Four CCADD members attended the SNU-Hokkaido University joint symposium held in Sapporo, Japan. On the second day of the symposium, professors and students of the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology of Seoul National University  met members of the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology of Hokkaido University and shared their research ideas, experiences, and results. The participants from the two universities introduced their research progress on a variety of topics, varying from computer-human interaction study to the development of new drug entities using machine learning technology. 

Dr. Soohyun Kim of CCADD gave an oral presentation, where she discussed if therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of vancomycin is cost-effective in elderly patients. According to Dr. Kim, the cost-effectiveness of vancomycin in this population might not be so cost-effective as was previously anticipated, but could be cost-effective in patients admitted to the intensive care unit. In the following poster session, Dr. Jeong-An Gim presented the results of a pharmacoepigenomic research (Difference in DNA methylation and pharmacokinetics parameters of tacrolimus between two periods of a bioequivalence test with tacrolimus). Dr. Kim tried to provide a basis for tacrolimus pharmacoepigenomics and may provide a clue to the different dose of tacrolimus through his research. Yoomin Jeon, a PhD student at CCADD, introduced a new research project, entitled "A Dimensionality Reduction Model to Increase the Efficiency and Accuracy of Clinical Trial Feasibility Assessment Using Electronic Medical Records." Yoomin’s poster was associated with a new grant CCADD received recently from the National Research Foundation (PI: Prof. Howard Lee). Another PhD student, Siun Kim, presented his research with Dr. Soohuyn Kim about the validity of the equivalence margin in the phase 3 trial with CT-P13, an Infliximab biosimilar. He had an opportunity to discuss the implication and the future plan of the study with researchers of Hokkaido University.

Those attending the symposium from CCADD were able to meet with many young Japanese professionals and researchers in various fields. They  look forward to seeing them again at a joint symposium at Seoul National University next year.

Two CCADD members, Dr. Soohyun Kim (PhD in statistics) and Siun Kim (BS in biology) gave presentations at the 2018 Korean Statistical Society Fall Conference , held on November 2-3 at Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea. Dr. Kim gave an oral presentation of an update of her research on optimal experimental design. Additionally, Siun presented a poster discussing the appropriateness of an equivalence margin used in a clinical trial with CT-P13, an infliximab biosimilar, developed by Celltrion. Dr. Kim’s presentation was well received from her peer statisticians, who have been actively working in the field of experimental statistics in Korea. Interestingly, statisticians at Celltrion dropped by Siun’s poster and asked several questions. On the first day of the conference, Dr. Kim joined a tutorial session on deep learning from a statistician’s point of view.

Two scientists from Samsung SDS, Mr. Jaeho Yang, Principal Engineer (Sr. Expert), IoT Lab, and Dr. Sunghoon Joo, PhD, Senior Engineer, Advance Research Lab, visited CCADD on August 24, 2018 to have a joint seminar. In this joint seminar, Prof. Howard Lee gave an overview of the research projects CCADD has performed in the area of applying the artificial intelligence (AI) technology to clinical drug development, entitled with 'AI-enriched Clinical Trials'. Prof. Lee emphasized how AI could streamline various research activities pertaining to clinical trials, one of which is patient enrollment. For example, it is important to know who did what and how before planning any clinical trial, which is the main theme of the grant that the Korea Clinical Trials Global Initiative or KCGI has recently awarded CCADD, named 'AI-based Clinical Trial Resource Integration System or ACTRiS',

Following Prof. Lee's presentation, Mr. Yang introduced CCADD to the core concepts of several AI technologies and their potentials in drug discovery. Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) and autoencoding (AE) were a few examples Mr. Yang put emphasis on during his presentation. After that, Dr. Joo expanded further on several research projects Samsung SDS has conducted to design new molecules for drug discover in silico using advanced AI technologies such as molecular graphs and AE. Collectively, Mr. Yang and Dr. Joo showed how AI could fasten the discovery of new drug candidates that are likely to maintain excellent bio-physico-chemical properties, which may save time, resources, and costs in the whole drug development program. 

CCADD and Samsung SDS agreed to continue looking for a cadre of collaboration and joint research opportunities that may benefit both organizations.   

The Center for Convergence Approaches in Drug Development (CCADD) is delighted to welcome Dr. Kyeong-Ryoon Lee as its newest member. Starting February 2018, Dr. Lee has started his new position as a visiting professor in CCADD at the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, Seoul National University. Dr. Lee received his PhD degree in Pharmaceutical Science at College of Pharmacy, Seoul National University in 2011 and completed his two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), followed by another at Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA. Dr. Lee also spent four years getting hands-on real-world drug development experience at Daewoong Pharmaceuticals, Korea, during which Dr. Lee spent a year at RIKEN, Japan's largest and most prestigious research institutes. Currently, Dr. Lee is a research scientist at Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB). 

Joining CCADD, Dr. Lee emphasized the importance of an evidence-based decision-making to meet the challenges of today's new drug development. Dr. Lee said, "I would like to carry out a joint research with CCADD on AI-based modeling approach to accelerate drug discovery in both clinical and non-clinical studies." Prof. Howard Lee welcomed Dr. Lee by praising his broad research experience in drug development. "CCADD is very pleased to announce this research collaboration with Dr. Lee, which will foster a greater understanding of drug development in more insightful ways", Prof. Lee added. 

More details about Dr. Lee's previous experience and research interests can be found here.

Dr. Soohyun Kim was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, Seoul National University. She received her PhD in statistics at Arizona State Univeristy in the United States. Previously, Dr. Kim studied communications at Iowa State University for one year. She also worked as an editor of Hankyoreh21, a printed news magazine, and an account executive at advertising agencies in South Korea. Dr. Kim earned her BS degree in engineering (major: architecture) at Seoul National University. Dr. Kim is now a Postdoctoral Researcher at Spatial Computing for Sustainable Infrastructure laboratory (SCSI lab), Yonsei University.

Dr. Hyun A Lee is a Senior Manager at Medical & Lifecycle Safety Team in Samsung Bioepis. Dr. Lee was a BK21 Postdoctoral Researcher at the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, Seoul National University. Dr. Lee studied at the Department of Transdisciplinary Studies, Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, Seoul National University, and she was also a trainee in clinical pharmacology at the Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Seoul National University College of Medicine and Hospital. Dr. Lee graduated from North Carolina State University (NCSU) in the USA with a master’s degree in biomathematics (2010).