Pukyong National University-Focused Research Institute Publishes Consecutively in Top 3% Global Journals

Doctoral Students Jung Geumjae and Park Dongju

The research capabilities of regional universities have proven to be among the best in the world.

Doctoral students from the Marine Bionics Convergence Technology Center (Director: Jung Wongyo), a university-focused research institute in the science and engineering field designated by the Ministry of Education at Pukyong National University, have consecutively published papers in international journals ranked within the top 3% globally.

Jung Geumjae (Department of Food Engineering) and Park Dongju (Department of Bionics Engineering for the Fourth Industrial Revolution), both doctoral students, recently published their joint first-author research, "Bacterial biosurfactant-reinforced chitooligosaccharide/polyvinyl alcohol hydrogels accelerate MRSA-infected wound healing by attenuating its virulence factors," in a prestigious international journal in the field of pharmacy (Impact Factor 11.9, JCR top 2.7%).

Jung Geumjae (left), Park Dongju, doctoral student. Courtesy of Pukyong National University

This paper was recognized for its achievement in developing a hydrogel based on biosurfactants and elucidating its antibacterial effects and tissue regeneration mechanisms in wounds infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Additionally, Jung Geumjae's paper, "Unraveling the anti-Listeria monocytogenes mechanism of a biosurfactant from Bacillus velezensis GJ1 and its application in eco-friendly antibacterial detergent development," was recently published in a leading international journal in the field of chemical engineering (Impact Factor 13.2, JCR top 3%).

This study focused on developing an eco-friendly antibacterial detergent based on biosurfactants, suppressing biofilm formation and virulence factors of L. monocytogenes, and demonstrating its cleaning and sterilizing effects in food processing environments.

These achievements were made through collaborative and interdisciplinary research with Professors Kim Youngmok (Department of Food Engineering), Jung Wongyo (Department of Biomedical Engineering), and Fazlurahman Khan (Institute of International Cooperation for Fisheries and Ocean Development), who served as co-corresponding authors.

These studies are regarded as cases that expand the application potential of natural antibacterial materials using biosurfactants, demonstrating not only infection control and hygiene management technologies for food and industrial environments, but also their potential as functional biomaterials in the biomedical field.

The research was supported by grants from the National Research Foundation of Korea’s University-Focused Research Institute Program and the Korea Institute of Marine Science & Technology Promotion’s Marine Blue Tech Future Leader Development Project.