Prof. Howard Lee was featured in YouTube live casting, sponsored by K-Healthlog, where he explained the current status of vaccine developments for the COVID-19 pandemic. Prof. Lee also discussed what issues are going to be important after a vaccine is successfully developed, for example, quality manufacturing, procurement of a sufficient number of doses, herd immunity, vaccine acceptance for and affordability by the public. You may find more interesting details by watching the videoclip below. A detailed summary of the YouTube live was also published here.  

Prof. Howard Lee was invited to a seminar sponsored by the Samsung Science & Technology Foundation in association with the Future Technology Study Forum, held on August 28 at the SNU Hoam Faculty House, where he summarized the current status and future prospects of treatment and vaccine developments against the COVID-19 pandemic. Prof. Lee further discussed how the pandemic could change the way new drugs are developed in the post-pandemic era, characterized by social distancing and stay-at-home orders, often termed as "Untact".

Prof. Lee forecast the new drug development paradigm will be characterized as remote and virtual, particularly for clinical drug development in that many research activities should be performed off-clinic. "These changes will eventually facilitate and fasten the adoption of new information and communication technologies, for example, remote data entry and life-log data", Prof. Lee emphasized. According to Prof. Lee, urgency cased by the public unprepared-ness such as the COVID-19 pandemic will also encourage researchers to welcome more innovative technologies, one of which is the application of artificial intelligence algorithms to reposition new therapies, which could save tons of R&D time and expenses. 

Jung-Hyun Won, a summer intern at CCADD, has significantly contributed to the final presentation slide deck. Jung-Hyun and Prof. Lee will be writing one or two reviews/commentaries, which could be published in peer-reviewed journals.   

In the afternoon of 22nd May, the members of CCADD went on a picnic to the Gwanggyo Lake Park. After completing a regular schedule in the morning such as lab meeting and book reading, all members left the lab with excitement.

To ensure social distancing in apprehension of the COVID-19 pandemic, CCADD opted for an outdoor picnic as team building rather than indoor activities such as bowling or movie-watching, and it turned much more fun! Upon arrival, they instantaneously regretted not to have more opportunities for the past 4 years or so to come to such a beautiful place just nearby with eye candy scenery and great decks for walking. The weather was also perfect, not too cool, not too warm.

After enjoying a chat while having To-Pi-Chi (Toppoki, Pizza and Chicken), a favorite food combination for all the CCADD members, they played a couple of fun games from Korean TV shows – which are ‘Shouting in the Silence’ and ‘Sketch Quiz’. They laughed a lot seeing funny moments during the games; it was truly a time for healing, refreshing, and team building!

Wrapping up the picnic in time just before it rained, they decided to come to the Gwanggyo Lake Park again soon and often.

In the upheaval caused by COVID-19 or the coronavirus, Dr. Lee stressed the importance of drug repositioning technology to develop a new treatment. In an interview with a KBS news program, Dr. Lee introduced the listener to the core concept of drug repositioning and explained why it could be life-saving in the midst of the chaotic COVID-19 pandemic. "Instead of finding new molecules or compounds from scratch, drug repositioning looks for test articles under active development or those fully developed for other indications, or even for those abandoned due to various reasons", Dr. Lee commented. 

So far, no treatment has been shown to be effective in treating patients with COVID-19. But, several compounds have been suggested as a potential treatment such as remdesivir by Gilead Sciences, for which ~80 drug repositioning clinical trials have already been commenced worldwide. The full video clip of Dr. Lee's interview can be found down below.