Professor Young-Tae Chang (Associate Director of IBS Center for Self-assembly and Complexity) recently won the Organic Chemistry Division Award for Excellent Research (Sang Chul Shim Award) from the Korean Chemical Society.

Professor Young-Tae Chang who received his Ph.D. from POSTECH was appointed to the POSTECH faculty in 2017 after teaching at New York University and National University of Singapore.

Profess Chang pioneered an innovative research area that uses fluorescent molecules to differentiate living cells and was recognized for his unique and outstanding research findings in organic chemistry and his contribution to the advancement in the Organic Chemistry Division.

He drew attention from academic circles after demonstrating that cells could be differentiate using only organic molecules – which conventionally had to use antibodies – and systematically established that mechanism.

In addition, Professor Chang systematized the identification of target proteins inside cells, a challenge in the chemical biology community, and is often called a ‘fluorescent alchemist’ for constructing a ‘fluorescent library’ with more than 10,000 fluorescent molecules.

The Organic Chemistry Division of the Korean Chemical Society awards the Sang Chul Shim Award to one researcher who has accomplished outstanding work in organic chemistry every year. Three researchers from POSTECH including Professor Jaiwook Park, Professor Young Ho Rhee and Professor Hyun-Suk Lim of the Department of Chemistry have won this award.