Recognized for excellent research achievements, contributions to development of pharmacy sector
Increased possibility for developing new drugs to treat metabolic and allergy-related diseases
Research published in world's top SCI journal for 2 straight years
[October 12, 2016]
YU College of Pharmacy Professor Jang Hyun-wook (64) was selected as the winner for the 'Handok Academic Award'.
The 'Handok Academic Award' was founded jointly by Handok (CEO and Chairman Kim Young-jin) and the Pharmaceutical Society of Korea (Chairman Sohn Ui-dong) to promote research in the pharmacology sector, and is presented annually to researchers who contributed greatly to the development of pharmacology through extraordinary research results.
Professor Jang was selected as the winner for the 47th Handok Academic Award for not only his research on metabolic diseases, but also creatively presenting the possibility of developing new drugs that could treat both allergy and inflammatory diseases.
Professor Jang became the first to discover that mast cells, which are the main cells involved in allergic reactions, can negative regulate AMPK (AMP-activated protein kinase), which is an energy detection protein for reactions activated by antigen-antibody stimulation. The research results were published in the most authoritative journal in the allergy field in 2013 Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI). Furthermore, it was recognized for discovering new allergy treatment targets and was selected as an 'excellent basic research case' in the 2014 National Research Foundation'.
In his follow-up research, Professor Jang's research finding that AMPK and the signal regulation phospho-enzyme ERK1 and 2 (extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2) suppresses inter-activation were published in JACI for two consecutive years. His research was selected as a highlight paper of the journal and thus recognized for the excellence of the research.
In addition, Professor Jang was also recognized for his contributions in not only research, but also education and was awarded the Ministry of Education Award on the 33rd Teacher's Day in 2014, as well as the Gyeongsangbuk-do Culture Award (Natural Science sector) in 2013.
Meanwhile, the Handok Academic Award is scheduled to hold the presentation ceremony at the 'Pharmaceutical Society of Korea 70th Anniversary International Academic Conference (Oct 18 - 20)' that will be held at the Seoul The K Hotel on the 19th.
