Professor Jong-seong Kug’s research team from School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at SNU revealed that the permafrost ecosystem carbon loss may continue under net-zero and negative emissions, which could hinder climate change mitigation efforts.

We are currently facing a global climate crisis of unparalleled scope and scale. The human role in this is clear – we are a key factor in the changes on our planet. In recent years climate scientists have been terming this new era the Anthropocene, to denote the human (‘anthropos’) driver of change.

Professor Joonghoon Park's research team identified celecoxib as a small-molecule PROKR1 agonist that enhances muscle mass and strength. Mice imprinted with celecoxib maintained increased oxidative muscle fibers and improved metabolism even on a high-fat diet. This study is the first to discover a selective PROKR1 small-molecule agonist, providing a new drug scaffold for sarcopenia and obesity treatment and laying the foundation for drug development.

Machine learning interatomic potentials (MLIPs) promise quantum-level accuracy at classical force field speeds, but their performance hinges on the quality and diversity of training data.

Professor Martin Steinegger’s research team from the Department of Biological Sciences at Seoul National University and Professor Emmanuel D. Levy’s research team from the Department of Molecular Biology and Cellular Biology at University of Geneva have successfully developed a rapid and sensitive protein complex structural aligner, enabling the comparison of billions of complex pairs within just 11 hours.

Seoul National University College of Engineering announced that a research team led by Professor Kyu-Jin Cho (Director of the Soft Robotics Research Center) from the Department of Mechanical Engineering took inspiration from principles found in nature and developed the "Hyperelastic Torque Reversal Mechanism (HeTRM)," which enables robots made from rubber-like soft materials to perform rapid and powerful movements.

Professor Jin-Hong Kim's research team from School of Biological Sciences at SNU identified the pathogenic role of sugar modification which governs the senescence-associated secretory phenotype in cartilage, and proposed targeting GATA4 O-GlcNAcylation as a senostatic strategy for osteoarthritis.

Dynamic communication between hepatocytes and the environment is critical in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development. Clinical immunotherapy against HCC is currently unsatisfactory and needs more systemic considerations, including the identification of new biomarkers and immune checkpoints.

Professor Dohun Kim's research team from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at SNU has successfully developed two techniques to suppress noise and its effects, which hinder high-fidelity quantum operations. Using these methods, they achieved a two-fold improvement in inhomogeneous coherence time and a ten-fold improvement in the quality of Rabi oscillations.

Seoul National University College of Engineering announced that a research team led by Prof. Seung-Kyun Kang from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Seoul National University (first authors: Dr. Jae-Hwan Lee and Ph.D. candidate Yoon-Nam Kim) has developed a strain sensor with record-breaking sensitivity in collaboration with researchers from Dankook University, Ajou University, and Purdue University.

The homochirality of life remains an unresolved scientific question. Prevailing models postulate that homochirality arose through mutual antagonism. In this mechanism, molecules of opposite handedness deactivate each other, amplifying even a small enantiomeric excess into a larger proportion.

The College of Engineering at Seoul National University announced that Professors Jungwon Park and Jaeyune Ryu of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, in collaboration with Hyundai Motor Group, have developed an innovative technology for rapid durability assessment and identification of degradation mechanisms of hydrogen fuel cell catalysts.