Nobel Laureate conferred first POSTECH Honorary DoctorateDr. Roderick MacKinnonPOSTECH, in celebrating 20th Anniversary on December, awarded the first honorary doctorate to Dr. Roderick MacKinnon of the Rockefeller University. Dr. MacKinnon received a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2003 for his work on the structure and operation of ion channels. He is currently the head of Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology and Biophysics which studies the structure and function of ion channels and associated regulatory proteins. International Affairs Office (IAO): First, congratulations on your honorary docto..

Many clinically important drugs are natural products produced by bacteria and fungi. In particular, polyketide antibiotics have been found to be an extremely rich source of biologically active compounds with a broad range of pharmaceutical activities. Aromatic nitro groups are relatively rare functional groups in natural products including polyketide antibiotics but are found in diverse types of important antibiotics, such as chloramphenicol, pyrrolnitrin, aureothin, azomycin, and rufomycin. Surprisingly, the biosynthesis of aromatic nitro groups is poorly understood. To date, only two enzymes..

The invention of the scanning tunnel microscope (STM) opened the door to nanoworld, enabling humankind to actually touch and feel the individual atoms at the surface of a material. It has inspired a series of inventions such as the atomic force microscope (AFM), the lateral force microscope (LFM), the magnetic force microscope (MFM), etc. Recently, the scanning probe microscope (SPM), which encompasses all these inventions, has evolved into the millipede technology which has a potential to make competing data storage technologies obsolete. A common denominator of these exciting developments is..

Improvements in performance and reductions in cost of silicon-based nonvolatile memories, such as flash random access memory (flash-RAM), have rendered floppy discs and many other forms of portable storage obsolete. But for many uses that require data to be written only once, such as archiving and security applications, their cost effectiveness is limited. So-called write-onceread- many (WORM) memories made from low-cost polymer materials could provide a solution. The devices, developed by Professors Moonhor Ree, Ohyun Kim, Su-Moon Park and their research teams, are based on hyperbranched copp..

As technology continues to get smaller, and as memory needs become more demanding, the microelectronics industry requires devices that are more cost-efficient and lightweight. And, while organic memory materials have shown some promise on improvement in performance and reductions in cost, they still lack some of the essential qualities, such as durable performance even in a harsh condition, needed for application in a wide variety of fields. So-called Non-Volatile Memories (NVM) from thermally and dimensionally stable polymer materials could provide a solution.The devices, developed by Profess..

Ultra-fast flash light revealing mystery of atoms, into the world of attoseconds (10-18 second)Beyond the femtosecond (10-15 second) barrierAs momentary flash lights capture the motion of fast moving objects such as a bullet or explosion splinter, ultra-fast laser lights can be utilized to take pictures of ultra-fast natural phenomena following their dynamical change. The last decade has observed a rapid progress in femtosecond laser technology. This development allows us to carry out new kinds of experiments to open up a new area of nature that has never been explored before. Is there no phen..

Climate change caused by increasing atmospheric CO2 is a major environmental problem of the 21st century. There has been much discussion about how to reduce CO2 output and prevent global warming. In this respect, plants are an important part of the overall picture as they are primary CO2 consumers and are directly challenged by increasing CO2 levels. Moreover, plants vary in their responses to elevated CO2. Plants that adapt better to this change are expected to out-compete their neighbors, which would cause instability in present ecosystems and unpredictable changes in weather and climate.In ..