Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) researchers are drawing significant attention from the academic community with world-class research achievements, markedly enhancing the university's reputation.

▲ Professor Eui-sik Cho’s Team First Identifies Cells Responsible for Tooth Root Formation

The research team led by Professor Eui-sik Cho of the School of Dentistry has for the first time identified the specialized cells responsible for tooth root formation and the protein that regulates them, attracting considerable attention.
Through this study, Professor Cho’s team provides clues to the process of tooth root formation. The findings are expected to contribute to research on treatments for periodontal disease, which affects more than 70% of adults, and to studies on bioengineered teeth using stem cells derived from teeth.
This research was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation of Korea through the General Researcher Support Program (Basic Research) and the Biomedical Technology Development Program. It was published in the online edition of the leading dental journal Journal of Dental Research (J Dent Res) in the January 23 issue.
In particular, the Journal of Dental Research issued a commentary on the scientific significance and future prospects of these results, highlighting the study as an internationally important research achievement.
While there has been extensive research on early tooth development and crown formation, the process of root formation has not been well understood.
The research team focused on odontoblasts rather than the dental epithelium, based on the observation that the protein beta-catenin is abundant in odontoblasts. They found that if odontoblasts do not differentiate properly, dentin is not formed and tooth roots fail to develop.
Furthermore, by creating and observing tissue-specific genetically modified mice in which beta-catenin production was blocked only in differentiating odontoblasts, the team confirmed that, unlike in normal mice, tooth roots did not form. This demonstrated that signal transduction mediated by beta-catenin is necessary for odontoblast differentiation.
Professor Cho emphasized, “The discovery of differentiating odontoblasts and the elucidation of beta-catenin’s mediating role are central to realizing regeneration of teeth and periodontal tissues. These findings will contribute to developing treatments for lost or damaged teeth and periodontal tissues and to bio-tooth research.”

▲ Professor Chang-hee Hong Achieves World-First Heat Control in LEDs Using Graphene

A technology that can drastically improve the heat problem of LED devices has been developed for the first time in the world by the team led by Professor Chang-hee Hong of the Department of Semiconductor Science and Technology. Professor Hong’s team reported that they dramatically mitigated the heat issue in LED devices by using graphene, a highly anticipated advanced material.
Supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea’s Basic Research Laboratory (BRL) program and the Major Research Center program, the study titled “Improved heat dissipation in gallium nitride light-emitting diodes with embedded graphene oxide pattern” was published in the recent issue of Nature Communications (February 5 issue), a sister journal of Nature.
The sapphire substrate commonly used for LED substrates has low thermal conductivity, so when operated at high output it cannot properly dissipate heat generated during operation, causing damage to semiconductor chips and making reliability assurance difficult.
However, Professor Hong’s team succeeded in fabricating LED devices by forming a gallium nitride (GaN) thin film that includes graphene on a sapphire substrate using their independently developed graphene patterning process.
(*Patterning process: a process for creating desired repeating micro-patterns on a substrate)
Graphene, which has thermal conductivity more than ten times higher than copper, evenly dissipates and spreads heat generated within the device, significantly lowering the temperature of the semiconductor chip and improving stability.
With this developed technology, high-current operation becomes possible even for high-heat horizontal-type LEDs, enabling high-power LEDs. The technology is expected to be applicable not only to LEDs but also to power devices for electric vehicles, solar cells, organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs), LED TVs, and various consumer electronics.
In particular, the team’s proprietary graphene patterning process is not limited by substrate size or shape, enabling immediate mass production, and can be fabricated easily through high-temperature heat treatment, making rapid commercialization feasible.
A domestic patent application for this technology has been completed, and overseas patent applications, including in the United States, are underway.
Professor Hong stated, “This research is the world’s first example of applying graphene, a dream material that has attracted global academic attention, to optical devices, and it is highly significant. We will make efforts to commercialize these research results as soon as possible.”

▲ Professor Seon-young Oh, Top in Research and Devotion to JBNU

“I wanted to give back the love I received from the late Professor Kim Cheol-jin.”
Professor Seon-young Oh of the Medical School (Department of Neurology) donated the full KRW 10 million prize from the 1st Kim Cheol-jin Medical Award to the university development fund.
The Kim Cheol-jin Medical Award was established with a KRW 300 million endowment from the bereaved family of the late Professor Kim Cheol-jin, who passed away in 2011 after a long illness. The award was created to honor his wishes to enhance the study environment for medical students and to promote research among fellow faculty.
Over the past year, Professor Oh published five SCI papers. Two of her papers published in the top neuroscience journal Neurology (IF 8.3) were recognized as excellent papers, making her the first recipient of the Kim Cheol-jin Medical Award.
Professor Oh said, “I am deeply honored to be the first recipient of an award that embodies the late Professor Kim Cheol-jin’s noble intention of showing warm care to patients, colleagues, and students. As this award was established to promote research by future generations and fellow faculty, I wanted to return the entire prize to the Medical School and JBNU for their development, which is why I donated the full amount.”

▲ Professor Kyung-moo Yang Appointed President of the Asian Pacific Federation of Societies for Reconstructive Microsurgery

Professor Kyung-moo Yang of the Medical School, a leading scholar in reconstructive microsurgery, was recently inaugurated as president of the Asian Pacific Federation of Societies for Reconstructive Microsurgery (APFSRM).
APFSRM is an international society that brings together countries in Asia and the Pacific and is active in research in the field of reconstructive microsurgery.
Accordingly, Professor Yang will serve his term through 2014. In particular, it is expected that hosting the APFSRM scientific congress in Korea next year will promote the development and prestige of domestic research in reconstructive microsurgery.
Professor Yang said, “I am very pleased that we will be able to hold the world’s leading society in reconstructive microsurgery in our country next year. While serving as president, I will contribute to the advancement of reconstructive microsurgery in Korea.”
Professor Yang previously served as a plastic surgery specialist at the National Medical Center, head of Plastic Surgery at Jeonbuk National University Hospital, executive director for medical affairs of the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, and president of the Korean Society for Surgery of the Hand. Since 1995, he has provided free surgeries in rural areas and developing countries and was awarded the Boryeong Medical Volunteer Award in 2011.

▲ College of Engineering Graduate Students Win Outstanding Paper Award in Computer Game Research

Graduate students from JBNU have gained attention for designing a reasonable item-pricing system to promote healthier online gaming.
Graduate students Seong-ho Kim and Shin-woong Kim of the Division of Computer Science and Engineering (advisors Yong-seong Kim and Oh-bong Kwon) recently presented a paper titled “Design of an MMORPG Item Pricing System Based on a Collective Intelligence Model” at the winter conference organized by the Korea Association of Computer Game Studies, winning the Outstanding Paper Award.
Their research was prompted by the observation that many game users share their experiences regarding games and items in online spaces. The core idea is to classify users’ chat content using a collective intelligence model and design a reasonable item-pricing system.
First, item-related content from unspecified users playing the game is collected via a multi-player chat system. Terms related to game items are classified based on a collective intelligence model, and a weighted table for the item list is created.
The resulting weighted table is stored as an ontology (Ontology: a kind of dictionary that defines terms related to a specific field of knowledge and the relationships between those terms), and a ranking system is built to recommend appropriate items to users.
Seong-ho Kim, one of the researchers, said, “The rapid growth of online games has been a good opportunity for leisure, but it has also produced negative outcomes such as game addiction and crimes related to unfair item trading. We expect this research to help reduce negative effects like unfair item trading and related crimes.”