Professor Kim Boyeon and Graduate Student Kim Yoonhee of Dong-A University Receive 'Outstanding Researcher Award' from the Korean Apiculture Society

Professor Kim Boyeon and graduate student Kim Yunhee from the Insect Biotechnology Research Team in the Department of Applied Biological Engineering at Dong-A University received the ‘Outstanding Researcher Award’ and ‘Outstanding Young Researcher Award’ from the Korean Apiculture Society.

May 20th every year is designated by the United Nations (UN) as ‘World Bee Day,’ a day to raise awareness of the importance of bees in the ecosystem and to recognize the seriousness of the global decline in bee populations, urging actions to conserve bees.

The causes of the decline in bees, which play a significant role not only in agricultural productivity but also in ecosystem services, are known to include habitat destruction, climate change, and the occurrence of pests and diseases.

Professor Kim Boyeon and graduate student Kim Yunhee of Dong-A University were selected as recipients of the ‘Outstanding Researcher Award’ and ‘Outstanding Young Researcher Award,’ respectively, by the Korean Apiculture Society in recognition of their excellent achievements in bee-related research ahead of ‘World Bee Day.’

Professor Kim Boyeon (left) of the Department of Applied Biological Engineering at Dong-A University, and graduate student Kim Yoonhee.

The Insect Biotechnology Research Team at Dong-A University, to which Professor Kim and the graduate student belong, and the research team at the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences are jointly conducting projects supported by the Rural Development Administration on ‘Vaccine Development Research for the Prevention of Honeybee Diseases’ and ‘Ecological Disturbance and Response Research of Bumblebees due to Climate Change.’

These research teams recently developed the first cocktail vaccine for American foulbrood, a representative bacterial disease of honeybees, and chalkbrood, a fungal disease, achieving numerous SCI publications as well as domestic and international patent applications and technology transfers to two domestic companies.

They are also dedicated to research on ecological disturbance models of bumblebees caused by climate change and conservation strategies.

Professor Kim and the graduate student said, “We will continue to work hard for bees like busy honeybees,” and “Just as diligent honeybees collect sweet honey, we will learn more and strive to become excellent bee researchers.”

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