Professor Kim Wooyeon of KAIST Appointed as Director of AI New Drug Development Support Center

"Accelerating Development of User-Friendly Platforms Aiming for 'AI Technology Universalization'
"Digital Transformation Essential for New Drug Development, Focus on Technology Dissemination and Competitiveness Enhancement""

Professor Kim Woo-yeon of the Department of Chemistry at KAIST, appointed as the new director of the Artificial Intelligence Drug Development Support Center.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] The Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association announced on the 2nd that it has appointed Professor Kim Woo-yeon of the Department of Chemistry at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) as the head of the Artificial Intelligence New Drug Development Support Center.

Director Kim, who earned his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), has also worked as a researcher at the Max Planck Institute in Germany. In 2020, he received the ‘Young Physical Chemist Award’ from the Korean Chemical Society, given to outstanding young researchers under the age of 45 in the field of physical chemistry.

As a co-founder of the AI new drug development platform company HITS, Director Kim has conducted multi-year advanced AI new drug development education projects with pharmaceutical and bio companies and has led major government projects related to AI new drug development, including ‘Development of AI-based Big Data Toxicity Prediction System’ (Ministry of Food and Drug Safety) and ‘Prediction of Chemical Reactions through AI and Quantum Chemistry’ (Ministry of Science and ICT).

The AI New Drug Development Support Center plans to accelerate the training of AI convergence experts, the dissemination of AI new drug development technologies, and the enhancement of competitiveness through the appointment of Director Kim. It aims to achieve this year’s business goal of ‘accelerating artificial intelligence new drug development’ by leveraging his expertise and a network spanning industry, academia, and research institutes. To this end, the center will focus on key projects this year, including ▲building an AI new drug development open platform that pharmaceutical and bio companies can easily utilize ▲training practical AI new drug development professionals tailored to field needs ▲and a biobanking consortium project using data from Korean rare cancer patients.

Director Kim stated, “AI is a key tool that maximizes the efficiency of new drug development, and the digital transformation of new drug development is not an option but a necessity. We will focus on further activating joint research between new drug development companies and AI companies and enhancing the technological competitiveness of AI new drug development.”

The AI New Drug Development Support Center was launched in 2019 to create an AI new drug development ecosystem, support related technology development and professional workforce training, and enhance the international competitiveness of the pharmaceutical and bio industry. Last year, it opened LAIDD, the nation’s first AI new drug development online education platform, and hosted the ‘AI Pharma Korea Conference,’ taking steps to strengthen domestic AI new drug development competitiveness.

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