Dr. Ahn Seol-hee, Daughter of Ahn Cheol-soo, Featured in NYT for Research on Delta and Omicron Variant Spread

Research Team of Dr. Ahn Seol-hee, Daughter of Ahn Cheol-soo, Publishes Study on Delta and Omicron Variant Infectivity
NYT Explains Why Omicron Variant Can Spread More Widely

On June 13, 2018, Ahn Cheol-soo, candidate for Seoul mayor, headed to the 7th polling station in Sanggye 1-dong, set up at the Geukdong Neulpureun Apartment senior center in Nowon-gu, Seoul, on the day of the June 13 local elections, accompanied by his wife, Professor Kim Mi-kyung, and daughter Ahn Seol-hee.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] The research team to which Dr. Ahn Seol-hee (32), daughter of Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the People’s Party, belongs, published results on the transmissibility of Omicron in The New York Times (NYT). In this study, Dr. Ahn led the simulation of the spike protein opening process.

According to the People’s Party on the 14th, on the 1st (local time), The New York Times introduced the research results of the team including Ahn in an article titled "The Coronavirus in a Tiny Drop."

NYT stated, "A new simulation showing how the virus survives inside tiny airborne droplets," and explained, "This study clarifies why the Delta and Omicron variants can spread more widely."

According to the report, the research team created a virtual aerosol of 0.25 μm (micrometers, one-millionth of a meter) in size, injected the virus, and observed that the Omicron protein carries a positive charge more than the Delta protein, which could increase transmissibility.

Introduction of Seolhee An from the Amaro Lab at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Photo by Amaro Lab website capture

Previously, Dr. Ahn attracted attention as the first author of a paper studying the human invasion pathway of the COVID-19 virus. This paper was also published in the scientific journal Nature Chemistry last August.

Dr. Ahn is a chemist who double-majored in mathematics and chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania, earning both bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and obtained a Ph.D. in theoretical chemistry from Stanford University. Currently, she is part of the research team led by Professor Rommie Amaro at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego).

Dr. Ahn received the Gordon Bell Special Prize, known as the "Nobel Prize of supercomputing," last year for her academic demonstration of the 3D shape of COVID-19, and in June, she was awarded the American Chemical Society (ACS) Physical Chemistry Division’s "Young Investigator Award" for her paper on "Improving Methods for Kinetics of Biomolecules and Applications to Triazine Polymers."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.