Lab Information

Major Targets of our Lab.

1.     Neurodegenerative disease

(1) Development of biomarkers for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) under collaboration with clinicians.

(2)  Investigation for the pathogenic roles of exosome-like extracellular vesicles (EVs) in AD pathogenesis.

2.     Aging-induced Sarcopenia and metabolic diseases

(1) Novel molecular mechanisms underlying aging-induced sarcopenia, a skeletal muscle dysfunction associated with frailty in elderly population: major target is extracellular molecules (e.g., EVs, miRNAs), myokines, and adipokines.

(2) Preventive or therapeutic effects of various molecules against the aging-induced sarcopenia; Pharmacological mechanisms of action

(3) Integrative research under collaboration with colleagues who are experts in exercise science.

Based on the efforts of above, we hope to discover the novel molecular mechanisms or networks between peripheral tissues and central nervous system to elucidate the pathogenesis and discover diagnostic and/or therapeutic targets of these devastating diseases.

My laboratory (Biomarker lab) is one of labs in Department of Pharmacology and Research Center for Controlling Intercellular Communication (RCIC), and participates in a program of BK21-FOUR. RCIC is recently launched as a Medical Research Center (MRC) supported by Korean government (2021~2028) as 7 years projects. As a director of RCIC, I'm concentrating my efforts to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of inter-cellular or inter-tissue communication between metabolic tissues and brain.