AI for Understanding and Characterizing the Ductile-Brittle Behaviors of Mg-based Materials
Advanced Materials Science and Engineering
Prof. KOTIBA, HAMAD
Russlan Jaafreh · Yoo Seong Kang · Santiago Pereznieto
Prof. Balachandran Manavalan Proposed ▼ Cutting-edge AI-based Bioinformatics Tools
Integrative Biotechnology
Prof. BALACHANDRAN, MANAVALAN
Joint Research Team of SKKU Advanced Institute of Nano Technology (SAINT) Professor Seongpil An and School of Pharmacy Professor Ki Hyun Kim Develops High-efficiency Nano Generator Using Natural Resources The antibacterial nano generator that can be used for electricity power source of next-generation wearable electric devices ▲ Professor Ki Hyun Kim, SAINT Researcher Dogun Park, Professor Seongpil An ▲ School of Pharmacy Post-Doc. Researcher Joo-Hyun Hong (first co-author) Joint research team of SAINT Professor Seongpil An and School of Pharmacy Ki Hyun Kim (first author SAINT Researcher Dogun Park, co-author School of Pharmacy Researcher Joo-Hyun Hong) announced that the team developed a high efficiency nano-generator that can use a mixture of nature-originated antibacterial materials and biocompatible polymer as electricity power source of a wearable electric device. Recently, nano-generator, generator which can earn electricity from various kinetic energies such as vibration, impact, and bending, is gathering attention as the new next-generation renewable energy source since it can convert big/small daily-life kinetic energies to useful power. In addition, the research to apply this technology to next-generation wearable devices as its power source has been active in recent few years. Among different types of nano-generator, the technology that harvests electric energy from friction due to contacts in between materials is called the triboelectric nanogenerator. To employ such triboelectric nanogenerator for electric power source of wearable electric devices, two technological elements is needed. The first is approach method that can convert frictional kinetic energy induced by human movement to electric energy in the most efficient way. The second is antibacterial ability to protect itself from foreign contaminant and low toxicity to human skin since it will be used in contact with skin. Joint research team of Professor Seongpil An and Professor Ki Hyun Kim synthesized the elm bark extract with skin-nontoxic biodegradation polymer, polycaprolactone (PCL) and developed it into felt composed of nanofiber that has diameter of 100nm (one thousandth of a hair thickness). This natural resource based felt was applied for triboelectric nano-generator material. The invented natural resource based triboelectric nanogenerator could generate maximum of 80V electric energy per each step during walking or running when applied in shoe inserts, and the antibacterial ability of natural material (elm bark extracts) could resist athlete’s foot germs (Tinea pedis). Professor An reported, “We developed natural felt composed of microfiber with diameter of 100nm which was created based on world’s best level solution spinning technology owned independently by our lab, considering the thinner fiber gets, the more friction area the felt has.” Also, Professor Kim said, “The natural material used in this research, elm bark (also known as medicinal herb called Salicis radicis cortex), has been used for Gastrointestinal-related diseases and inflammation relief, diuretic effects. Also, elm bark is known for natural antibacterial material, and this research applied this medicinal herb to triboelectric nanogenerator which expanded applicability range, having a significant implication.” Lastly, the first author of this research, Ph.D. student, Dogun Park said, “Currently, there are many more problems to be solved for nano-generator to be investigated as future ecofriendly electricity source. I hope this research could suggest new directions for ecofriendly nanogenerator.” This research was supported by National Research Foundation of Korea Basic Research Project in Science and Technology (2021R1F1A1061404), Medical Research Center (MRC) Project (2019R1A5A2027340), Mid-sized Research Project (2021R1A2C2007937). ▲ Natural Materials based High-efficiency Triboelectrical Nanogenerator
2022-07-11
School of Medicine Professor Ki-Young Lee Research Team Suggests Mechanism for Controlling Lung Cancer Procedure based on Lung Cancer Patient Data Lung cancer cell autodigestion control by Stratifin (SFN) Joint Research with CHA Vaccine Institute Dr. Eunyoung Chun (Deputy Director of Research) Research Team Professor Ki-Young Lee (School of Medicine) research team, joint with CHA Vaccine Institute Dr. Eunyoung, Chun (Deputy Director of Research) research team, suggested a new molecular cell mechanism in which Stratifin (SFN) protein controls growth and procedure of lung cancer by activating cancer cell’s autodigestion based on lung cancer patient DNA data. Occurrence and development of lung cancer are induced by internal factor of cancer cells and external factors which exists in cancer cell’s microenvironment. The internal factor is defined as internal random mutation of cancer cell which effects propagation and differentiation. The external factors are the various factors that exists within cancer cell microenvironment and is also the factor that influences propagation, differentiation, and development of cancer cells along with internal factors. Recently, the autodigestion activation related to Toll-like receptor (TLR) stimulus appearance is investigated to be the important factor in controlling development and propagation of lung cancer cells. Thus, cancer cell autodigestion activation control is considered to be the new lung cancer targeted therapy. The Stratifin (SFN) protein, a member of 14-3-3 protein family, is reported to be involved in cellular multiplication and differentiation by controlling cell cycle and cell death signaling pathway but study investigating Stratifin (SFN) effect on lung cancer occurrence and development by Toll-like receptor (TLR) stimulus has not been conducted yet. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data originated from lung cancer patients provides various information related to development and procedure of lung cancer. This research analyzed whether SFN is implicated in development and procedure of lung cancer using DNA analysis data of 31 lung cancer patients from the research team and lung cancer related TCGA data. Based on these data, the effect of SFN on lung cancer has been analyzed with CRISPR gene scissors method and molecular cell analysis. As a result, the appearance of SFN was confirmed to have significant increase in lung cancer patient tissues and was also verified to have relationship with manifestation of DNAs important to development and procedure of lung cancer. Through molecular cell mechanism investigation, the research team proposed a new mechanism that Stratifin (SFN) promotes the composition of TRAF6-Vps34-BECN1 protein complexes, important for inducing autodigestion activation by toll-like receptor 4. Professor Lee and Dr. Chun’s research team reported, “This research has its significance in applying clinical data of lung cancer patients to basic research as cancer translational research. We hope that this research become the model for future oriented clinic-basic-industry research cooperation in developing lung cancer targeted therapy afterwards.”, emphasizing the implications of the study and importance of industry cooperated research. The research was supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF-2021R1F1A1049324 / NRF-2021R1A2C1094478) ·Medical Research Center (MRC, NRF-2016R1A5A2945889) and was published on international translational medicine journal ‘Clinical and Translational Medicine (Impact factor: 11.492)’ in June 12th. ※ Paper Title: - Stratifin (SFN) regulates lung cancer progression via nucleating the Vps34-BECN1-TRAF6 complex for autophagy induction. Clin Transl Med (Impact factor: 11.492). Published online on June 12th, 2022. First author: Ji Young, Kim, corresponding author: Ki-young Lee / Eunyoung Chun (https://doi.org/10.1002/ctm2.896)
2022-07-06
Department of Public Administration & Graduate School of Governance, Public Human Resource Development Research Center Professor Sung Min Park Research Team Receives Excellent Thesis Award for BK21PLUS Project Efficiency Investigation Department of Public Administration & Graduate School of Governance, Public Human Resource Human Resource Development Research Center, Professor Sung Min Park’s Research Team was awarded Excellent Thesis award for BK21PLUS project efficiency related research. The thesis title is, ‘High-education policy Efficiency Analysis Research: Focused on BK21PLUS Project using Data Envelopment Analysis’ and was written by Professor Sung Min Park, including Head of Center, Jung Huh (National Research Foundation of Korea (NRFK), Korea-US Science Cooperation Center (KUSCO). The academic journal ‘Future Pedagogy Research’, published by Yonsei University’s Institute of Education Research to contribute to improvement of academic community, annually selects and awards Excellent Thesis award to academically valuable paper. The ‘Excellent Thesis’ is selected under strict standards after publishing the final journal of the year and after receiving recommendation from Future Pedagogy Research Thesis award judging committee, the awardee is decided by the Thesis Award Selection Committee. During the awarding ceremony and ‘Excellent Thesis’ academic seminar presentation, Professor Park had discussion with various pedagogy and policy studies scholars about the future development direction of BK21PLUS project. The thesis selected for excellence award provides specific information of effective project management by having results analysis about how effectively BK21PLUS project (higher education policy) was managed in economic perspective. Also, effectiveness was investigated for science & technology field’s 265 teams/business groups using DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) method, setting national support funding, amount of human resource as input data, and project result as output data. As a result, the thesis suggested necessity of active disclosure & return system for input/output and practical implication that systematic participation rate application considering academic field or major features is needed rather than current regulated uniform participation rate application. Also, the project groups (or teams) are predicted to require more efforts for efficiency improvement pertaining to not only input factors, but also various management factors including organizational operations, institutional support, and establishment of strategic governance systems. The results and implications suggested in this research are expected to provide many implications to our school’s project groups/teams that are preparing for 2023 BK21PLUS project mid-term assessment.
2022-06-29
A strategy for highly enhanced ferroelectricity in HfO2-based ferroelectrics using ion bombardment - Published in ‘Science’ - These findings open pathways for nanoengineered binary ferroelectrics and subsequent ferroelectric-semiconductor integration. [Image 1] Prof. Yunseok Kim / Prof. Young-Min Kim The research team* of Professor Yunseok Kim demonstrates a way to highly enhance the ferroelectricity of HfO2-based ferroelectrics using ion bombardment. * Co-corresponding authors: Prof. Young-Min Kim (SKKU), Dr. Jinseung Heo (Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology), Dr. Sergei Kalinin (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA) Continuous advancement in nonvolatile and morphotropic beyond-Moore electronic devices necessitates the development of strategies that utilize the wealth of functionalities of complex materials at extremely reduced dimensions. The discovery of ferroelectricity in hafnium oxide (HfO2)–based ferroelectrics that are compatible with the semiconductor process has opened interesting and promising avenues of research. However, the origins of ferroelectricity and pathways to controlling it in HfO2-based ferroelectrics are still mysterious. We report that local ion bombardment can activate ferroelectricity in these materials. The possible competing mechanisms, including ion-induced molar volume changes, vacancy redistribution, vacancy generation, and activation of vacancy mobility, are discussed. These findings including the variation of ferroelectricity through defect engineering based on ion bombardment suggest additional possibilities for ferroelectricity enhancement in HfO2-based ferroelectrics. Furthermore, this approach can be directly applied to a semiconductor process without structural modification and, thus, can increase its applicability in next-generation electronic devices, such as ultra-scaled ferroelectrics-based transistors and memories. Paper ￮ “Highly enhanced ferroelectricity in HfO2-based ferroelectric thin film by light ion bombardment”, Science 376(6594), 731-738 (2022) ￮ URL: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abk3195
2022-06-23
Prof. Tae-il Kim Research Team (School of Chemical Engineering), Research in Advanced Noise-Selective Damping Hydrogel published in Science -Advanced Wearable, bioelectronics for noise reduction inspired by spider’s cuticular pad [Image 1] Prof. Tae-il Kim/ Dr. Byeong-hak Park Sungkyunkwan University (President Dong Ryeol Shin) School of Chemical Engineering Professor Tae-il Kim’s research team, led by Dr. Byeong-hak Park, succeeded in developing a damping material that selectively removes external noise by mimicking the pad of a spider’s leg and an electronic device using it. Recently, bioelectronic devices, including commercially available smartwatches and smartphones, measure important bio-signals in the form of being attached to or inserted into the body. A lot of research has been done to improve device performance for more precise measurement, but as the device performance increases, there is a problem in that when measuring biological signals, interference from various biological signals, including unconscious noise, makes it difficult to distinguish signals. In particular, general noises such as simple walking and movement have a band of less than 30 Hz and are inevitably one of the factors that obstruct the collection of bio-signals. In the current research stage to reduce noise, including commercialized electronic devices, signal processing technology, and machine learning-based signal classification using the same are heavily concentrated. However, this causes signal distortion, requires additional circuitry, and has disadvantages in that it is difficult to change the signal band immediately. In addition, other damping materials have a problem in that they are not optimized for selective bio-signal collection. Therefore, there is a need for a material that passes a bio-signal having a relatively high-frequency band and selectively damps noises having a low-frequency band. Therefore, the research team tried to solve the above problems with inspiration from natural materials. In the case of spiders, they have very sensitive vibration receptors, so they can sensitively receive vibration signals from enemies, prey, or mates. In particular, the signal can be read well even from external noise such as wind or rain, because the viscoelastic pad located in front of the vibration receptor selectively damps the low-frequency signal. [Image 2] Gelatin/chitosan-based viscoelastic hydrogel Based on this, the research team produced a gelatin/chitosan-based viscoelastic hydrogel by simulating the principle of a spider’s pad. In the case of the spider’s pad, it is hypothesized that chitin is composed of a sugar and protein, and in the case of chitin, many hydrogen bonds are formed between adjacent polymer chains, and in the case of proteins, it is hypothesized that a phase change is induced between the chains. In fact, it was confirmed that the gelatin/chitosan-based viscoelastic hydrogel had higher damping energy and selectivity than other damping materials. In addition, it was confirmed that the damping range can be adjusted in real-time from about 1 Hz to 50 Hz when the temperature is externally controlled to 45 degrees. [Image 3] Biological application of gelatin/chitosan-based viscoelastic hydrogel Using this, combined with a strain sensor, mechanical bio-signals such as neck vibration and heart rate can be read with a high signal-to-noise ratio under noise, and electrical bio-signals such as electrocardiogram and brainwaves can also be stably detected under noise. By using signal processing to obtain a higher signal-to-noise ratio than the existing method that removes noise, it has been proven that the material selectively damping the noise is much more effective than the existing method. Doctor Park said, “This study is a case of materially solving the chronic noise problem of existing electronic devices by mimicking the special mechanical properties of spiders in nature. Selectively reducing external noise can be a more effective method of collecting bio-signals.” In addition, he explained the significance of the study and follow-up research plans. Professor Kim said, “By minimizing noise, bio-signal monitoring research has been activated, and it is expected that sensitive signals that were difficult to obtain in real-time will be read out and be of great use in diagnosis and biomedical engineering.”
2022-06-23
Smart polymer-based composites for frequency-selective electromagnetic interference shielding - Demonstration of frequency-selective electromagnetic wave absorption mechanism - Promising candidate for novel aerospace materials technology [Photo] Prof. Jae Do Nam / Uiseok Hwang Professor Jae Do Nam's research team (Functional nanocomposite lab., first author Uiseok Hwang) developed polymer-based composites with frequency-selective electromagnetic shielding (EMI) capabilities and presented a new breakthrough in aerospace material technologies such as stealth aircraft, satellites, etc. Recently, as various electromagnetic (EM) waves exist over a broad frequency spectrum generated from electronic devices, autonomous vehicles, and 5G communication, there is a need for a material capable of selectively shielding EM waves of the desired frequency range. Unfortunately, such technology has rarely been reported because most EMI shielding materials exhibit low-frequency selectivity. [Research photo] The research team found that when spherical particles with wave-reflecting and -absorbing abilities are mixed and applied as polymer-based composites, EM waves in different frequency ranges can be selectively absorbed depending on their mixing ratio and arrangement in the matrix. The composite materials presented in this study can be used as Radar Absorbing Materials (RAMs) for stealth aircraft. The materials can selectively shield the undesirable EM waves in enemy radar frequency ranges and transmit them in telecommunication frequency ranges, enabling the pilots to smoothly communicate without device malfunction and detection from the enemy. This work was supported by projects from the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research/AOARD and Center for Composite Materials & Concurrent Design (Director Prof. Jonghwan Suhr) and published as a front cover in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A (IF: 12.732), a prominent international journal in the field of materials research. [Research Overview] Aperture control in polymer-based composites and frequency-selective EM wave absorption characteristics [Journal Front Cover] ※ Title: Aperture control in polymer-based composites with hybrid core-shell spheres for frequency-selective electromagnetic interference shielding ※ DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D2TA00045H
2022-06-23
