Lee Yun-sil, a professor at Seoul National University's School of Dentistry, has been selected as the May recipient of the Korea Science and Technology Award, hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) and jointly organized by the National Research Foundation of Korea and Seoul Economic Daily.
The MSIT and the foundation announced Tuesday that Lee was chosen for providing clues to solving bone diseases, which are rapidly increasing in an aging society, and for contributing to public health. Lee became the first to identify the biological mechanism by which mitochondria within osteoblasts, the cells that build bone, promote bone formation.
Lee achieved the results through support from the MSIT's Mid-Career Researcher Program and Basic Research Laboratory Program. The research was also selected as the cover paper of the February 2023 issue of Cell Metabolism, an international journal in the field of metabolic biology.
"Through my research, I ultimately want to propose a new approach to treating musculoskeletal diseases," Lee said. "My goal is to open an era in which treatments that restore damaged tissue, beyond simply slowing the progression of disease, become widespread."
