Dr. Jee Woong Lee's work on gold nano star-based photothermal neuromodulation method was introduced in Research Newsletter ('KAIST Breakthroughs') issued by College of Engineering, KAIST. 
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* Title : Photothermal neural interface technology: Controlling neural activity using light and heat  read more >>

남윤기 교수, 뇌질환 치료용 나노입자 프린팅 기술 개발

우리 대학 바이오및뇌공학과 남윤기 교수 연구팀이 잉크젯 프린팅으로 마이크로미터 수준의 열 패턴을 마음대로 찍어내고, 이를 이용해 원격으로 신경세포의 전기적 활성을 제어할 수 있는 기술을 개발했다.

선택적 나노 광열 신경자극이라 할 수 있는 이 기술은 잉크젯 프린팅 기술과 나노입자 기술을 융합한 것으로 뇌전증 등의 뇌질환 환자들에게 맞춤형 정밀 광열 자극을 도입할 수 있는 기반기술이 될 것으로 기대된다.

강홍기 박사가 주도하고 이구행, 정현준, 이지웅 박사과정이 참여한 이번 연구는 국제 학술지 ‘에이씨에스 나노(ACS Nano)’ 2월 5일자에 게재됐다.

Inkjet-Printed Bio-Functional Thermo-Plasmonic Interfaces for Patterned Neuromodulation

Hongki Kang, Gu-Haeng Lee, Hyunjun Jung, Jee Woong Lee, Yoonkey Nam*

Based on our previous contributions on nanoplamonic neural interface platform to your journal (2014, 2016), we made another big step toward the design of plasmonic neural interface devices by adopting state-of-the-art inkjet printing technology. We propose an innovative, but also practically very efficient, approach to fabricate sophisticated thermo-plasmonic micropatterns on any type of substrates (rigid/flexible, hydrophobic/hydrophilic) using NIR-sensitive gold nanorods. We found that integrating polyelectrolyte layer-by-layer assembly with inkjet printing can provide excellent pattern fidelity and uniformity of micro-patterned thermo-plasmonic nanoparticles on various substrates for neuromodulation. With this printing process, we demonstrated that thermo-plasmonic heat sources can be fabricated over very large area (a few cm scale) with great design flexibility. Moreover, the bio-functionality of this high quality thermo-plasmonic interface was also confirmed by selectively modulating electrical activity of in vitro neuronal networks. 

​Source: Kang et al., ACS Nano 2018  (link)

Inkjet-printed multi-wavelength thermo-plasmonic images for anti-counterfeiting applications

Hongki Kang, Jee Woong Lee, Yoonkey Nam*

This work was led by Dr. Kang in collaboration with Jee Woong. We used two different types of gold nano-particles tuned at different wavelengths (ViS vs. NIR) so that nano-particles can generate heat at specific light. Using an optimized inkjet printing for gold nanoparticles, we we were able to print desired patterns or codes on substrates and the patterns can be decoded through wavelength specific thermal images. We demonstrated that this platform can be applied for anti-counterfeiting applications. 

Prof. Nam will serve as an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engeering (T-BME). IEEE T-BME is a top tier peer-reviewed journal in biomedical engineering field.  (link)

Gold nanostar-mediated neural activity control using plasmonic photothermal effects

Jee Woong Lee, Hyunjun Jung, Hui Hun Cho, Jung Heon Lee, Yoonkey Nam*

This work was led by Jee Woong in collaboration with Prof. Jung Heon Lee's lab (link) at Sungkyunkwan University. We used gold nanostar shaped nanoparticles to induce photothermal effects for neuromodulation. Unlike gold nanorods that are mainly used for phototheraml effects, our gold nano stars were synthesized by seedless methods under completely biocompatibile environment. We showed that gold nanostars were effective in inducing photothermal neural inhibition from single cell level to network level. HJ jung also contributed to this work with his DMD-based phototheraml patterning system for the single cell suppression experiment. (link)

2017 년 연구실 사진은 올해 준공한 양분순 빌딩 양분순 라운지 (YBS Lounge) 에서...
Lab group photo taken at newly open YBS building lounge.

한국공학한림원에서 선정한 '2025, 대한민국을 이끌 100대 기술과 주역'에 남윤기 교수가 뇌과학 응용기술 분야에 주역으로 선정되었습니다. (관련기사)

The National Academy of Engineering of Korea announced 'The Top 100 Technologies and Leaders in 2025 Korea'. Among the technologies, Prof. Nam was elected as the leader in Neurotechnology area

Dr. Hongki Kang gave an oral presentation in MRS Fall meeting (Boston). 

Daejeong Kim received Best Poster Presentation Award

Prof. Nam received Distinguished Service Award from the Korean BioChip Society. He served as the Chair of Academic and Education Committee in 2016, and was the Program Chair for annual meetings (spring and fall) in 2016.

Hyunjun Jung gave a poster presentation, and Nari gave an oral presentation in Phoenix

Prof. Andrew Schwartz (University of Pittsburgh, link), who is the world-leading neuroscientist in cortical neural prosthetics, visited our department and gave a seminar on 'Recent progress toward high-performance neural prosthetics'. After the talk, he visited NEL and shared his thought on in vitro neural recording technology with us. Check his recent research introduced in TV (link).

바이오및뇌공학과 학과 인터뷰 (바로가기)

NEL gave two poster presentations on selective neuromodulation technique and network analysis.

Dr. Kang gave an oral presetation, and Daejeon and Raeyoung gave poster presentations.

Prof. Nam gave an invited on title "Brain-on-a-Chip technology: Application of thermo-plasmonics to control neural activity on a chip" at the 9th International Symposium on Microchemistry and Microsystems. 

Professor Jungkyu Kim (Mechanical Engineering, Texas Tech University, link) and Professor Hyunjung Kim (Biomedical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, link) visited NEL. Two US professors are well-known researchers in Ogran-on-a-Chip technology. Prof. Jungkyu Kim gave a talk titled "A universal microfluidic processor for Biological and Chemical Analysis:From biomolecule detection to space exploration", and Prof. Hyunjung Kim gave a talk titled "Microphysiological Human Gut-on-a-Chip: From Organ Mimicry to Personalized Healthcare" in KAIST. They were host by Prof. Jennifer Shin at Mechanical Engineering.

We were invited to gave presentations in the Nonlinear Dynamics of Electronic Systems held at Zernez, Switzerland. This was part of our on-going collaboration with Prof. Ruedi Stoop's group in ETHZ. 

Digital Micromirror based Near-infrared Illumination System for Plasmonic Photothermal Neuromodulation

Hyunjun Jung, H. Kang, Y. Nam

This is Hyunjun Jung's first paper on his digital micro mirror system for NIR neural suppression experiments. In this paper, Jung reports the patterned photothermal stimulation of neuronal networks with plasmonic gold nanorod MEA chips.
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Source: Jung et al. Biomed. Opt. Exp. 2017 (link) ​