Dong-Jun’s first paper, representing the work done in collaboration with Prof. Dal-Hee Min’s lab at Seoul National University, is now published online in Bioconjugate Chemistry! And this paper was chosen as the front cover!

Nanoparticles (NPs) are a promising carrier for cancer therapeutics. Systemically administered NPs are transported to tumor tissues via the bloodstream, extravasated from microvessels, and delivered to cancer cells. The distribution of NPs in the tumor vascular microenvironment critically determines the therapeutic efficacy of NP-delivered drugs, but its precise assessment in 3D across a large volume remains challenging. Here, an analytical platform—termed OMNIA (for Optical Mapping of Nanoparticles and Image Analysis)—integrating tissue clearing, high-resolution optical imaging, and semiautomated image analysis is presented, which enables accurate, unbiased, and quantitative analysis of the distribution of NPs in relation to the vasculature across a large 3D volume. Application of OMNIA to tumor tissues revealed higher accumulation and more efficient extravasation of NPs in the tumor periphery than the core. Time-course analysis demonstrated that the accumulation of NPs in tumor peaked at 24 h after injection, but the relative distribution of NPs from the vasculature remained remarkably stable over time. Comparisons between 45- and 200-nm-sized NPs showed a lower accumulation of smaller NPs in tumors relative to the liver, yet better vessel permeation.

Together, our results demonstrate that OMNIA facilitates precise and reliable evaluation of NP biodistribution, and mechanistic investigations on NP delivery to tumor tissues.

Koo, D. J., Choi, J., Ahn, M., Ahn, B. H., Min, D-. H. and Kim, S. -Y. (2020). Large-scale 3D optical mapping and quantitative analysis of nanoparticle distribution in tumor vascular microenvironment. Bioconjugate Chemistry. 31(7):1784-1794. *featured as the front cover

2020. 6. 15. Dinner to congratulate DJ on his first paper and the mechanosensation team on the grant from Samsung

Samsung Science & Technology Foundation will fund K-lab for the next five years for investigating the neural mechanism underlying mechanosensory feedback control of ingestion. We are very excited about the new discoveries that we will make based on this support!

Hankook Ilbo news article (Korean)
Dong-a Ilbo news article (Korean)
Kyunghynag Business news article (Korean)
Chosun Business news article (Korean)

New paper from K-lab–it is now online at Nature!

Kim, D. -Y., Heo, G., Kim, M., Kim, H., Jung, S., An, M., Ahn, B. H., Park, J. H., Park, H. -E., Lee, M., Lee, J. W., Schwartz, G. J. and Kim, S. -Y. (2020). A neural circuit mechanism for mechanosensory feedback control of ingestion. Nature. 580(7803):376–380.

How do we stop eating when we feel full? We found a mechanism by which the distension of the digestive tract prevents harmful overconsumption.

Also, this work was covered by Dong-A Science and Dong-A Ilbo (in Korean).

A pop art impression of the gut-brain neural circuits underlying satiety, inspired by Kim et al., Nature 2020.


25-min talk about Kim et al. Nature (2020) paper, presented at the SSIB 2021 meeting, the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior. Check out the SSIB 2021 website for more information (https://www.ssib.org/virtual/index.php).

The first and corresponding authors. (Photo credit: Shin-Young Yoon, Dong-A Ilbo)

The first students of K-Lab, Dong-Yoon and Han-Eol, won several awards in the international conferences and workshops held near the end of 2019.

Dong-Yoon won the best poster awards from (1) the 26th East Asia Joint Symposium on Biomedical Research (Oct 25, 2019) and (2) SNU Joint Workshop for Neuroscience (Dec 13, 2019).

Han-Eol won the outstanding paper award from the 6th end-of-year symposium of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics (Dec 30, 2019).

Huge congratulations everyone, and we anticipate more coming in 2020!

Dr. Ivan de Araujo (Mt.Sinai School of Medicine), a leading researcher in the fields including gut-brain communications, visited K-Lab on Nov 14, 2019. We had much fun activities and discussions until the next day morning!

Our first research paper is now published in Advanced Science, featured as the front cover!

We present the “ZOOM” technique that enables scalable and isotropic expansion of biological samples with easily tunable ZOOM factors (up to 8x). Check out the magnified bacteria, cultured cells, C. elegans, mouse and human brain tissues, and more in the paper. ZOOM enables super-resolution imaging of samples with ordinary microscopes.

Huge congratulations to Han-Eol and Dongkil, who are the co-first authors of the paper, and Prof. Yan Lee, the co-corresponding author of the paper.

Park, H.-E., Choi, D., Park, J. S., Sim, C., Park, S., Kang, S., Lim, H., Lee, M., Kim, J., Pac, J., Rhee, K., Lee, J., Lee, Y., Lee, Y., Kim, S.-Y. (2019). Scalable and isotropic expansion of tissues with simply tunable expansion ratio. Adv Sci. 1901673.

This research was covered by Dong-a Ilbo. Link 1 (Naver news), Link 2 (DongA.com)

Ben received an award from the SNU Institute of Environmental Protection & Safety, for his excellence in safety education examination. Talent shows itself anywhere, indeed!

Minyoo, a PhD student in K-Lab and an alum of Korea University (Life Sciences and Brain/Cognitive Sciences) was selected as a recepient of Global PhD Fellowship Program, which will financially support him for the next 2-5 years! Huge congratulatulations to Minyoo!!

In the middle of hot and humid Korean summer, we held “Summer Workshop on Neural Circuitry” with the labs of Greg Suh (KAIST) and Jeongjin Kim (KIST). Fun and exciting rafting was followed by delicious BBQ, Korean pension-style poster presentations at night and talks in the next day.

Ben, an outstanding alum of Yonsei University, and the invincible goalie of its soccer team, joined K-Lab–now to conquer neuroscience! He has already been loved by the lab members for bringing the solutions. We are very excited to see his progresses as a scientist!!