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KIST's Dr. Seok Hyun-kwang Wins Seoul Mayor’s Award (2016.11.16)
- Date : 2017-04-20
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KIST's Dr. Seok Hyun-kwang Wins Seoul Mayor’s Award
- Transferred and commercialized biodegradable metal with U&I
- An exemplary success story among Seoul R&D projects
On November 11, Dr. Seok Hyun-kwang, Director of the Center for Biomaterials at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) was awarded the Seoul Mayor’s Award at the 2016 Seoul Knowledge Expo in Nuri Dream Square for his outstanding contributions to national R&D.
The KIST research team led by Dr. Seok developed the world’s first biodegradable metal (“resomet”) out of minerals essential to the human body, and resomet bone fixtures for orthopedic and plastic surgery successfully underwent a two-year clinical trial (2013-2015).
This technology was developed through an industry-university consortium in which KIST and U&i Corporation were involved via a Seoul industry-university-research cooperation project. Outcomes to date include a technology transfer agreement between KIST and U&i Corp. (September 2016), a market launch by U&i Corp. (June 2015), and the company’s KOSDAQ being listed (November 2015), making this project an exemplary success story among Seoul R&D projects.
Used to repair damaged bones, resomet naturally dissolves over the course of physical recovery, eliminating the need for additional procedures to remove bone fixtures. Hence, it is considered a highly promising, high-value-added technology that could lead the medical device market sometime in the near future.