Dong-A University Park Suhwan and Yoon Hyejin Selected for Doctoral Student Research Grant Program

Biomedical Science Department 'Cancer Metabolism Laboratory'

Receives 50 million KRW in annual funding until 2026

Dong-A University (President Lee Haewoo) announced on the 10th that graduate students Park Suhwan and Yoon Hyejin from the Cancer Metabolism Research Lab of the Department of Biomedical Science (supervising professor Lee Jongho) have been selected for the ‘2024 Doctoral Student Research Encouragement Grant Program’.

This program is part of the ‘Basic Research Program in Science and Technology’ by the National Research Foundation of Korea, which aims to provide research opportunities and support the growth of the next generation of scholars.

Selected doctoral students receive up to 25 million KRW per year, with a maximum of 50 million KRW over two years, enabling them to pursue creative and challenging research ideas independently and proactively.

Both students are participating graduate students in the ‘4th Stage BK21 Future Environment Bio-defense Convergence Project Group’ at Dong-A University. Notably, Yoon was also selected as a recipient of the ‘1st Graduate School Presidential Science Scholarship’ this year.

Park was selected for this program with the project ‘Mechanistic Study of m6A Writer RBM15 in Colorectal Cancer Growth and Drug Resistance’, while Yoon was selected for the project ‘Study on the Regulatory Mechanisms and Non-metabolic Functions of SHMT in Glioblastoma Growth’.

Park’s research aims to provide scientific evidence that the RNA methyltransferase complex protein RBM15 (RNA binding motif protein 15) is a key factor in chemoresistance of colorectal cancer and to verify its potential as a promising therapeutic target.

This study investigates the molecular biological mechanisms and role of the RNA methyltransferase complex protein RBM15 (RNA binding motif protein 15), which is involved in the recently emerging research field of gene regulatory mechanism RNA N6-Methyladenosine (m6A) modification, in the chemoresistance of colorectal cancer.

Yoon’s project aims to identify the importance of the SHMT (serine hydroxymethyltransferase) enzyme, which is responsible for de novo serine biosynthesis and one-carbon metabolism pathways in the growth and survival of glioblastoma, and to elucidate its molecular regulatory mechanisms and non-metabolic functions.

Through this research, Yoon is expected to discover new biomarkers for glioblastoma and propose therapeutic strategies based on metabolic anticancer agents.

Park stated, “Thanks to the hard work and research I have done together with professors and fellow graduate students from my department and the BK21 research group since my master’s program, I was able to be selected as a beneficiary of this program. Above all, I am grateful for the guidance of my supervising professor,” and added, “Through this research, I hope to propose therapeutic strategies to overcome drug resistance in colorectal cancer and strive to become a world-class basic scientist in the field of tumor biology.”

Yoon said, “I would like to express my gratitude to my professor who guided me and to my lab colleagues who worked hard together to achieve this good result,” and continued, “Through ongoing research related to cancer metabolism, I will work to overcome the challenges of immunotherapy and conduct research to identify essential targets for the development of metabolic anticancer agents, presenting and pioneering a new vision for cancer treatment.”

From the left, Suhwan Park and Hyejin Yoon, doctoral students, and Jongho Lee, advisor professor.