Ewha Womans University Team of Park Geonyoung and Jo Inkyung Wins Grand Prize at Hanall Biopharma Pharmacy Student Idea Contest

Ewha Womans University Team Wins Grand Prize at Hanall Biopharma's 3rd Idea Contest
"CAR-T Rider" Team Recognized for Innovative Approach
Rejuvenation Technologies Highlighted in New Drug Development Proposals

At the 3rd Idea Contest hosted by Hanall Biopharma for pharmacy students nationwide, the team of Park Geonyoung and Jo Inkyung from Ewha Womans University won the Grand Prize.

According to Hanall Biopharma on September 2, the company has been holding the Pharmacy Student Idea Contest since 2022, with the core value of fostering talent to lead future drug development. Each year, the contest sets increasingly challenging and in-depth topics, and through reviews by researchers, participants are continuously supported to deeply consider issues in the field of new drug development and to propose feasible ideas.

Ewha Womans University students Inkyung Jo (left) and Geonyoung Park, winners of the Pharmacy Student Idea Contest Grand Prize, are taking a commemorative photo. Hanall Biopharma

This year, under the theme of "Proposing New Drug Development Ideas Incorporating Rejuvenation Technologies," ideas were collected from pharmacy students nationwide between May 26 and June 23. Through a first-round document review and a second-round presentation evaluation, the winning entries were selected based on creativity, feasibility, and completeness.

The Grand Prize went to the "CAR-T Rider" team, consisting of Park Geonyoung and Jo Inkyung from Ewha Womans University. They received high marks for proposing the integration of partial reprogramming to overcome the limitations of CAR-T therapies in the treatment of hematologic cancers.

The Excellence Awards were presented to two teams: "From In vitro to In vivo," consisting of Song Changhee from The Catholic University of Korea and Choi Woongjae from CHA University, who proposed a stepwise clinical design strategy for rejuvenation therapies targeting the eyes, lungs, and muscles; and "Unknown World," consisting of Kim Jiyeong and Jang Mina from Chung-Ang University, who proposed an Alzheimer's treatment strategy utilizing a nasal spray-type rejuvenation gene therapy.

The team that won the Grand Prize in this contest will be given the opportunity to visit Hanall Biopharma's U.S. subsidiary, HanAll Pharmaceutical International (HPI), as well as global biotech companies and research institutes, allowing them to experience the environment of new drug development on the global stage.

Park Geonyoung, a student at Ewha Womans University, said, "Preparing for the contest was a great opportunity to study rejuvenation technologies and drug delivery systems (DDS), which are currently receiving a lot of attention, in depth. While repeatedly researching and reflecting on ideas for applying rejuvenation technology, we came up with the idea of integrating it with CAR-T, and I am pleased that our intention was well conveyed."

Jung Seungwon, CEO of Hanall Biopharma, stated, "Our focus is not just on selecting ideas but on discovering and nurturing creative and capable talent who will lead the future of new drug development. As the contest continues to inspire higher levels of thought and challenge each year, we will continue to provide an environment and opportunities for the growth of future leaders in the bioindustry."

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