Yoona Choi and Jung-Hyun Won attended the 65th Annual Meeting & Exposition of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), which took place from December 9 to 12, 2023, in San Diego, USA. Annually, the ASH conference brings together healthcare professionals, researchers, clinicians, and academics from around the globe to explore advancements in hematology. This prestigious event not only focuses on the study, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of blood disorders but also features a variety of social events and opportunities for collaboration and the sharing of insights among experts in the field. Official photos from ASH are available here.

At the 'Outcomes Research—Lymphoid Malignancies: Poster II' session, Yoona Choi, serving as the first author and representing the entire research team, presented a study titled 'Evaluating the Effectiveness and Safety of Prephase Steroid Treatment before Remission Induction Chemotherapy in Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A Common Data Model-Based Real-World Data Approach.' This study investigated steroid pretreatment in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients undergoing remission induction chemotherapy (RIC), with the aim of reducing complications such as tumor lysis syndrome (TLS). Analyzing data from Seoul National University Hospital and Catholic University Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, the study compared patients who received steroid pretreatment at least seven days before RIC with those who did not. The findings indicated a significant reduction in TLS incidence in the pretreated group. While overall survival rates were higher in this group, the difference was not statistically significant. These results provide important real-world evidence for the effectiveness of steroid pretreatment in reducing TLS risk in pediatric ALL patients.

This study was part of a larger project, funded by a grant from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, aiming to develop a disease registry database for pediatric ALL using real-world data in the clinical data warehouse (CDW) of Seoul National University Hospital and Catholic University Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, thereby generating real-world evidence for pediatric ALL. 

On February 24^th, CCADD celebrated the graduation of two of its members, Siun Kim and David Seung U Lee. Siun, an applied bioengineering major, started his joint Masters and PhD program in 2018 and studied under Prof. Howard Lee’s guidance. He received his PhD in Medicine for his thesis on applying natural language processing technology to drug safety monitoring. David, a molecular medicine and biopharmaceutical sciences (MMBS) major, joined CCADD in 2021 and has since studied under Prof. Howard Lee. He received his MSc in Medicine for his study on clinical characteristics associated with dulaglutide treatment adherence.

Siun, for all his contribution to CCADD, embarked on a new career as a postdoctoral researcher at Seoul National University Hospital Biomedical Research Institute. There, he will focus on developing AI models for the prediction of hypoglycemia during dialysis and the analysis of nursing notes of kidney surgery recipients. David will continue to study under Prof. Howard as a PhD student starting 2023.

We congratulate on their accomplishment and convey our best wishes at their new start.

YeSol had the honor to deliver oral presentation and won the Excellent Research Award at 2022 fall conference hosted by the Korean Society of Medical Informatics(KOSMI). YeSol has presented her work entitled "Effectiveness and safety of sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors(SGLT2i) added to mono, dual or triple treatment in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM)". She discussed the additive efficacy in glycemic control and the tolerability of SGLT2i in T2DM patients when combined with other antihyperglycemic agents, such as metformin, sulfonylureas, and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors using real-world data. Yoona Choi, TaeKyu Chung, and Yoomin Jeon also contributed to this study as co-researchers, with Professor Howard Lee serving as the principle investigator.

The conference was a three-day event (from Nov 23rd, 2022 to Nov 25th, 2022) and was held at The International Convention Center, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju, Jeonbuk, South Korea. This conference, the host(KOSMI) organized the event around the theme, "The Power and Value of Healthcare Data Linkage". The conference was full of enlightening speeches that reflected the progress made in the field of medical informatics. With a total of 1,039 participants, this conference was held on the largest scale ever among KOSMI conferences. 

Hardened by the CCADD internship, they took a big leap from being interns to graduate students at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Biopharmaceutical Science, Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, Seoul National University.

During the internship, they were distilled into their purest passion for research in drug development, and combining cutting-edge technology with drug development was the idea that opened the door for both.

As much as they will align nicely with the rest of the team in terms of research interest, we are also excited that they will add a new of diversity to the already diverse CCADD family.

Again, CCADD congratulates them on having taken the important first step to their goals. CCADD will blow the wind at their backs so that they can sail forth and contribute to the greater good of the team and the SNU community at large.

CCADD congratulates Dr. Kyeong-Ryoon Lee's appointment as Visiting Associate Professor at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Biopharmaceutical Sciences (MMBS). The news of Dr. Kyeong-Ryoon Lee's promotion came out on January 26^th, and his new appointment will take effect on March 1^st, 2021.

Dr. Kyeong-Ryoon Lee received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Science at College of Pharmacy, Seoul National University. His research area includes pharmacokinetics, drug metabolism, transporters, and modeling and simulation. Furthermore, Dr. Lee's expertise in artificial intelligence-based modeling, which can be implemented throughout the preclinical and clinical stages of the drug discovery process, has earned him the current position as a research scientist at Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB). 

Dr. Lee's appointment was actually the renewal of his visiting professorship. Dr. Kyeong-Ryoon Lee first joined CCADD on February 2018 as Adjunct Assistant Professor. Since then, Dr. Lee has contributed to CCADD a lot, being a valuable asset for CCADD, not only in research, but in mentoring graduate students.

Once again, CCADD congratulates Dr. Kyeong-Ryoon Lee on his achievement as he is plotting a new path to explore an untapped terrain. CCADD also hopes that Dr. Lee's promotion boosts synergy between CCADD and him. 

CCADD welcomes new interns!

Starting from January 4th, Minjung Kim, Du-Hyeong Lee, and Chaeyun Cho have participated in the 2021 Winter Internship Program at CCADD. David Seung-U Lee, a prospective student of the Department of Molecular Medicine and Biopharmaceutical Sciences, Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, Seoul National University, has also joined the program as an intern before his semester starts.

Minjung is currently a Hispanic Language and Literature major at Seoul National University and pursues biology as a double major. Her research interest lies in policy analysis of Korea’s integrated clinical research system.

Du-Hyeong is a rising junior at Korea University, focusing on mathematics and statistics. He plans to delve into statistical methods and machine learning for clinical trials and PBPK (physiologically based pharmacokinetics) modeling during his internship.

Chaeyun studies chemical and biological engineering at Korea University, and she joined the team to study clinical drug evaluation and nano drug toxicity.

Last but not least, David has studied English Literature. He is interested in pharmacometrics and drug-drug interaction.

Living up to its motto, CCADD plans to have the new members fully immersed in and orientated to diverse activities including research, studies, and daily routines of a graduate student. As CCADD is gearing toward a new journey, with new members on board, the contribution from the interns and synergy between them and the current members is greatly expected. CCADD also hopes to find gold nuggets in the interns as much as they would do from the program.

Once again, welcome to CCADD!

Jung-Hyun Won is a graduate student at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Biopharmaceutical Sciences, Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, Seoul National University. Jung-Hyun received BS degree in Animal Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering at Chung-Ang University (2016-2020). Jung-Hyun joined CCADD through the 2020 Summer Internship program. Before she joined CCADD, she worked as an intern at GSK Korea, where she developed a broad interest in pharmacology and drug development.

CCADD has successfully assembled an interdisciplinary research team at SNU, interested in the application of AI to the development and optimal use of drugs. Recently, the team has received a small, but important, intramural grant to coordinate a series of forums to stimulate, develop, and nurture new, innovative research ideas in the field, entitled “Artificial intelligence for drug development and its optimal use (PI: Prof. Howard Lee)”. Prof. Young Kee Shin, Prof. Eugene C. Yi, Prof. Park Young Joo (from MMBS), Prof. Bongki Moon (from the Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering), Prof. Jung Mi Oh (from the College of Pharmacy), Prof. Jinwook Choi (from the Interdisciplinary Program in Bioengineering), and graduate students in the research teams will meet regularly starting early June 2020 through mid August.

The intramural grant of 3 million Korean won or $2,500 was awarded by the SNU AI Committee. Through the forum, recent progresses in applying AI and machine learning techniques to drug development and its optimal use will be reviewed. Furthermore, the forum will actively seek novel research topics in the fields, which CCADD hopes to end up leading to new grant applications.