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. 

CCADD attended this year's highly anticipated biennial conference hosted by the Korean Society of Medical Informatics (KOSMI). Held at Keimyung University Dongsan Hospital in Daegu, South Korea, the conference spanned two insightful days, supplemented by a three-hour tutorial program.

Under the theme of "Revolution and Innovation in Smart Healthcare," the event delved into an array of captivating topics. Attendees had the privilege of exploring groundbreaking subjects, including the "Application of Large Language Models in Healthcare" and the "Utilization of ChatGPT and Natural Language Processing Models in Medical Research."

Throughout the conference, CCADD seized every moment to absorb valuable lessons. The gathering also served as a catalyst for expanding perspectives and engaging in constructive discussions at this pivotal juncture in the realm of medicine and healthcare. With powerful technologies like ChatGPT emerging, the field is undoubtedly experiencing a wind of change, and KOSMI's conference provided a unique platform to address the challenges and opportunities presented by these advancements.

 In a gathering of brilliant minds from around the world, Professor Howard and his team attended Conference on Health, Inference, and Learning (CHIL) 2023. The three-day event, held from June 22nd to 24th in Cambridge, Massachusetts, provided a platform for cutting-edge research and discussions on the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and healthcare.

Prof. Howard, along with his students Jung Hyun and David, as well as his former student, Siun, were among the select few from South Korea to be invited to this renowned conference. Their attendance was further bolstered by the acceptance of their research paper, titled "Revisiting Machine-Learning Based Drug Repurposing: Drug Indications Are Not a Right Prediction Target," which they presented during the first day's poster session. The team explained the significance and implications of their study, actively engaging with fellow participants and answering questions. More information about the paper can be found here.

The conference encompassed an extensive array of topics, all of which were essential for researchers navigating the rapidly evolving field of AI in healthcare. Attendees were treated to enlightening talks and exciting ideas that spanned innovation, equity, and generalizability in machine learning for health. Discussions included "innovation in machine learning for health," "sharing health data in an age of generative AI: risks, limitations and solutions," "equity implications of machine learning in health: how technology could help or hurt," and "generalizability in machine learning for health: critical for robustness or a distraction from specific validation."

Every moment of the conference proved to be an eye-opening experience. It served as an extraordinary opportunity to broaden their perspectives, push boundaries, and venture beyond their comfort zones.

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. 

Prof. Howard Lee was invited to a forum organized by the Korea Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) to celebrate its 10th anniversary of upgrade from a Ministry of Health and Welfare institution to a Prime Ministerial Office institution 10 years ago. Prof. Lee chaired the panel discussion at the forum. More detailed information about the forum can be found at this.