This summer, CCADD welcomes three interns-Kim Chanmin, Choi Yunjin, and Yoo Kyungwan -for the 2024 Summer Internship Program.

Kyungwan Yoo, a student at Kyung Hee University, earned his Bachelor’s degree in genetic engineering. He worked as an undergraduate researcher at the Kyung Hee University Regenerative Medicine Institute, focusing on creating cell-targeting treatments. Currently, he is interested in integrating biological science with artificial intelligence (AI) technology and applying it to drug development. Kyungwan applied for the 2024 CCADD Summer Internship Program to expand his knowledge of drug development in general, be it clinical trials, and/or utilizing medical big data. He also intends to gain practical experiences in applying programming languages to these domains.

Yunjin Choi has graduated from Stony Brook University with a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics. After graduating, Yunjin worked as a statistical analyst at the Biomedical Research Institute, Korea University Guro Hospital. She has mainly conducted retrospective studies on nephrology and neurology. For example, she published a paper entitled "Fasting glucose variability and risk of dementia in Parkinson's disease: a 9-year longitudinal follow-up study of a nationwide cohort", which examined the impact of fasting glucose variability on the risk of developing dementia in Parkinson's disease patients over a nine-year period. The study found that greater variability in fasting glucose levels was associated with a higher risk of dementia, further suggesting that stabilizing glucose levels might be beneficial for cognitive health in these patients. Besides being the first author of the study, she was also responsible for data analysis and interpretation, ensuring the accuracy and reliability of the study results. She also has the opportunity to learn how to draft and revise the manu and enhance its scientific merit. During this time, Yunjin developed an interest in Real-World Data (RWD), such as electronic medical records (EMR). She intends to pursue her interest while at CCADD.

Chanmin Kim is a Biological Engineering major at Kangwon National University. She became interested in developing new drugs while learning drug delivery systems. She also completed GMP training. After receiving the Excellence Award for designing smart healthcare products at Gachon University's DNA (Data, Network, AI) School Camp , she became interested in improving the efficiency of developing new drugs by applying data science and AI. Her goal is to become a researcher in the development of new drugs using AI. Through her 2024 CCADD summer internship program, she will pursue this goal.

We hope that during their summer internship, they will gain confidence in their field of study, learn how to study independently and explore new knowledge, and devote all their passion to gaining a deep understanding of drug development and regulatory science over the course of these two months.

Yunha Noh is currently an undergraduate research student at CCADD, following her successful completion of the 2023 Winter Internship Program. She has received dual Bachelor’s degrees in Biotechnology and Computer Engineering from Duksung Women's University. Her primary research interests include applying machine learning to drug repurposing and leveraging real world data (RWD) to real world evidence in medical science.

On February 26th, Professor Howard and the CCADD members gathered to honor the graduation of Tae Kyu Chung and the successful completion of the winter internship program by Seorin Choi and Yunha Noh.

Tae Kyu, who studied the realm of biology-neurobiology as an undergrad, joined CCADD in February 2018 as an intern. Under the guidance of Professor Howard Lee thenceforth, he navigated through the rigors of an integrated master's and PhD program. His persistent dedication to PKPD modeling culminated in a doctoral thesis entitled “Comparison of Machine Learning and Population Pharmacokinetic Models for Predicting Antiepileptic Drug Concentrations Based on Therapeutic Drug Monitoring Records”, earning him a Doctor of Medicine degree. On the graduation day, his relentless pursuit was duly awarded.

Simultaneously, a ceremony to mark the completion of Seorin and Yunha's internship was conducted at the main campus of Seoul National University. Throughout their internship, they immersed themselves in a series of educational endeavors, presentations, and assignments. On that day, their efforts, all contained within a comprehensive poster presentation, were met with a deep appreciation. Members of CCADD also attended the ceremony to celebrate the completion of their internships.

As we congratulate their accomplishments, we also look forward with anticipation to their future as independent researchers.

On December 27th, 2023, CCADD held the year-end workshop at Front1, a startup hub at the heart of Seoul, where PMACH is based. This year, Prof. Howard Lee and the members of CCADD were joined by PMATCH and Dr. Siun Kim. The workshop went on in a dynamic atmosphere, welcoming both Prof. Howard’s part-time student and the interns for the upcoming internship program.

After a brief ice-breaking time, the main session started with a recap of the accomplishments of 2023, reflecting on the overall trajectory. Prof. Howard commended CCADD’s continuous growth in both research and publications. As preparation for 2024, the following session outlined a roadmap, encompassing detailed research ideas and plans for conference to attend in 2024.

The spotlight then turned to CCADD interns. Three passionate interns—Tang Chao, Seorin Choi, and Yunha Noh—who will join the 2024 winter internship program introduced themselves through "Who am I" presentations. Following this, Yujin expressed her aspirations for the path ahead as a new CCADD graduate research student. The workshop proceeded with a lecture on the challenges faced by postdoctoral researchers and strategies for maintaining a healthy mindset among graduate students.

Dr. Siun Kim took a special session to share insights into his post-doctoral journey following graduation. Delivering a lecture on the trending topic of "LLMs in medicine and drug development", he provided valuable perspectives and briefly introduced his ongoing research projects. He candidly shared reflections on the first-year post doc., emphasizing the professional commitment required in the field of research.

Finally, PMATCH summarized their achievements in 2023 and anticipated the upcoming year's developments. With the successful launch of the 'BATTERY' app and a triumphant debut at CES^® 2023, PMATCH envisions a promising future with new team members. Yoomin Jeon, the Chief Technology Officer of PMATCH, expressed her commitment to meeting user’s needs as a must-have app.

The workshop concluded with a keynote address by Prof. Howard. Introducing new trends in 2024, he emphasized the significance of adjusting our research focus and domain knowledge to take another leap forward. Prof. Howard’s central message highlighted 2024 as a pivotal year for CCADD's rebound and PMATCH's inaugural year of growth. 

Prof. Lee and David Seung U Lee met with Prof. M. Madan Babu, PhD, FRS, FMedSci, from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA, July 17, 2023 in the Grand Hyatt Incheon. Prof. Babu is currently the Endowed Chair in Biomedical Data Science and Director of the Center of Excellence for Data Driven Discovery, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. He will soon serve as a Senior Vice President and Chief Data Scientist at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Prof. Babu is an acclaimed researcher and scientist in various fields including GPCR signaling, regulation and pharmacology, gene , gene regulation, computational biology, structural bioinformatics, and drug discovery. He published many research articles in high-impact journals such as Nature, Science, and Cell. He is also Chief Editor for Molecular Systems Biology journal. 

It has turned out that Prof. Babu had followed the work from CCADD and is interested to know more about what is currently happening in those research areas. In this regard, the main purpose of Prof. Babu's visit this time was to establish professional relationships and set up international scientific bridges with St. Jude to enrich biomedical data science collaborations. Prof. Lee and David detailed the big data science and AI in drug development and optimal usage projects by CCADD, in which Prof. Babu showed great interest. Prof. Babu asked Prof. Lee for additional information and s for those research projects, which David will soon follow up. 

Out of a 3-hour lunch meeting with Prof. Babu, many collaboration opportunities and projects were discussed and proposed, one of which was an exchange program between the two institutions. Co-publication was also talked about, and Prof. Babu asked if CCADD could write a perspective paper regarding drug repurposing using AI for the Molecular Systems Biology journal. Prof. Lee and David hope to see more details soon and will keep CCADD informed.