in May of 2019, and it has been providing medical solutions accumulated by the medical center to upgrade the health and medicine system of Laos. In particular, Laotian alumni of YU who are working at the central government in Laos have displayed keen interest in this project and has been providing full support. Phoutmala Phanhthamith, director of the Laos police hospital who attended the disinfection supply donation event, said, “This supply is a very meaningful event that symbolizes the long-lasting relationship of exchange and cooperation between the police hospital and YU Medical Center,” and added, “I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to everyone at the medical center and to the Laos Police Modern Hospital Construction Business Team.”
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Engaged in various social contribution activities at non-profit institutes such as UNICEF and the United Nations Volunteers Korea Goal to become a ‘mentor who shares with adolescents’ by gaining more experience while volunteering [December 30, 2020] YU Department of Statistics junior Han Jin-wook (23, photo above) won the ‘2020 Excellent Korean Award.’ The ‘Excellent Korean Award’ that is co-hosted by the Ministry of Education and the Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Creativity finds and awards outstanding young Koreans who will lead Korea, and it is a talent selection program that began in 2008 to support them to grow into the main pillars of the nation in the future. Mr. Han received good evaluations for his various social contribution activities such as volunteering at non-profit institutes and charity drives for social welfare funds. He was recognized for his ongoing contributions in activities to help children not only in Korea, but around the world by participating in the UNICEF Daegu College Volunteer Corps and UN Volunteers Korea social media promotion team. He was selected as an outstanding participant by both of these groups and was awarded by both. This year, he served as the PR team leader at an organization called ‘Corona Helper’ when COVID-19 first started spreading earlier this year. He participated in funding projects pursued by this organization and delivered the earnings to local families in need. Mr. Han plans to take part of the reward from receiving the Excellent Korean Award and donate it to a local scholarship organization. He said that he volunteered continuously with his family since he was in elementary school and vowed to ‘become a person who can love neighbors who are in more need than me’ and said, “I think that a warm person makes the world brighter. I had personal hardships back in secondary school, too. I wanted to share my experience of overcoming my difficulties by participating in various volunteer activities with youths. I want to become a mentor that helps youths grow healthily.” He also added, “I plan to earn a youth instructor certificate and integrate my major in statistics and gain expertise in relevant fields such as utilizing it for systematic mentoring.” Meanwhile, the ‘2020 Excellent Korean Awards’ are held through document reviews including self-introductions, and then interviews to pick 50 high school and 50 college students for a total of 100 students around the nation, who are given the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Education Award. The awards ceremony was held online on the Ministry of Education’s YouTube channel on December 30.
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Joint research by YU Department of Biotechnology Professor Jin Joon-oh and University of Ulsan Medical School ‘TRIM28 and RLIM protein’ lung cancer early diagnosis predicts 5-year survival rate... Clinical applications expected Published in the latest issue of an international academic journal in cytobiology [December 28, 2020] Domestic researchers discovered a biomarker that can diagnose lung cancer, which is the top cause of cancer deaths among Koreans, early on. ‘Biomarkers’ can show changes in the body using cells in the body, blood vessels, proteins, DNA, RNA, etc. YU Department of Biotechnology Professor Jin Joon-oh (41, photo on left) conducted joint research with the University of Ulsan Medical School Professor Lee Chang-hwan’s research team and discovered a biomarker protein that can diagnose lung cancer and predict the five-year survival rate. In the case of lung cancer, there are no particular self-perceivable symptoms and there are few biomarkers for early diagnosis, thus having a self-diagnosis rate of just 20%. Though there are some materials presented as biomarkers for diagnosing lung cancer, there are difficulties in early diagnosis because there is a deficiency in particularities and sensitivity. When discovered early, the survival rate of lung cancer is high at 80%, and therefore, the research outcomes are receiving a great deal of attention from academia and medical circles. The research team conducted research on finding proteins showing significant difference in concentration in lung cancer tissues and normal tissues from 104 lung cancer patients. In result, they found that there was a considerably high concentration of the protein called ‘TRIM28’ in lung cancer tissue. It was found that there was severe proliferation and movement of lung cancer in the cell model for which genes were manipulated to artificially create high amounts of TRIM28 proteins and in rat models. Upon additionally checking the TRIM28 coupled proteins, the research team found the target protein RLIM decomposed by TRIM28. It was verified that RLIM decomposes MDM2 that breaks down p53, a well-known tumor-suppressing protein. In other words, it was found that TRIM28 adjusts RLIM and RLIM adjusts MDM2 to cause a chain decomposition reaction that adjusts p53 through cell and animal research. The research team analyzed the correlation of TRIM28, RLIM proteins and the five-year survival rate using tissue samples from 101 lung cancer patients, and learned that the TRIM28 manifestation rate was high and that the five-year survival rate of patients with high RLIM manifestation was significantly lower. The research team plans to proceed with clinical applications to use TRIM28 and RLIM as a biomarker for early diagnosis of lung cancer and for predicting the five-year survival rate, and also plans to conduct candidate material discovery research that can regulate TRIM28 and RLIM. Meanwhile, this study was conducted with the support of the Ministry of Science and ICT, National Research Foundation middle-grade research project, and basic research project, etc., and the research outcomes were published in the latest issue (Dec 17) in cytobiology international academic journal <Cell Death and Differentiation>.
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Wins in various research sectors such as ‘best poster’ at international academic conference Recognized for research achievements regardless of undergraduate or graduate students Received attention from academic and industrial circles for studies on semiconductor applied new material and energy harvesting materials [December 18, 2020] <Undergraduate and graduate school students of the School of Materials Science and Engineering win numerous thesis awards at major academic conferences> Students of the YU School of Materials Science and Engineering were awarded in several major academic conferences this year, thus being recognized for their research capacities. In particular, both undergraduate and graduate students displayed outstanding research capacities in various research sectors. Two YU graduate school students received the ‘Best Poster Award’ at the international academic conference, ‘ENGE (Electronic materials and Nanotechnology for Green Environment) 2020’ held at the Ramada Plaza Jeju Hotel from November 1 to 4. Researchers from universities and research institutes from 17 countries around the world presented about 1,700 recent research outcomes at this international academic conference. Among them, Park Yang-gyu (25, second term in master’s course) and Choi Han-seung (26, first term in master’s course) from the YU Graduate School of Materials Science and Engineering both won the best poster award by presenting the research results for ‘Study on Hafnium Oxide (HfO2) New Materials Thin Film for Application in Thin Film Transistors’ and ‘Magnetic Field Energy Harvesting Technology.’ Students from the YU School of Materials Science and Engineering won thesis awards at the two academic conferences of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers as they continued their research achievements. The KIEEME academic conference is Korea’s largest specialized academic conference related to electronic materials in Korea. An undergraduate research team composed of School of Materials Science and Engineering seniors Jang Jong-gwan (26), Seo Min-woo (25), Lee Sae-bom (25), Ha Dong-rim (25), Lim So-hee (24), Chae Yeon-gyeong (22), Baek Ga-eun (22), Kim Na-young (22), and Doh Ji-eun (22) presented the results of the ‘High Ductile Ceramic Materials Research’ at the fall academic conference, thus receiving the best poster award. In the summer academic conference held in July, Lee Seung-ah (21, junior) won the best poster award for the research achievements of the ‘Magnetic Energy Harvesting Technology Using Ceramic Materials’ and Lee Geon (21, junior) won the poster award for the research achievements for ‘Energy Storage Thin Film Capacitor Materials.’ The research of the winners were high performance new materials research applied to semiconductor transistor materials such as LCD and OLED and on energy storage materials and energy harvesting materials that can be used for electric vehicles and IoT devices. These have high academic research value and they are research contents of levels that can be applied in actual industry sites, thus receiving attention from the academic and industrial circles. School of Materials Science and Engineering Professor Lee Hee-young and Professor Ryu Jung-ho who advised these students said, “The students have been displaying outstanding research capacities from their undergraduate years, thus enhancing the qualitative levels of research they conduct when they go on to graduate school. As research capacities are passed on naturally from undergraduate to graduate school students, the research lab has been continuously pumping out excellent research achievements.”
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Hosted by the Daegu National Science Museum on the theme of ‘Science Technology Around Us’ ‘Competition for Insemination,’ microscopic photo observing the sperm-ovum insemination and development process [December 17, 2020] Byun Do-gyeong (25, photo), a senior at the YU Department of Biotechnology, won the grand prize at the ‘2nd Science & Technology Photography Competition hosted by the Daegu National Science Museum. This contest that was held under the theme ‘Science Technology Around Us’ is a photo contest related to science technologies melted into our everyday lives and natural phenomena in fields such as ▲observation of nature ▲utilization of science technology, and ▲importance of science technology. Pieces were received until October 16 and on December 4, one grand prize, three second place awards, four third place awards, and 11 runners-up were awarded. In particular, Mr. Byun is a student of biotechnology who did not major in photography, nor enjoy it as a hobby. He won the grand prize by submitting a blow-up photo of what he saw regularly using a microscope while observing biotechnology phenomena. He titled his piece, ‘Competition for Insemination.’ Mr. Byun submitted a four-cut photo of his observations of in vitro fertilization of sperm and ovum using a microscope, which ended up winning the grand prize. He captured the insemination and development process by collecting sperm and ovum from test rats with photos. <Byun Do-gyeong’s grand prize-winning piece, ‘Competition for Insemination’> (Clockwise from top left: insemination, 2nd cell period, 4th cell period, morular and blastocyst) Mr. Byun said, “I submitted a biotechnological phenomenon that I studied at the school lab and that I observe regularly, so I was surprised to win the grand prize. I think this received good evaluations because the scientific phenomenon, which occurs around us but people cannot see with the naked eye, was captured with the microscope without adding to it at all.” Meanwhile, the Daegu National Science Museum plans to put on display the winning pieces during the month of December.
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