Director KIM Jin-Soo of the IBS Center for Genome Engineering was honored with the 10th ASAN Award in Basic Medicine by ASAN Foundation. Upon winning the award, he said: "This honor is largely attributed to the dedicated researchers who have worked with me. I see this award as encouragement for me to contribute to society and humanity by devoting myself more to research."

▲ IBS Director KIM Jin-Soo who has devoted himself to the development of genome editing techniques (Photograph: ASAN Foundation)

Director Kim has made breakthroughs in genome engineering by making CRISPR Cas9, the 3rd generation genome editing tool more precise and stable. Kim is one of the globally recognized researchers in the field. "Director Kim's vigorous research has made significant contribution to the advancement of genome engineering," ASAN Foundation said.

The director commented: "Using genome editing techniques, I'd like to focus on research which is helpful for patients with genetic and degenerative diseases as well as cancer that are considered intractable. I'll strive harder to develop and commercialize treatments that can directly help such patients."

ASAN Award in Medicine was established in 2007 by ASAN Foundation to discover and encourage medical scientists who have achieved remarkable accomplishments in the fields of basic and clinical medicine. This year's laureate in clinical medicine is Dr. HAN Duck-Jong, professor at the Department of Surgery at ASAN Medical Center, Seoul and one of the renowned experts in kidney and pancreas transplantation in Korea. ASAN Award for Young Medical Scientists went to Professor CHOI Jung-Kyoon at the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering at KAIST and Professor AHN Jung-Min at the Department of Cardiology at the University of Ulsan College of Medicine.

▲ (From left) Chairman CHUNG Mong-Joon of ASAN Foundation, Professor HAN Duck-Jong and IBS Director Kim (Photograph: ASAN Foundation)

At the award ceremony held at Grand Hyatt Seoul on March 20, basic and clinical medicine winners received KRW 300 million each in prize money and those selected as young medical scientists were given KRW 50 million each.