Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) Professor Hwang Hyun-gyu has been selected for the Ottogi Ham Tae-ho Foundation’s New Faculty Fellowship, “Punglim FACULTY OPUS 1 FUND.”

The fellowship is a program designed to identify sustainable growth engines for the future food industry and contribute to public health, while supporting new faculty so they can establish stable research programs.

Professor Hwang previously served as a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University and was awarded an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship. He joined JBNU last year and continues his research activities.

Through this support program, Professor Hwang plans to conduct research that implements the sophisticated biochemical reactions that occur in eukaryotic cells within microbial cells, using metabolic engineering, protein engineering, and synthetic biology techniques.

The research focuses on advancing foundational technologies to more efficiently develop and produce functional materials applicable to the food and pharmaceutical sectors using microorganisms. It is expected to contribute to enhancing the technological competitiveness of related industries, including the production of functional food ingredients and biopharmaceutical raw materials.

Professor Hwang said, "I will take this fellowship selection as an opportunity to concentrate further on developing core technologies that enable production of high-value functional materials based on microbial cells," and added, "I will strive to conduct research that can contribute to technological advances in the food and pharmaceutical sectors."