Founder of System Metabolic Engineering
Sangyeop Lee, Distinguished Professor (Vice President of Research) at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
The Ponyjeong Foundation announced on the 12th that the recipient of the 15th 'Ponyjeong Innovation Award' is Professor Sang Yup Lee, Distinguished Professor and Vice President for Research at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), who is the founder of systems metabolic engineering and a world-renowned authority in the field.
Professor Lee, who serves as a Distinguished Professor and Vice President for Research at KAIST, was born in 1964. He graduated from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Seoul National University and earned his master's and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering from Northwestern University in the United States.
He is known as a global authority in the field for founding systems metabolic engineering and developing foundational technologies. Systems metabolic engineering is a convergent discipline that integrates systems biology and synthetic biology into traditional metabolic engineering by holistically designing and manipulating cellular metabolic pathways to mass-produce and utilize compounds. Professor Lee's research enables the large-scale production of various compounds using microorganisms, which is considered efficient as well as ethical and environmentally friendly. This excellence was recognized when systems metabolic engineering was selected as one of the 'Top 10 Emerging Technologies' by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2016.
In May of this year, Professor Lee further demonstrated his global scientific authority by being elected as a member of the Royal Society of the United Kingdom, along with Professor Bitnari Kim of the Department of Biological Sciences at Seoul National University. Founded in London in 1660, the Royal Society is the world's most prestigious academic institution, with members including Newton, Darwin, and Einstein. Earlier this year in April, he became the first non-Western recipient of the 'Charles E. Scott Award' from the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (SIMB) in the United States, and in 2016, he was the first Asian to receive the James Bailey Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Kim Cheolsu, Chairman of the Ponyjeong Foundation, said, "Professor Sang Yup Lee was the first Korean to be elected as a foreign member of the Royal Society this year. Excluding U.S. and British Commonwealth nationals, he is the only scientist in the world to be simultaneously elected as a foreign member of the three major academies: the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Society. His achievements and stature are extremely high. The systems metabolic engineering founded by Professor Lee is a bio-based eco-friendly technology utilizing microorganisms, which is highly significant, and we look forward to its infinite potential for future development."
Meanwhile, the Ponyjeong Innovation Award was established in 2006, named after the nickname 'PONY 鄭 (Ponyjeong)' of the late Chung Se-young, founder of Hyundai Motor Company and Honorary Chairman of HDC Group (formerly Hyundai Development Company). The award is given to individuals or organizations that have brought positive change to Korean society through innovative thinking, with a prize of 200 million won and a trophy.
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