Professor Jae Bum Kim, Professor JeKyung Seong
Professor Jae Bum Kim from the Department of Biological Sciences, Professor JeKyung Seong from the College of Veterinary Medicine, and Emeritus Professor Byoung Seon Choi have been honored with the prestigious National Academy of Sciences Award, presented by the National Academy of Sciences of Korea. This award is granted annually to scholars who have made globally recognized and original research contributions to promote academic research in Korea.
Professor Jae Bum Kim is a world-renowned scholar who began his research in 1993 by discovering ADD1 (SREBP1c), a key regulator of adipocyte differentiation and lipid synthesis. For over 30 years, he has been investigating the mechanisms that regulate energy metabolism homeostasis in the body, using adipose tissue as a model. Recently, he proposed that functional differences between visceral and subcutaneous fat may be mediated by adipose tissue stem cells, and his findings were published in the prominent journal Cell Metabolism. Professor Kim has published a total of 156 SCI papers, which have been cited over 24,000 times. His H-index is 73, highlighting his significant global academic influence.
Professor JeKyung Seong has devoted his career to researching experimental mice for biomedical sciences. From 2014, he served as the head of the National Mouse Phenotyping Center (KMPC, now the National Research Center for Model Animals) for 10 years, building a world-class infrastructure for the creation and phenotypic analysis of mouse disease models. His research has made significant contributions to the study of gene function in metabolism and exercise, and he has pioneered new directions in therapeutic drug design and development using mouse models. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he developed genetically modified mice susceptible to the virus and conducted efficacy tests on over 70 domestic COVID-19 treatments and vaccines. This remarkable body of preclinical research, carried out by a single research team, was recognized as the largest of its kind in the world and was featured in Nature.
Emeritus Professor Byoung Seon Choi is a pioneer in the field of regulatory policy in Korea, having laid the foundation for regulatory education and research in the country. He has identified and theorized the underlying factors of the "regulation omnipotence" culture(misconceptions about the market and unrealistic expectations of regulation) which hinders regulatory reform.
The 2024 National Academy of Sciences Award ceremony was held on September 20th at the National Academy of Sciences of Korea, where six scholars, including two professors and an emeritus professor from Seoul National University, were presented with certificates and prizes.
Translated by In Kyung Bae
Dept. of English Language and Literature