Pharmaceutical Research Institute Solely Passes Stage Evaluation for “Advanced Bio Global R&D Center”
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- Writer 커뮤니케이션팀
- 보도일자 2025-12-23
The Pharmaceutical Research Institute, currently carrying out the Ministry of Science and ICT’s ‘Advanced Bio Global Joint Research Center Development Program’, has become the only institution among competing universities to pass the program’s stage evaluation, securing an additional KRW 1 billion in research funding.
Previously, in October 2024, the institute was selected for the program and received a total of KRW 1.25 billion in first-stage funding (October 2024–December 2025) to establish an international joint research center with Ghent University in Belgium for the development of therapies for intractable cancers. At the time, the Ministry selected 15 research projects in total, of which four were Korea–EU centers: Sookmyung Women’s University, KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), UNIST (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology), and DGIST (Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology).
Following a subsequent stage evaluation, only one center was chosen to receive KRW 1 billion in second-stage (third-year) funding. The Pharmaceutical Research Institute at Sookmyung Women’s University emerged as the top-performing center after competing with the other institutions.
The research team has been developing advanced bio technologies that enable therapeutics to act exclusively within tumor tissues, addressing the limitations of cellular delivery in RNA therapeutics—whose use has surged since the COVID-19 pandemic—as well as drug resistance in cancer treatments. After developing an electric field–responsive drug delivery system, the team applied an innovative approach by loading RNA therapeutics onto it. This achievement represents the convergence of the team’s proprietary electric field–based therapy technology, RNA therapeutic synthesis techniques, nanocarrier development capabilities, and anticancer treatment expertise.
During the first-stage period of just 14 months, the institute published a total of 10 papers, including one in Advanced Materials (impact factor 26.8) and six papers in journals with an impact factor of 10 or higher.
The institute has also actively engaged in exchanges with the research team led by Prof. Stefaan De Smedt at Ghent University to establish the international joint research center. In January of this year, six faculty members from the Pharmaceutical Research Institute held an international joint symposium in Belgium. During the summer break, two faculty members and three graduate students visited Ghent University to receive training in light-responsive therapeutic delivery technologies.
In addition, the institute invited Ghent University researchers on four occasions and signed a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA), through which it received light-responsive gene delivery devices. Furthermore, after being selected for the Ministry of Science and ICT’s Korea–EU Education Cooperation Promotion Program, the institute received KRW 38 million in funding and launched a joint degree program.
Director Jang Chang-young of the Pharmaceutical Research Institute stated, “Amid intense competition, our faculty members came together and gave their utmost effort, and as a result, the institute’s research competitiveness has been recognized globally,” adding, “This achievement has laid the groundwork for challenging ‘Horizon Europe’, the EU’s largest R&D funding program, which commands a budget of KRW 130 trillion.”