'Established technical foundation for domestic mRNA vaccine development' recognized; personalized cancer vaccines and various disease therapeutics anticipated
Professor Nam Jae-hwan of the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the Catholic University’s mRNA vaccine localization technology has been selected this year for the "Top 100 National R&D Achievements." According to the Catholic University on the 24th, Professor Nam’s team was chosen as an outstanding achievement in the life and marine field in recognition of having laid the technical foundation for domestic mRNA vaccine development.
Hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the "Top 100 National R&D Achievements" is a program that annually selects and announces R&D outcomes with high social contribution. This year, 100 projects were chosen from a total of 869 candidates selected and recommended by various ministries and agencies.
Professor Nam’s team succeeded in independently developing the core components of mRNA vaccine development: the expression systems and delivery systems. Using these technologies, they also successfully developed a domestically produced preventive vaccine for severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) and a therapeutic vaccine for cervical cancer, thereby establishing technologies for both preventive and therapeutic mRNA vaccine development.
In particular, the research found that mRNA vaccines can be produced as personalized cancer vaccines tailored to individual patient characteristics. Professor Nam’s team’s mRNA technology is expected to serve as an innovative platform capable of preventing and treating a variety of diseases, and to make a significant contribution to future medical advancement.
Professor Nam expressed hope that "mRNA vaccines can be used not only for personalized cancer vaccines but also for developing treatments for various diseases, and that, based on domestic mRNA vaccine development technology, Korea can take a leading position in the future pharmaceutical industry."
News1 Reporter Kwon Hyung-jin (https://www.news1.kr/society/education/5641808)
