Three UNIST Students Honored with 2026 Asan Foundation Biomedical Science Scholarship

Three graduate students from UNIST have been selected as recipients of the 2026 Asan Foundation Biomedical Science Scholarship, an annual award recognizing the nation’s top graduate students in biomedical science.

The selected students are KiEun Park, SoYeong An, and WonHyo Lee from the Department of Biological Sciences. Their selection reflects strong recognition of their research achievements in clarifying how diseases originate and progress at the cellular and genetic levels, despite working in different disease areas. Each recipient will receive up to KRW 20 million per year for a maximum of four years.

KiEun Park (Advisor: Professor Jang Hyun Choi) studies the molecular mechanisms underlying metabolic liver disease, examining its progression from early-stage dysfunction to advanced pathology. Using genome-based data analysis, she systematically traces the development of fatty liver disease through inflammation and fibrosis to liver cancer.

Her research centers on metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), a condition that can progress from simple fat accumulation to inflammatory steatohepatitis, cirrhosis, and ultimately hepatocellular carcinoma. Through analyses of patient tissue samples and liver-specific gene knockout mouse models, Park investigates how key genes regulate hepatic metabolism. Her findings were published last year in the international biomedical journal Metabolism: Clinical and Experimental. She is now extending this work to identify molecular pathways linking chronic liver disease to liver cancer.

Park commented, “I hope to grow into a researcher who identifies early diagnostic indicators and therapeutic targets by clarifying the molecular functions of key genes that regulate liver metabolism. Ultimately, I aim to discover strategies that can halt disease progression at its earliest stages.”

SoYeong An (Advisor: Professor Jayil Lee) investigates how ultraviolet-induced DNA damage, known to trigger various diseases, including cancer, is detected and repaired within cells. Using advanced single-molecule imaging techniques, she recreates environments similar to real cellular conditions to observe the movement and interactions of proteins that locate and repair damaged DNA sites.

She experimentally demonstrated that the ability to detect DNA damage significantly increases when the proteins responsible for the initial recognition cooperate with each other. Her findings were published in 2025 in the international journal Nucleic Acids Research. She explained, “A precise understanding of DNA repair mechanisms can lead to new therapeutic strategies. I hope my research will contribute to the development of more effective treatments.”

WonHyo Lee (Advisor: Professor Sung-ho Park) studies how changes in the innate immune system contribute to inflammatory diseases using next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies. Through single-cell transcriptomic and epigenomic analyses, he closely examines the responses of individual immune cells and investigates the mechanisms underlying inflammatory cardiovascular diseases.

Lee previously demonstrated the protective role of stroke-associated microglia, which help safeguard the brain during ischemic stroke through the antioxidant protein Prdx1. This work was published in the international biochemistry journal Redox Biology in 2022. He stated, “Building on the research experience gained during my doctoral studies, I aim to reveal immunological links among autoimmune diseases that share common risk factors. My goal is to improve patients’ lives, while providing practical therapeutic insights for clinicians.”

The Asan Foundation has supported promising graduate students in biomedical sciences since 2017. At UNIST, including the three newly selected scholars this year, six students are currently receiving the scholarship, demonstrating the university’s growing strength in training researchers in basic medical science and biomedical science.