Dr. Dohyun Kim of the Department of Chemistry at UNIST has been honored with the 2025 Talent Award of Korea at the Sejong Convention Center on December 24, 2025.
Dr. Kim received the award in recognition of his sustained research contributions in chemistry, particularly in the areas of disease treatment and aging-related studies at UNIST, where he pursued his undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral studies.
The Talent Award of Korea, jointly hosted by the Ministry of Education and the Korea Student Aid Foundation (KOSAF), recognizes individuals who make valuable contributions to future society through creativity and passion.
Dr. Kim was highly evaluated for consistently translating fundamental research into tangible outcomes, including academic publications, patents, and technology transfer. Since 2021, he has published five first-author papers and eight co-authored papers in SCI-indexed international journals. He has also filed eight patents, one of which has been registered, and successfully completed one technology transfer.
His research has drawn attention from leading international journals. Studies on compounds that induce cancer cell death were published in JACS Au and Nano Letters, while his work on supramolecular peptides targeting the removal of senescent cells appeared in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. In addition, his research on peptide-based degradation of the cancer-related protein PD-L1 was published in Advanced Science.
Dr. Kim’s decision to pursue a research career was shaped by personal experience. While assisting his father, who faced mobility challenges, he became acutely aware of the need for solutions to disease-related problems. Motivated by this experience, he joined UNIST to pursue a Combined Master’s–Ph.D. program with the goal of contributing to disease treatment through chemistry.
During his research, Dr. Kim worked with Professor Ja Hyoung Ryu in the Department of Chemistry, adopting approaches that extended beyond conventional frameworks. By independently developing hypotheses and validating them through experimentation, he produced results that formed the basis for his selection as a 2025 award recipient.
In addition to his research achievements, Dr. Kim has received multiple academic honors. He won the Excellent Prize for Oral Presentation in KCS Division of Organic Chemistry for three consecutive years starting in 2023, as well as the Best Oral Presentation Award from the Polymer Society of Korea (PSK) in 2023 and the Best Poster Award from the Korean Chemical Society (KCS). In 2025, he received the Outstanding Student Research Award from the Korean Society for Biomaterials (KSBM), the KCS Excellent Doctoral Thesis Award and the KCS–ACS Graduate Student/Post-Doc Academic Award.
In his acceptance remarks, Dr. Kim said, “I have been able to continue my research thanks to the support of many people. I will strive to fulfill my responsibility as a researcher by ensuring that my work contributes meaningfully to society.”
Dr. Kim was previously selected as the recipient of MBC Scholarship and the Samsung Dream Scholarship. During his undergraduate studies at UNIST, he received institutional and Kyungdong Scholarships, and during his graduate program, he was supported by the Asan Foundation.
