Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) (President Yang O-bong) Department of Horticulture Horticultural Biotechnology Research Laboratory (Principal Investigator: Professor Beom-chang Kang) has received government certification as a research laboratory with excellent safety management. 

On the 21st, the Horticultural Biotechnology Research Laboratory announced that it had obtained new certification in the '2023 Excellent Laboratory Safety Management Certification Program', administered by the Ministry of Science and ICT. This is the first time a laboratory from JBNU has been certified as an Excellent Safety Management Laboratory among universities in the Jeonbuk region.

The Excellent Laboratory Safety Management Certification Program is a system in which the Ministry of Science and ICT grants certification to laboratories that demonstrate outstanding safety-related activities, to strengthen the autonomous safety management capabilities of domestic science and technology research laboratories.

The Horticultural Biotechnology Research Laboratory is a space that primarily researches technologies that combine useful genes from one organism with the genes of another organism and modify portions of genes to achieve specific objectives. Because it handles organismal genes and chemical substances, it requires particular caution in safety management.

The laboratory has worked with the Division of Health and Safety to establish a safety management policy and to develop a laboratory safety manual, procedures, and guidelines, thereby operating a systematic safety-environment system. Based on a strong safety awareness, it also conducts precise and ad-hoc laboratory inspections, identifies and mitigates hazardous elements, and carries out a wide range of safety management activities including safety education and training.

JBNU Executive Vice-President of Research Song Cheol-gyu said, "Researchers are voluntarily strengthening safety management so that they can focus on research in a safer environment," adding, "We will expand safety management certification through ongoing efforts to create a safe environment."