On Nov. 11 at the POSTECH Biotech Center, our university’s WCU Integrative Biosciences & Biotechnology Department and the Department of Life Science signed an MOU for cooperative research in immunology with the Immunology Frontier Research Center of Osaka University.
To promote world class research competitiveness, the two research institutes of Korea and Japan met. Each is supported by the WCU (World Class University) and the WPI (World Premier International Research Center).
This MOU has a significant meaning and has raised a lot of attention because the two institutes are each being supported by Korea and Japan respectively to be raised as world class research institutes.
The Immunology Frontier Research Center of Osaka University was built for the purpose of better understanding the human immune system by fusing biotech video technology and immunology. It has been getting 4 billion yen per year for 15 years, including 1.5 billion yen funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, and is worth 60 billion yen in total.
Shizuo Akira, the Director of the Immunology Frontier Research Center, is a renowned scholar in the field of Immunology and is named every year as a candidate for the Nobel Prize. Also, he ranks as the immunologist with the most citations, as recognized by Thomson Reuters in 2009.
The Department of Integrative Biosciences & Biotechnology is expecting to obtain original technology through upcoming cooperative research for pharmaceutical and medical technology which is related to the field of biomembranes.
Department head Professor Inhwan Hwang said, “By this MOU we will be able to do research that surpasses current molecular biology.” Director Akira expressed his anticipation by adding, “Doing cooperative research with POSTECH will help us in visualizing our research.”
Also the Department of Integrative Biosicences & Biotechnology is being funded to do research that defines life form in meso terms and to develop technology that will analyze life phenomena.
