Insilicogen Selected for Joint Research Project in MFDS-Funded R&D Program This Year

Participation of Professor Ko Gwangseok's Team at Ewha Womans University and MFDS in Joint R&D Project
Development of Safety Prediction Technology for Food and Health Functional Foods Using Big Data Technology

Insilicogen, a bioinformatics and artificial intelligence (AI) specialized company, announced on the 4th that it has been selected as a joint research institution for the 2023 Smart Food Safety Management Project, a research and development project funded by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

This project, under the Smart Food Safety Management field, focuses on the "Development and Application of Safety Prediction Technology for Overlapping and Combined Intake of Functional Ingredients." It stems from the health paradigm shift from disease treatment to disease prevention. As the consumption of health functional foods increases, concerns have arisen regarding safety issues caused by overlapping intake of bioactive components without considering individual health and nutritional status, as well as combined intake with pharmaceuticals. Therefore, the project aims to develop data-driven safety prediction technologies based on actual intake amounts, appropriate dosages, interactions, and side effects among the public.

The ultimate goal is to develop big data-based prediction technologies for overlapping intake of health functional foods, combined intake with pharmaceuticals, and side effects, and to establish and apply safety prediction models and systems for safe consumption of health functional foods. To successfully carry out the project, Ewha Womans University, the principal research institution, will form a consortium with joint research institutions Dongguk University and Insilicogen Co., Ltd., conducting the project over five years until 2027 with a total budget of 2.5 billion KRW.

The principal research institution’s lead researchers, Professors Ko Kwang-seok and Jung Seung-yeon of Ewha Womans University, have conducted multi-year studies on establishing safety evaluation systems, including surveys on the consumption status of domestically produced and imported health functional foods. The joint research institution Dongguk University’s Professor Lee Seok-hee’s team is an expert group in AI-based risk determination and hazard analysis technologies.

Insilicogen plans to introduce data-driven safety prediction services by utilizing its bioinformatics and AI technologies and systems, along with the bio-food big data (iF Core DB) jointly developed by its subsidiary Deeep (CEO Kang Byung-chul), to establish a safety prediction system for overlapping and combined intake of health functional foods across various demographic groups, securing biological evidence for the system.

Director Shin Ga-hee of Insilicogen stated, “Through this project, we expect to establish a foundation for the safe and proper consumption of health functional foods for sellers, producers, and consumers.”