New Center to Specialize in Neuromuscular Diseases and Cancer
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- Writer 총관리자
- 보도일자 2012-03-19
Sookmyung Women’s University’s College of Pharmacy held an opening ceremony for its new Medical Research Center (MRC) on December 14th.
MRC is governed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation of Korea and is the leading research center operated mainly by the Medical School and School of Medicine, School of Oriental Medicine, and Dental Colleges. Sookmyung was selected for MRC through a preliminary evaluation and main evaluation, competing with eight other Schools of Medicine in Korea.
The opening ceremony got under way with a welcoming address by Young-sil Han, the university president, which was followed by the congratulatory address of Chang-kyung Kim, Vice MinisterⅡof Education, Science and Technology, and an introduction of the MRC by Jae-ha Ryu, MRC president. Sung-hyun Park, director of Basic Research in Science and Engineering, Jong-won Choi, the president of AnC Bio Holdings, Ok-hee Kim, the president of the Sookmyung Alumni Association and others attended the ceremony and congratulated its opening.
Following the luncheon was the first RCCFC Symposium, where presenters gave their talks. Gyu-won Kim, professor of the College of Pharmacy at Seoul National University spoke on the theme of AKAP12 scaffold protein, a cell network integrator regulating cell stability and motility; Jong-soon Kang, professor of the Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine explained Shh coreceptors in cell fate control; Sang-keun Kim, professor of the College of Pharmacy at Seoul National University presented the topic of E-cadherin regulation of EMT and chemoresistance; Mi-won Son, director of Dong-A Pharm. Pharmaceutical Product Research Laboratories gave a talk entitled “A novel botanical drug for the treatment of diabetic neuropathy;” and other guests from the industrial and academic worlds attended the symposium and addressed the audience on MRC objectives.
The ultimate goal of the Research Center for Cell Fate Control at Sookmyung’s MRC is to discover small molecule controlling cell division and differentiation with the aim of curing neurological disorders, muscular diseases and cancer, and to nurture medical researchers capable of inventing new medications. The Korean government will invest 7 billion won in the center, with Sookmyung matching that support. AnC Bio Inc. also intends to invest 1.4 billion won in the center to support the cost of joint research. Sookmyung’s research capacity is expected to be greatly augmented now that it hosts the MRC as a long-term and stable research base.