Nayoung Ku is currently an undergraduate researcher at CCADD, following the successful completion of her internship program. She is pursuing studies in life science and AI convergence at Handong Global University, with a previous Bachelor's degree in psychology. Nayoung specializes in developing prediction modeling and optimization algorithms with diverse datasets.

Her research includes work at the Biodata Laboratory developing cancer diagnostic machine learning models, and she received the Daewoong Pharmaceutical CEO Award at the JUMP AI 2024 Drug Discovery Competition for her team's work on IRAK4 inhibitor prediction.

This winter, CCADD welcomes six interns - Minsol Kim, Suhyun An, Seo-Yoon Jang, Seeun Park, Yura Choi and Nayoung Ku - for the 2025 Winter Internship Program.

Minsol Kim is majoring in veterinary medicine at Seoul National University. She is interested in exploring the application of domain knowledge in the process of AI model development by utilizing her knowledge of pharmacology, toxicology, and physiology. Her goal is to build a solid foundation in AI and gain hands-on experience analyzing clinical data and investigating the drug development process. Through the 2025 CCADD winter internship program, she aims to explore potential career paths in the field of drug discovery.

Suhyun An is a student majoring in Stem Cell and Regenerative Biotechnology at Konkuk University. She previously worked as an undergraduate researcher in the Immunopharmacology Laboratory at Seoul National University College of Medicine, where she studied drug toxicity. Her current research interests include Drug-Drug Interactions (DDIs) and drug repurposing using artificial intelligence (AI). Her previous training primarily involved wet lab research. The CCADD internship will allow her to gain experience in data science applied to drug development, which will serve as a critical foundation for achieving her future research goals.

Seo-Yoon Jang is majoring in Systems Biotechnology at Chung-Ang University. She has a keen interest in AI and data science, which led her to complete the 2024 Boostcourse <DATA SCIENCE PROJECTS> coaching study program. Subsequently, she developed an interest in drug delivery and interned at the Lab of Drug Delivery and Cell Therapy at Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine. Her growing passion for integrating AI into drug development led her to a winter internship at the CCADD. Through this internship, she aims to gain proficiency in data analysis tools and deepen her domain knowledge, with the goal of becoming a researcher specializing in AI-driven drug development.

Seeun Park is a senior at Yonsei University, double majoring in Biotechnology and Public Administration. She is willing to explore clinical pharmacology and regulatory science during this winter internship program. With passion in healthcare and safety, she focuses on gaining more experience and knowledge on artificial intelligence for clinical drug development and more specifically epigenetic study and policy analysis in Korea. It is her goal to work on expertise for the improvement of disease prevention and control.

Yura Choi is an undergraduate student in the Department of Chemistry at Kyung Hee University. She is passionate about AI-driven drug development, applying data science to pharmaceutical research. Through the LAIDD program, she has gained valuable insights into how AI can be applied to drug development. She aims to contribute to drug development and explore innovative therapeutic modalities by leveraging AI-driven data analysis. Currently, she is participating in the CCADD winter internship to strengthen her AI and data science expertise and deepen her understanding of research in drug development.

Nayoung Ku is an undergraduate in life science and AI convergence at Handong Global University. She previously earned a Bachelor’s degree in psychology at the National Institute of Lifelong Education by Examination for Self-Education. Nowadays, Nayoung mainly develops prediction modelling and optimization algorithms with various datasets. She had been a research assistant at Biodata Laboratory, Handong Global University, focusing on cancer diagnostic machine learning models using tumour-educated platelet (TEP) RNA-seq data for a year. Recently, she did a capstone project on NLP for an ovarian cancer diagnostic model using TEP RNA-seq pre-processed data, which showed her creativity in analytic approach. She received the Daewoong Pharmaceutical CEO Award at the JUMP AI 2024 Drug Discovery Competition, sponsored by the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association. In the competition, Nayoung and her team developed an advanced multi- perceptron to predict IC50 values for IRAK4 inhibitors by applying novel and strategic approaches to accelerate drug discovery processes. With her enthusiasm for enhancing the efficiency of drug discovery, she participates in this internship to experience real-world clinical data and its analysis, like electronic medical records. With a heart of admiration, she is yearning to learn the extraordinary methodology of CCADD.

We hope that during their winter internship, they will build confidence in their area of expertise, develop independent learning skills to explore new knowledge, and dedicate their enthusiasm to gaining a comprehensive understanding of drug development and regulatory science throughout these two months.

On Friday, December 27, 2024, the 2024 CCADD Year-End Workshop was successfully held at the Seoul National University (SNU) Yongon Campus. The event was attended by Prof. Howard Lee, CCADD members, interns, and alumni. Notably, Research Professor Yoona Choi joined the event in person, while Prof. Asa Johansson and Dr. Tae Kyu Chung participated online, adding an international dimension to the program.

The workshop began with a brief icebreaking session, followed by a series of meaningful presentations. The first presenter, Yunjin Choi, shared her growth and learning experiences over the past six months in her presentation titled “The Serendipitous Road: Lessons from the Past 6 Months.” Next, Yujin Kim reflected on her first year as a graduate student, highlighting her research projects, achievements, and key takeaways. In the afternoon session, Junghyun Won provided a retrospective on her 4.5 years as a graduate student, offering valuable insights into the diverse experiences of graduate life.

The main session reviewed CCADD's accomplishments in 2024, celebrating the research group's growth and achievements. Prof. Howard Lee commended the group’s continued success in research and publications. The workshop then shifted its focus to 2025, with a session outlining a roadmap emphasizing emerging AI concepts and innovative research ideas aligned with the latest trends.

Three special lectures added depth and inspiration to the workshop. Dr. Tae Kyu Chung, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California San Francisco, delivered a lecture titled “Postdoc Diaries: A Glimpse of Life in the US,” offering a vivid account of his life and research abroad, which resonated strongly with the audience. Research Professor Yoona Choi reflected on her year as a research professor at Child Cancer and Rare Disease Project, Seoul National University Hospital. Her presentation detailed the challenges and achievements of her rigorous research journey, offering valuable insights for fellow researchers. Prof. Asa Johansson from Uppsala University delivered a lecture titled “Pharmacoepidemiology in the Era of Precision Health,” introducing the latest developments in precision medicine and pharmacoepidemiology. Her session provided an opportunity for attendees to exchange ideas with an international expert.

The workshop concluded with an inspiring speech by Prof. Howard Lee, who has been serving as the Dean of the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology at SNU. Prof. Lee praised CCADD's remarkable achievements throughout 2024 and expressed his strong support for the group’s ambitious goals in 2025. The 2024 CCADD Year-End Workshop provided members and alumni with a valuable opportunity to strengthen their relationships, exchange ideas, and align on a shared vision for the journey ahead.

The Korean Society of Medical Oncology or KSMO is the largest academic congregation in the filed of oncology, consisting not only of medical or clinical oncologists, but of basic and clinical researchers involved in the development of anti-cancer drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines. Prof. Howard Lee was invited to this year's general assembly and symposium for KSMO and discussed the potential and pitfalls of antibody-drug conjugates or ADCs. The first ADC, Mylotarg, was approved in 2000 by the US FDA, followed by its voluntary withdrawal in 2010 due to safety issue, and re-approval in 2017, which just tells how difficult it has been to develop a safe and effective ADC for clinical usage in cancer patients. However, eight ADCs have been approved by the US FDA since 2019 totaling 13, and this indicates how promising the development horizon of ADCs can be. Prof. Lee talked about the pros and cons of ADCs mainly from the perspective of drug development. For example, an ADC consists of three independent components: an antibody (mostly monoclonal antibody or mAb), a cytotoxic payload or warhead, and a linker that combines both antibody and payload. Due to its structural complexity and interactions between elements, which has not been fully elucidated yet, the development of an ADC has faced many technical difficulties. At the same time, however, ADCs also can become a much better platform than other competing ones in the field of oncology because of the uniqueness of its mechanism of action. 

March 2021 marks the end of CCADD's advisory to Idience's new molecule research.

Idience Co., LTD., a subsidiary of Ildong Pharmaceutical Co.,Ltd. (a major pharmaceutical company in Korea), is a No-Research-Development-Only (NRDO) company that focuses on developing and commercializing novel oncology drugs. 

Particularly, IDX-1197, a potent poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors that causes synthetic lethality in cancer cells, has received the spotlight not only from the researchers, but from the investigators. Idience has successfully filed an investigational new drug (IND) for IDX-1197 to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last year. If approved and marketed, IDX-1197 will be used as monotherapy or an add-on to other anti-cancer agents targeting multiple solid tumors.

CCADD played a key role in speeding up the clinical development process of IDX-1197. From January to March 2021, CCADD analyzed preclinical and clinical data on other PARP inhibitors already developed or under development. Besides, CCADD comprehensively reviewed the results of completed, ongoing, or planned studies of IDX-1197, and compared the results with those of other PARP inhibitors such as Olaparib, Rucaparib, Niraparib, and Talazoparib. The analysis laid the foundation for how CCADD could help Idience better navigate the complex drug development process. This consulting project was led by Siun Kim, Yesol Hong, and Jung-Hyun Won under the auspice of Prof. Howard Lee.

On balance, it was a great experience to have worked with Idience on this project, and CCADD gives its best wishes to Idience for a successful global clinical development of IDX-1197 in the near future.

The 2020 Population Approach Group Korea (PAGK) Annual Meeting was held on November 27 with presenters attending at the WesternLife Hotel, Iksan, Jeolla-do while other participants joining the meeting on-line. The PAGK is a research group affiliated with Korean Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, of which members (currently >180) join from various sectors such as academia (clinical pharmacology, clinical medicine, and pharmacy), hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, CROs, and government agencies.

The plenary speech was delivered by Prof. Yangjin Kim, Professor at the Department of Mathematics at Konkuck University, titled “Mathematical modelling of tumor growth and signaling network, and development of anti-cancer drugs and therapeutic strategies”. The topics in the Young Researchers’ Sessions included physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model for clozapine in Korean patients with schizophrenia, misuse of the Michaelis-Menten for prediction of in vivo clearance for drugs, and microphysiological systems for predicting human pharmacokinetics.

Two PhD students of CCADD, Siun Kim and Tae Kyu Chung, presented their population pharmacokinetic and pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modeling studies in the trainee session. Prof. Howard Lee also attended the PAGK annual meeting on-site to support and encourage Siun and Tae Kyu to expand their networks. The whole presentations of the two students can be watched at the Youtube channel of CCADD.