[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Yoon Jamin] Professor Jo Yongjin of the Department of Orthopedics at Chosun University Hospital has been finally selected for the ‘2022 Mid-Career Researcher Support Project’ funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea.
According to Chosun University Hospital on the 9th, the ‘Mid-Career Researcher Support Project’ is a government research support program aimed at discovering and supporting outstanding researchers to strengthen academic capabilities across various fields, secure research diversity, and promote creative research.
Professor Jo was selected in 2019 for the same foundation’s first-ever life research support project and has been conducting research on ‘Exploring the Prognosis of Bone Metastasis in Hormone Receptor Mutant Breast Cancer.’
With the recent selection for this project, jointly supported with Dr. Ko Youngjong from the Musculoskeletal Research Laboratory, he will receive 1 billion KRW over five years to deepen research on ‘Application of RANKL-based Recombinant Peptides for Osteoporosis.’
So far, the research team led by Jo Yongjin and Ko Youngjong has conducted basic research on the metastatic process of bone metastatic cancers, mechanisms for osteoporosis healing, and development of animal models for musculoskeletal diseases.
The research team aims to develop safer osteoporosis treatments by creating peptide drugs that act on the RANKL-LGR4 signaling system, overcoming the drawbacks and side effects of existing osteoporosis medications.
Until now, drug research and development using peptides have been actively applied in various fields, with actual clinical trial cases published, and due to their selective effectiveness on specific targets, many studies are expected to continue in diverse areas.
Professor Jo said, “The selection was possible because the research team had already established the selection process for candidate peptides for osteoporosis treatment, related molecular biology in vitro experimental plans, and animal experiment plans for the final selected candidates through prior research,” adding, “Based on this research, we will build a related peptide library and strive to generate many related studies in various fields.”
Meanwhile, Professor Jo is in charge of musculoskeletal tumors and pediatric orthopedics at Chosun University Hospital, after graduating from Chonnam National University and Yonsei University, and has been serving as the head of the Health and Medical Business Team and a specialist member of the Institutional Review Board since January.
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