Four Korean Scientists Selected for 'Nobel Prize Fund' Support

Selected for Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP)
Koreans make up 8% of this year's 52 awardees

Four Korean-American researchers have become recipients of an international scientific research support program nicknamed the 'Nobel Prize Fund.'

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 21st that four Korean researchers?Dr. Han-Sol Choi and Dr. Jun-Hyuk Lee from Harvard Medical School, Dr. Seungwoo Shin from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Dr. Dongyun Kim from Rockefeller University?have been awarded the 2023 Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) Award. They were selected among 429 applicants from 58 countries as part of the overseas research support recipients, totaling 52 individuals, and will receive approximately $60,000 annually for three years.

The Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) is an international organization established in 1989, primarily by the G7, to jointly support basic research in the life sciences by governments worldwide. HFSP member countries include 17 nations such as South Korea, which joined in 2004, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Israel, and Australia. Since its inception, HFSP has supported over 7,500 researchers from 71 countries and has produced 28 Nobel laureates among its awardees. Due to this, it is often referred to as the 'Nobel Prize Fund,' recognizing the global innovation of its recipients' research. With these four awardees, South Korea now accounts for about 8% of the HFSP Researcher Training Program, which selects only 52 promising young researchers worldwide.

The program was established to support research that uncovers life mechanisms through novel approaches via original international collaborative research in life sciences. It provides postdoctoral training opportunities to promising young researchers with innovative ideas and the capability to execute them. The postdoctoral training is divided into interdisciplinary training support, which promotes convergence research between life sciences and other fields, and long-term training support within the life sciences.

Dr. Han-Sol Choi, selected for the interdisciplinary training support program this year with the research topic 'Ultraparallel Single-Molecule Protein Analysis Technology,' completed his bachelor's and doctoral degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Seoul National University and plans to conduct research integrating electrical and computer engineering with life sciences at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital. Notably, Dr. Choi was ranked second among overseas research support recipients in the convergence track.

Dr. Seungwoo Shin, also selected for the interdisciplinary training support program, completed his bachelor's and doctoral degrees in Physics at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and is currently conducting research at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) Department of Physics. His research topic is 'Constructing a mechanical model cell by coupling forces generating active fluids at liquid interfaces,' integrating physics and life sciences.

Dr. Dongyun Kim, selected for the long-term training support program with top 1% outstanding academic performance, completed his bachelor's and doctoral degrees (in the Brain Science Cooperative Program) at Seoul National University. At Rockefeller University, he plans to conduct research on 'The role of gut neuro-immune interactions in the development of obesity,' combining neuroscience and immunology.

Dr. Jun-Hyuk Lee, selected for the long-term training support program, earned his Ph.D. in Life Sciences from KAIST. He will focus on research at Harvard Medical School on 'The mechanism of brain inflammation via adaptive immune responses of astrocytes.'

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