UNIST Student Honored with 2023 Asan Foundation Scholarship

HyunWoo Kim, a graduate student (Advisor: Professor Changwook Lee) in the Department of Biological Sciences at UNIST has recently been honored with the prestigious 2023 Asan Foundation Medical Bioscience Scholarship in recognition of his excellent academic performance. As part of this Award, he will be given KRW 20 million in funding for up to four years.

At the award presentation ceremony, which took place at the Seoul Asan Medical Center on February 23, he has been selected as both the recipient and the graduate student representative of 2023 Asan Foundation Medical Bioscience Scholarship. 

HyunWoo Kim (third from the left) has been selected to receive the 2023 Asan Foundation Medical Bioscience Scholarship. l Image Credit: HyunWoo Kim

Mr. Kim has been given the honor of receiving the scholarship in recognition of his recent work on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-mitochondria contact site (ERMCS). This will become an important bridgehead for identifying the principle of intracellular metabolism within cells, as well as treating various human metabolic disorders.

One of these is a recent study, published in the June 2022 issue of Nature Communications. Being involved as the first author, he has for the first time identified the structure of Mitoguardin-2 (MIGA2), known as a mitochondrial outer membrane protein, as well as its role as a transporter.

Based on an earlier study where the knockout of MIGA2 protein will likely to prevent and treat fatty liver disease and obesity, Mr. Kim plans to conduct further research to develop MIGA2 inhibitor.

Established in 2017 by the Asan Foundation, the Asan Foundation Medical Bioscience Scholarship is an annual award given to the nation’s top graduate students in medical bioscience. The scholarship is designed to nurture excellent human resources to lead the medical bioscience field of Korea.