SUNGKYUNKWAN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

This is due to the broken immune system which becomes friend of tumor. In order to find the way to impede tumor proliferation, knowledge of the basic mechanisms of the immune system must be increased rapidly. We are updating how tumor cells compromise and reprogram the immune system by development and learning.We are focusing on developing model systems to investigate immune cells status during the development of tumor, to figure out anti-cance r targets and to control tumorigenesis by E3 ubiquitin ligase and phosphatase. This research includes skilled experimental technology and competent students to study the function of specific immune cells in tumor microenvironment. Using improved cutting-edge methodologies such as establishing tumor microenvironment, sorting immune cells by multiplex fluorescence and treating adenovirus vaccines underlies how tumor and immune cell's communication influence signaling molecules and pathway. These advances in understanding the role of immune system in tumor are able to cope with the most pressing disease of the present age, exploiting perception into their underlying mechanisms and uncovering novel immunotherapy strategies.

"an emerging approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle for each person." The research goal of Precision Medicine Unit is to integrate clinical data with genomic, environmental, and microbiome data from patients so that we can understand diseases better and develop better prevention methods with more precise therapies.

In consideration of the enormous promise of regenerative medicine in the development of therapeutic strategies for human diseases, understanding molecular mechanisms underlying cell fate control during organ development and organ repair processes has great potential. Another goal of this unit is to bridge basic research with disease modeling and perform translational investigations to elucidate mechanisms of human disease. The Development and Regenerative medicine Unit aims to provide multidisciplinary training within the graduate program of SKKUSOM.

To combat many infectious agents including newly emerging agents, we need to understand molecular mechanisms of their pathogenesis and the host’s immune system. Infection-immunity research groups at SKKU-SOM use advanced molecular biology, experimental animals, and clinical big data analysis to study interactions between microbes and hosts. Our groups include bacteriologists, virologists, parasitologists, immunologists, and clinical infection scientists.

The immune system is also important for the control of cancers. Cancer immunology is a hot field to provide modalities for cancer treatment. In cancer patients, the immune system that should recognize cancer cells becomes unable to kill cancer cells. This phenomenon of immune exhaustion in the cancer microenvironment is due to complex interactions among cancer cells, cancer stromal cells, and immune cells. To overcome this phenomenon for treating cancer patients, we are studying cancer-fighting immune cells including T and B lymphocytes and their cellular characteristics.

Another important disease in this field is autoimmune disease that is increasing in advanced countries. The complex immune system sometimes fails to control their own activity and eventually triggers damage to own tissues and inflammation. Our immune system contains components to inhibit overactivity of the immune system. We need to study this regulatory component of the immune system. Our group is also interested in autoimmune diseases using animal models and clinical patients.

Our faculty members in this program use wet and dry lab techniques from cells to organisms to identify and understand underlying molecular mechanisms and cellular pathways involved in metabolism, human genetic diseases, and aging. Model systems including genetically altered mice and in vitro cell and organoid culture systems are used as main tools of this program. Ongoing efforts include research on adipose and muscle biology, aging, cancer metabolism, cardiovascular biology, diabetes, obesity, exercise metabolism, microbiota, immunometabolism, mitochondria, and stem cells. The unit is keen to contribute to the translation of fundamental discoveries into clinical advances to treat metabolic disorders and genetic diseases.

These questions can be explored to identify the fundamental principles and mechanisms that govern the assembly and function of neurons and neural circuits with environmental communication within nervous system. Largely boosted by rapid technical advances, neuroscience is nowadays progressing at an impressive pace.

The Neuroscience research groups at the SKKU-SOM use cutting-edge technology and computational approaches to study the formation and function of neural circuits in different model systems including the fruit fly, mouse as well as human.

The major challenge facing our research groups is to determine the morphogenesis of axons and dendrites and formation and refinement of synapses, which is key steps in the establishment of neural circuits in the brain, to regenerate and reconstruct neural activity after injury, and to understand of how the nervous system functions both in healthy brain and how these mechanisms are deregulated in neurological diseases including developmental, psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer and Parkinson's. Ultimately, these studies will lay the foundation for the development of new therapeutic approaches in the treatment of various neurologic disorders.