Geun-il Kim, Professor of the Department of Biological Science, Reveals the Cause of Cancer
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- Writer 커뮤니케이션팀
- 보도일자 2012-08-21
Geun-il Kim, professor of the Department of Biological Science at Sookmyung, and the team of Sung-hee Baek, professor at Seoul University, claim to have found the new function of protein Mis18α, an essential part in forming centromere, which plays a key role in the attachment and division of chromosomes.
In their experiment using mice, the research team found that when the gene of Mis18α doesn’t operate properly, the formation of the centromere is hampered. The complications in cell division, caused by the malformation of the centromere, trigger disorder in the process of embryo growth. If abnormality in the centromere occurs, the possibility of abnormality in the number of chromosomes is very high and is considered as a cancer-causing mechanism.
The research team explained the significance of this research, saying that “the abnormality in centromere formation causes various diseases, and we found that in this research the protein Mis18α plays an important role in the formation of the centromere. The mouse model invented in the research will be a good model for studying the relation between abnormality in centromere formation and diseases.”
Professor, Geun-il Kim, started the research under the auspices of the programs Support Project for General Researchers and Support Project for Leading Research Centers, funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation of Korea. The Sookmyung research team includes doctoral students Kuk-chan Park and Ju-hyun Park, post-graduate student Tae-im Jeon, and researcher Eun-ju Hwan.