The Postech Biotech Center (PBC) was established in November 2000 in collaboration with POSCO, a world leader in steel industry and the founder of POSTECH, with the mission to grow into a world class biotech center that carries out cutting edge research and trains future leaders in biotechnology. The rationales behind this grandeur project of the nation ' s finest life-science research complex between academia and industry are to leverage the academic excellence achieved by POSTECH over the last decade, and to diversify the business portfolio of POSCO in an increasingly stagnant environment into the promising business of biotechnology.

The Center ' s four-story building (14,000 m 2 ), whose construction work started from December 2002 and was completed in July 2003, is characterized of the concept of Open Laboratories (no walls in between laboratories) to facilitate easy communication and exchange of ideas for collaborations beyond the boundaries of research. It also provides a wide range of state-of-the-art core technology facilities and a large number of specialty facilities including clean rooms for nanobiotech, green house, and germ-free animal rooms.

Following the lead of Professor Chi-Bom Chae, Head of the Division of Molecular and Life Sciences, the Center is empowered with a total of 35 professors with outstanding scientific achievements in biology, physics, chemistry, chemical engineering, and mechanical engineering. They are supported by a group of 90 postdoctoral fellows, 130 laboratory technicians and administrative staffs, and 200 graduate students.

Firmly believing in the need for the creation of scientific knowledge, PBC pursues fundamental scientific advances through interdisciplinary programs and industry collaborations. The major programs of PBC are biomolecular diversity, vaccine development, specialty rice, and biochip research programs. Not only the Center emphasizes research that will have high impacts on the scientific community, but also focuses on those that can yield high returns on the investment made by business partners including POSCO. Platform technologies and core facilities are being provided to the members in order to promote potential application of the technologies developed on campus. Also, its educational and training programs are designed to prepare the participants well for the scientific challenges of the post-genome era.

The ultimate success of the Center largely depends upon the quality of scientific knowledge and its commercial applications it has, and the people who work for that. The Center will sustain its excellent manpower by well maintaining its present scientists and recruiting more in the future depending on the needs, and we are strongly determined to grow into a world-class research institute that ultimately contributes to the betterment of human welfare. For success, the Center will develop its growth strategy based on increasing pool of skilled scientists in the future to become a world class institute dedicated to improving human society as well as being engine of growth for Korean biotechnology

The Pohang University of Science and Technology, called POSTECH in short, was founded in 1986 as a research-oriented university with the support from the POSCO, Co., Ltd., a world-class steel producer, under the mission to educate young future leaders who can contribute to the national prosperity through advancement in science and technology.

POSTECH from the very beginning had positioned itself as a first class university in the nation by recruiting outstanding faculty from both at home and abroad, attracting top-notch students, and providing them with optimal environments for research and education. Despite its short history, POSTECH has ranked the top in national assessments and was rated as the best science and technology university in South East Asia by Asiaweek magazine in 1998. And in the annual evaluation of universities in Korea by Joongang Daily News, a leading national newspaper, has rated POSTECH the top three times over the last decade.

The total of 210 faculty members are engaged in active research and education in four basic science departments (Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Life Science) and six engineering departments (Mechanical, Electrical, Computer, New Materials, Industrial, Chemical). There are about 2,800 students with high academic standards ? 1,200 in undergraduate and 1,600 in graduate programs. The flexibility enjoyed being a small-size university allows close interactions between faculty and students. Furthermore, since s tudents as well as professors live on or near campus, a unique, a close-knit community of professionals is formed, which ensures high efficiency in academic and research activities.

As the first research-oriented university in the nation, POSTECH houses many of the state-of-the-art research facilities and equipments, including a third generation 2.5GeV synchrotron radiation source. Empowered with outstanding research manpower and facilities, the University headquarters many research labs and centers on a national level. Thanks to the dedicated work of research professionals and students, POSTECH professors enjoy the highest number of SCI publications per professor in the nation, comparable with that of other prestigious universities abroad.

All students are provided with on-campus accommodations at a nominal cost, while married graduate students are assigned to one-bedroom flats. Most undergraduate students enjoy scholarships of various kinds, recovering 55% of their tuition. All graduate students are fully supported by either teaching or research assistantship

< Pohang Accelerator Laboratory (PAL)>
One of the major on-campus research facilities that plays a critical role in structural analysis among others is the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory (PAL), which is located within walking distance from the Center buildings. PAL, a third generation of 2.5 GeV synchrotron radiation source, completed a beamline for protein crystallography in fall 2001 providing extremely bright X-ray and vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) light. This puts professors of life sciences, particularly those who are in structural biology and molecular medicine, in a leading position in these fields. To name a few, Professors Changill Ban, Yunje Cho and Byung Ha Oh are engaged in conducting intensive research using PAL facility.

PBC's Technology Transfer Team aims to effectively transfer PBC technologies to the market so as to generate benefits for PBC and POSCO. For this goal, the team is involved in providing a full set of services to ensure effective technology transfer and business development.

What does the Technology Transfer Team do?
- Facilitate invention disclosure and patenting
- Proactively seek licensees and negotiate
- Analyze potential opportunities to form a start-up and provide hands-on business assistance

Who are doing the job?
Dongil Han, Ph.D. ? Molecular Medicine
Dr. Han has over fifteen years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry sector (R&D experience at SK Corp. in Korea and business development VP at SK Biopharm in NJ) holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from KAIST.
Sangjae Lee ? Plant Bio and Nano Bio
Mr. Lee has ten years of experience in the biotech industry sector (Corporate planning experience in Korea and business development at Protein Pharma. in MA) and holds a MS in Neuroscience from Syracuse University .

Available Technologies

SIGMOL http://www.sigmol.com
SIGMOL, Inc. aims to grow into a leading biotechnology company by providing a solution for molecular medicine.  SIGMOL was established in June, 2000, to capitalize on the knowledge and experiences which have been accumulated over the last decade in the Signal Transduction laboratory, POSTECH.  The company name, SIGMOL, is abbreviated from SIGnaling MOLecules, which is the basic language to understand a variety of physiological phenomena.
GENEXIN http://www.genexin.com
PANBIONET http://www.panbionet.com
GENOMINE http://www.genomine.com
NEUROMEX http://www.neuromex.co.kr
ENVISIGN http://www.envisign.com

The Administrative Service Team aims to provide administrative supports for efficient implementation of core researches and commercialization programs of the Center so that the research output can be maximized. Major services of the Administrative Service Team provided for the faculty and research staff who are conducting the Center programs and projects include:
•  Budget planning
•  Patent administration
•  Events planning & Community Service
•  Administration of government, industry, and POSCO projects
•  Purchase, asset management
•  Center PR and homepage maintenance, IP control
•  Waste disposal, hygiene, fire control, security