Two new research groups, the Bio-Molecular Sociology group of the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) and the Dark Matter Axion group, have been launched.
On the 2nd, IBS appointed Woosung Jae as the Chief Investigator (CI) of the Bio-Molecular Sociology group and Yoon Sungwoo as the CI of the Dark Matter Axion group.
The Bio-Molecular Sociology group will be led by the newly appointed CI Woosung Jae. CI Woosung is an expert in structural biology and conducts research on the structural and functional analysis of proteins. After serving as a research fellow in the RNA research group in 2013, he was appointed as a professor at Korea University in 2017. He first published the structural interpretation results of the gap junction membrane protein, which serves as a pathway for transferring substances between cells, using cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo-EM) in 2020, and was the first to identify the structures and operating principles of several gap junction proteins.
CI Woosung noted, "There are 21 kinds of gap junction proteins in the human body," adding, "I aim to elucidate the role of gap junction proteins in direct cellular communication and substance transfer and to find concrete answers to important questions in biology."
The Dark Matter Axion group is led by the newly appointed CI Yoon Sungwoo. Dark matter is an unknown substance that has mass but is unobservable. Scientists believe that only 5% of the material we can observe in the universe is visible, while about 70% is dark energy. The remaining 25% is referred to as dark matter, which does not emit light but attracts objects. Axions are one of the candidates for dark matter and are hypothetical particles that exist only in theory.
CI Yoon was selected for the Young Scientist Foster Program, Next Generation Research Leaders (YSF), at IBS in 2015 and is currently a research fellow in the Axion and Extreme Interaction Research group. He is developing new equipment to expand the search area for axions.
The Dark Matter Axion group will be constituted as an independent research group within the particle and nuclear physics research cluster, not affiliated with a research institute. It is expected to synergize with independent research groups such as the Underground Experimental Research group, Pure Physics Theory Research group, and Rare Nuclei Research group.
CI Yoon remarked, "Axion research is a challenging field that holds the key to unraveling the secrets of dark matter," stating, "Searching for axions is a journey that goes beyond mere discovery to expand the horizons of modern physics."