- World’s foremost authority and pioneer of systems
metabolic engineering
- First Korean to become a Foreign Member of the Royal Society, UK, this year… Simultaneously
elected as an international member to the world’s three major academies
- Award ceremony scheduled to be
held on August 18 at the Pony Chung Hall in IPARK Tower, Samseong-dong
The
Pony Chung Foundation (Chairman Kim Chul-Su) selected KAIST’s Distinguished
Professor (Vice President for Research) Lee
Sang-Yup, the world’s foremost authority and pioneer of systems metabolic
engineering, as the winner of the 15th Pony Chung Innovation Award.
Chairman
Kim Chul-Su announced the reason behind the selection, stating that Professor
Lee Sang-Yup is a scientist with great achievements and high status as he is
the first Korean to become a Foreign Member of the Royal Society, UK, and
excluding citizens from the US and the British Commonwealth, he is the only
scientist in the world to simultaneously become an international member of the world’s
three major academies – the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of
Sciences and the Royal Society. Chairman Kim Chul-Su added that systems
metabolic engineering which Professor Lee pioneered is extremely meaningful as
bio-based, eco-friendly technology utilizing microorganisms, which instills
great expectations to its unlimited potential for development.
Professor Lee Sang-Yup teaches at KAIST as a Distinguished
Professor and serves as the Vice President for Research. He was born in 1964
and obtained his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering at Seoul National
University and received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at Northwestern
University. Professor Lee pioneered systems metabolic engineering and developed
source technology, becoming well known as the world’s leading authority in his
field. Systems metabolic engineering is a technology that overall designs and
operates the metabolic pathways of cells and mass produces compounds. It is an
integration of academic disciplines, combining metabolic engineering with
systems biology, synthetic biology and more. Professor Lee’s research uses
microorganisms to mass produce various compounds, so it is not only efficient,
but also ethical and eco-friendly. Systems metabolic engineering received
recognition for its excellence and was chosen as one of the Top 10 Emerging
Technologies of 2016 by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Professor Lee was elected as a
Foreign Member of the Royal Society in May along with Professor V. Narry Kim,
Chair Professor at the School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, once
again proving that he is a world-renowned scientist. The Royal Society is an academic
society with the world’s highest authority that was founded in London in 1660,
and it is where eminent scientists such as Newton, Darwin and Einstein served
as members. In April of this year, Professor Lee became the first non-western
person to win the Charles D. Scott Award from the Society for Industrial Microbiology and
Biotechnology, USA, and in 2016, he became the first Asian to win the
James E. Bailey Award from the American Institute of Chemical
Engineers.
The
Pony Chung Innovation Award was established in 2006 and was named after the
nickname of the late Chung Se-Yung, the founder of Hyundai Motor Company (predecessor
of Hyundai Development Company) and Honorary Chairman of HDC Group, which was
“Pony Chung.” It has been awarded to individuals or organizations that have made
positive changes to our society through innovative thinking and
presents a prize money of KRW 200 million along with a trophy.