The Ministry of Science and ICT said on the 13th that V. Narry Kim, head of the RNA research center at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) and a distinguished professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Seoul National University, was selected as the winner of the 2027 Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) Nakasone Award.
HFSP is a global research support program established in 1989 by major advanced countries to support innovative and challenging international collaborative research in the life sciences. It has supported more than 8,500 researchers from 73 countries to date, and 31 recipients have won the Nobel Prize.
The HFSP Nakasone Award is given to researchers who have achieved innovative scientific advances or breakthroughs in the life sciences. Regardless of nationality or age, only research achievements are evaluated, and it is awarded to pioneers leading life science research, earning a reputation in academia as a "stepping stone to the Nobel Prize" (4 of the 21 past winners later won the Nobel Prize).
In particular, unlike scientific achievement awards that honor a researcher's lifetime contributions, the Nakasone Award focuses on groundbreaking discoveries published within the past 10 years that have broadened the horizons of life sciences. It recognizes research spanning the entire field of life sciences, from molecular and cellular life phenomena to systems neuroscience including cognitive functions, and interactions between living organisms and the environment.
The ministry said the award marks a historic milestone as the first time a Korean—and the first in Asia—has received the HFSP Nakasone Award since its establishment in 2010, and is a major achievement demonstrating the global competitiveness of Korea's life sciences community.
Director General Kim has led the IBS RNA research center since 2012, successively uncovering regulatory principles for RNA biogenesis, function, and degradation, and pioneering a new field in RNA biology. In particular, by revealing new mechanisms for regulating gene expression and noncanonical RNA processing pathways, Kim laid an important foundation for understanding the pathogenesis of diseases and the fundamental principles of life phenomena, and has been recognized as a researcher leading advances in RNA biology by proposing the molecular basis for developing durable mRNA therapeutics and vaccines.
HFSP highly valued these research achievements and said it selected Director General Kim as the 2027 Nakasone Award winner for "discovering noncanonical RNA tailing pathways and elucidating new regulatory mechanisms of gene expression." Noncanonical RNA tailing is a phenomenon in which various types of tails are added to the ends of RNA to regulate RNA stability and degradation, and protein production.
Director General Kim competed with 45 world-renowned scientists and was selected as a finalist by the HFSP Scientific Advisory Committee in April 2026, and after final approval by the HFSP Board on Jul. 6, was officially announced as the 2027 Nakasone Award winner.
The winner receives a commemorative medal, a certificate, and $15,000 in research support, and delivers the HFSP Nakasone Lecture at the HFSP laureates' annual scientific meeting. Director General Kim is scheduled to give the award lecture at next year's meeting.
In the meantime, the Ministry of Science and ICT has continued to support participation by outstanding researchers from Korea in HFSP programs through initiatives such as the Masterclass Workshop, while also working to identify Nakasone Award candidates centered on the Talent Discovery Subcommittee.
Bae Kyung-hoon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, "The first HFSP Nakasone Award for a Korean is a proud achievement showing that our life science research capacity is recognized worldwide," adding, "We will continue to actively support researchers at the forefront of Korea's science and technology so they can keep producing world-class innovative results and gain steady recognition on the global stage."