
The POSTECH research team, in collaboration with Qurient, announced on the 15th that they discovered that combining 'mocaciclib', a substance that inhibits CDK7, with an antibody-drug conjugate can significantly increase the anti-cancer effect by preventing DNA repair in cancer cells.
AI-generated summary
Cancer cells tend to repair DNA damage caused by anticancer drugs on their own, reducing the effectiveness of treatment.
POSTECH announced on the 15th that Professor Tae-kyung Kim of the Department of Life Sciences and Graduate School of Convergence and Hye-rim Jeong's research team in the integrated program, in collaboration with the Qurient research team, discovered that the anti-cancer effect is significantly increased when the new drug candidate 'mocaciclib' is used together with an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC).
ADC is a type of guided missile anticancer drug that delivers a strong anticancer agent to antibodies that visit cancer cells.
Anticancer drugs kill cancer cells by damaging their DNA, but when cancer cells repair the damaged DNA on their own, the drug's effectiveness is reduced.
The research team focused on the enzyme 'CDK7', which starts cells to make proteins, and applied 'Mocaciclib', which is being developed by Qurient, as a substance to block this.
As a result, the activity of proteins that lead to cancer growth decreased, and the expression of genes that cancer cells use to repair DNA damage also decreased.
Professor Kim Tae-kyung said, “It could be a new treatment strategy for patients who have a small amount of the target protein or need to reduce the dose due to side effects, or for patients who use multiple ADCs one after another.”

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced that it had selected three urgent research and development tasks, including AI detection of illegal sites, inspection of forest fire recovery drones, and 3D modeling of fire sites.

A joint research team from POSTECH and Kangwon National University developed a method to control particle growth by sequentially adding air and oxygen during the cathode material firing process. The single-crystal cathode material made in this way maintains 83.04% of its initial capacity after charging and discharging 100 times, and its performance is improved compared to existing air or oxygen-only firing methods.

Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) announced on the 17th that it has launched the 'Quantum Sensing Strategic Project Group' jointly with KAIST, UNIST, and GIST, and aims to secure ultra-precision quantum sensor source technology for 5 years until 2030 by investing 26 billion won in national funds.

The Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology announced that it has established a 'datanet' system that links 17 types of administrative data, including energy consumption, commercial districts, and industry licenses for 7.3 million buildings nationwide. Since April 2023, we have collaborated with 16 organizations to integrate 13 types of data to date, and it was carried out as a project by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and published in an international academic journal.

A study of 1,496 unmarried Korean women aged 20-40 found 75% hold ambivalent views on marriage and children, neither strongly for nor against, while 17.7% hold traditional views and 7.4% post-traditional views, with marriage intentions varying significantly across groups.

In a survey by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, single women who accepted the traditional family view had a high intention to marry, and the compromise type was the most common at 75.0%. Employment status and household income also influenced the intention to marry, and the report emphasized the need to create a gender-equal family environment and institutional support.