Jeongchan Lee, a graduate student in the Department of Bionanotechnology and Bio-Convergence Engineering (third year of the integrated master's–doctoral program; supervising professor Kim Cheol-saeng), recently received the Outstanding Paper Presentation Award at the 2022 Spring Conference of the Korean Society for Interventional Medical Devices.

At the conference, he was recognized for the excellence of his research, titled 'Development of a Silicone/PCL Delamination-Resistant Multi-Layer Stent Coating Membrane Fabrication Technology,' through a poster presentation.

The research team developed a single-process technology that enables fine spraying of medical liquid silicone, previously used for stent coatings, by using electrospinning. The process allows physical bonding with a medical absorbable polymer capable of drug loading and imparting a functional surface.

To overcome the limitations of electrospinning that have hindered mass production of stent coatings, they proposed a manufacturing method using a newly developed high-speed electrospinning apparatus from their laboratory that is applicable to product-scale production.

The fabricated silicone–electrospun fiber composite membrane can impart multifunctionality to silicone films previously used for stent coatings, and has the advantage of significantly enhancing the material properties of electrospun nano-bio membranes.

This approach addresses the disadvantages of electrospun nanofiber-coated stents, which have not been commercialized due to various issues, and demonstrated the potential to be used as a dual-coating membrane for stents, receiving high praise.

Jeongchan Lee has participated in various research projects as a laboratory researcher since his undergraduate studies and submitted papers to internationally renowned journals during that time. During his master's studies  he published a total of six biomaterials-related papers, including two SCI-indexed papers as first author. Notably, he is registered as the primary inventor on two patents, including one for the current fabrication technology, demonstrating strong research capability.

Recently, he has been pursuing technical collaboration with biotech companies for the new stent coating technology developed through this research, raising expectations for eventual commercialization.