GIST Selected for Two Projects in Samsung Future Technology Development Program

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] Researchers at GIST will receive a total of 2.7 billion KRW in research funding from Samsung Group over three years to conduct research for developing future new technologies.

GIST recently announced on the 14th that Professor Choi Young-jae (born 1988) of the Department of New Materials Engineering and Professor Lee Sang-yoon (born 1975) of the Department of Physics and Optical Science were selected for the ‘Samsung Future Technology Fostering Project’ supported by the Samsung Future Technology Foundation and Samsung Electronics. They will conduct research on vaccines and therapeutics and next-generation quantum repeaters, respectively.

□ Professor Choi Young-jae, who was appointed at GIST last year, will receive 1.5 billion KRW in funding and, starting from the first half of this year for three years, will conduct research on molecular purification technology for mass production of ribonucleic acid (RNA) vaccines and therapeutics together with ATG Lifetech Co., Ltd. (co-researcher: CEO Ryu Tae-hoon).

RNA is a bio-material whose demand has increased the most since COVID-19, but there have been many issues regarding material reliability during the production stage. Professor Choi’s team plans to develop a new molecular purification technology that can improve RNA purification yield, currently below 70%, to over 99%, precisely purifying only molecules with the desired design (sequence and length) to streamline the RNA vaccine and therapeutic production process.

Professor Choi said, “To secure the high functionality and reliability of mRNA vaccines and RNA drugs, molecular purification technology that improves RNA purification yield is essential,” adding, “Within five years, we will strive to raise the RNA purification yield, currently below 70%, to about 99% to contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of K-bio.”

Professor Lee Sang-yoon, appointed at GIST in 2020, aims to develop a quantum repeater using semiconductor point defects. Starting from June this year, he will receive 1.2 billion KRW over three years to conduct research on quantum repeaters using semiconductor point defects.

To commercialize safer quantum cryptographic communication, a large-scale quantum network must be implemented. Since a quantum network begins with realizing quantum entanglement among multiple quantum memories mediated by photons, it is necessary to develop a high-efficiency, high-reliability quantum repeater that combines quantum light sources and quantum memories.

Professor Lee plans to develop a quantum repeater with high efficiency and reliability by utilizing silicon vacancy defects in silicon carbide and realize the high scalability required for large-scale quantum computing and quantum internet realization.

To this end, Professor Lee formed a joint research team with Professor Cho Young-wook of Yonsei University’s Department of Physics, who specializes in atom-photon interactions and quantum optics research.

Professor Lee said, “We aim to develop a new spin-photon entanglement protocol that can dramatically improve quantum repeater performance and develop a quantum repeater that simultaneously achieves high efficiency and reliability by applying silicon carbide point defects,” adding, “This will bring the practical realization of large-scale quantum networks significantly closer.”

The Samsung Future Technology Fostering Project is a public research support program launched by Samsung Electronics in August 2013 with an endowment of 1.5 trillion KRW to promote the development of basic science in Korea, industrial technology innovation, and social problem solving. Selected research projects can receive funding for up to five years.

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