Professor Sang-wook Kim (Department of Internal Medicine, Medical School) and Researcher Se-rim Kim received the Perring Academic Award at the 2013 Spring Meeting of the Korean Society for Intestinal Research, held recently.

The Perring Academic Award is presented to one outstanding paper selected by the review committee from among research papers published in the Journal of the Korean Society for Intestinal Research within the past year.

The team earned the honor for their paper published last year in the Journal of the Korean Society for Intestinal Research, entitled "Study on the Enhanced Induction of Cell Death in SW480 Colorectal Cancer Cells by Combined Treatment with Parthenolide and 5‑Fluorouracil."

Through this study, the team demonstrated that combining the representative anticancer agent 5‑fluorouracil with the natural compound parthenolide suppresses colorectal cancer cell growth and induces cell death, and also improves resistance to the anticancer drug.

Notably, the study, which included cell-based and animal experiments, was published in March in the international oncology journal Cancer Letters.

Professor Sang-wook Kim said, "Colorectal cancer has shown a steady increase over the past decade, and the economic burden associated with its incidence is also rising. Therefore, expanding basic and clinical research for colorectal cancer treatment is extremely important. We will carry out additional studies and experiments to open new avenues for effective colorectal cancer treatment."