With 5G networks, expected to be fully rolled out by 2020, many researchers believe that the commercialization of 5G will open a new era of so-called ICTnomics. This new tech will deliver five times faster response speeds and 10 to 100 times faster connection speeds than the average speed on 4G mobile networks. With the aim of commercializing 5G by 2020, remote surgery, cloud streaming gaming, drones, and robots will be all envisioned in 5G to bring better access and life-changing futuristic services to many. While 5G is expected to offer extended battery life, low latency, and download speeds 1,000 times faster than the average speed on 4G mobile networks, it is still a long way from being used commercially. A team of UNIST researchers announced that they have embarked on R&D initiatives to develop so-called “5G” technology, with a vision of providing zero latency and response times. This study is a collaboration amongst four scientists from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, including Prof. Changhee Joo, Prof. Hyoil Kim, Prof. Kyunghan Lee, and Prof. Hyun Jong Yang. Figure: End-to-end delay breakdown This study has been selected as one of national ICT R&D funded-projects, titled "Research on Near-Zero Latency Network for 5G Immersive Service.” It will be funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, as of May 2015. "It is a great honour to receive this funding," says the research team. "By starting a five-year research project, we have taken a first step toward near-zero end-to-end latency, which propels us to commercialization of 5G." According to the research team, "Through this study, for the first time in the world, we will shed light on issues in every network hop of the end-to-end network, as shown in the figure above, to achieve a few milliseconds of the total latency."

The Journal of Chemical Reviews, one of the most prestigious journals in the field, has recently acknowledged the work of a professor affiliated with UNIST and included his work entitled "Metal-Free Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction" in the May 4, 2015 issue. According to the Journal Citation Reports, the Journal of Chemical Reviews has a 2013 Impact Factor of 45.661 with 124,463 citations. In order to publish a research article in this journal, authors must have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of chemical sciences. Having their articles published in this journal denotes a high level of accomplishment as a professional in the field of chemistry. The article discusses a new class of metal-free electrocatalysts, which could replace the much more expensitve platinum in fuel cells. The aim of this article is to provide a comprehensive review of the topic by summarizing all the important developments in this emerging field of active research on metal-free electrocatalysts for ORR and presenting critical issues, chellenges, and perspectives. "It is a great honour to publish in Chemical Reviews, which is the most highly regarded jounal covering the general topics of chemistry," says Prof. Baek. He continues by saying, "We expect that this unique material will accelerate the commercialization of graphene, thereby contributing greatly to the supply of industrial materials.." This is a collaboration among researchers, including Dr. Liming Dai (Department of Chemical Engineering) and Dr. Yuhua Xua (Department of Chemical Engineering) at Case Western Reserve University, Dr. Liangti Qu (School of Chemistry) at Beijing Institute of Technology, Prof. Jong-Beom Baek (School of Energy and Chemical Engineering) at UNIST, and Ms. Hyun-Jung Choi, Ph.D. candidate in Prof. Baek’s group. In 2008, Prof. Beak joined UNIST as an associate professor with research and teaching focus in chemical engineering, polymer chemistry, and environmental engineering. Prof. Baek currently serves as a director of Low-Dimensional Carbon Materials Center at UNIST. His current research interests include the syntheses of high-performance polymers and chemical modifications of carbon-based materials for multifunctional applications. Journal Reference: Liming Dai, Yuhua Xue, Liangti Qu, Hyun-Jung Choi, and Jong-Beom Baek, “Metal-Free Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction.” Chemical Reviews.

With the depletion of natural resources, fuel cell technology has gained more and more attention as an alternative to conventional forms of energy. In fact, fuel cells can generate a significant amount of electricity from a catalyst-facilitated chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen ions in a cell. The majority of fuel cells make use of platinum catalysts, but the recent surge of interest in renewable resources has triggered a corresponding increase in the need for developing new type of fuel cell catalysts that are renewable, energy-efficient, and low-cost at the same time. As a result, graphene has been regarded as a possible alternative to replace the expensive platinum. However, due to its low electrochemical performance, the use of a non-metal element turned out to damage graphene crystals. On March 22, a team of scientists, led by Prof. Jong-Beom Baek (School of Energy and Chemical Engineering)announced that they have successfully developed a low-cost and reusable electrode material for fuel cells by selectively plating antimony with graphene through a mechanochemical process. A schematic showing the SbGnPs structure, being prepared by ball-milling graphite in the presence of solid antimony (Sb) in a ball-mill crusher. In this study, the research team plated the edges of graphene nanoplatelets (GnPs) with semimetal antimony (Sb) using the low-cost and scalable ball-milling technique to overcome the limitations of the non-metal materials. According to Prof. Baek, this Sb-doped GnPs may be a significant breakthrough in fuel cell technology as it displays zero loss of electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction even after 100,000 cycles. Prof. Beak’s says, “We expect that this unique material will provide new insights and practocal methods for designing stable carbon-based electrocatalysts and accelerate the commercialization of graphene, thereby contributing greatly to the supply of industrial materials.." The research findings were first appeared online in Nature Communications, a bi-monthly scientific journal published by the Nature Publishing Group on May 22, 2015. Journal Reference: In-Yup Jeon, Min Choi, Hyun-Jung Choi, Sun-Min Jung, Min-Jung Kim, Jeon, Jeong-Min Seo, Seo-Yoon Bae, Seonyoung Yoo, Guntae Kim, Hu Young Jeong, Noejung Park & Jong-Beom Baek, “Antimony-doped graphene nanoplatelets.” Nature Communications (6), Article Number: 7123.

On May 5, a team of UNIST and Ulsan University researchers announced they have developed perovskite optoelectronic devices that can generate electricity during the day and emit light at night. This study is a collaboration among scientists, including Prof. Myoung Hoon Song (School of Materials Science and Engineering), Prof. Kyoung-Jin Choi (School of Mechanical and Advanced Materials Engineering) at UNIST, and Prof. Shinuk Cho from the Department of Physics and EHSRC, University of Ulsan. In this study, the research team fabricated planar solar cells from perovskite materials through the morphological control of the perovskite films and the application of a surface treatment between the TiO2 and perovskite layers, using an amine-based solvent treatment, thereby achieving highly efficient planar perovskite optoelectronic devices. Through this research, the team states, "Amine-based solvent treatment between the TiO2 and the perovskite layers enhances electron injection and extraction and reduces the recombination of photogenerated charges at the interface." This work has been financially supported by the KIST-UNIST partnership program or equivalently by the 2014 Research Fund of UNIST. The portion of this research conducted at the University of Ulsan was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant (NRF). The paper appeared online in the May 5, 2015 issue of Advanced Materials, a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering a broad spectrum of material science research. Details of the research will be published next month, as the cover picture. Journal Reference: Jae Choul Yu, Da Bin Kim, Gyoelim Baek, Bo Ram Lee, Eui Dar Jung, Seungjin Lee, Jae Hwan Chu, Doh-Kwon Lee, Kyoung Jin Choi, Shinuk Cho, Myoung Hoon Song, “High-Performance Planar Perovskite Optoelectronic Devices: A Morphological and Interfacial Control by Polar Solvent Treatment.” Advanced Materials (67), 215-225.

On April 27, UNIST held a ceremony not only to mark the completion of new IBS Center for Multi-Dimensional Carbon Materials (CMCM), but also to celebrate the establishment of two other IBS research centers on campus. During the course of the event, each IBS director shared their research goals and aspirations for growing research and the impact that will have on the city of Ulsan leading up to and beyond 2030. IBS directors of UNIST are posing for a portrait at the completion ceremony of new IBS Center for Multi-Dimensional Carbon Materials (CMCM). From left are Director Kyungjae Myung (IBS Center for Genomic Integrity), Director Steve Granick (IBS Center for Soft and Living Matter), and Director Rodney Ruoff (IBS Center for Multidimensional Carbon Materials). UNIST has been designated as one of the world's foremost graphene R&D institutions, hosting three IBS campus-based research centers. These research centers will be receiving the funding of 300 billion (KRW) over the next 10 years from the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), South Korea. With support from the Government of Korea and the city of Ulsan, UNIST hopes to contribute to the development of local industry and economy through transferring the research experience, knowledge, and technology of its scientists. Dr. Rodney S. Ruoff, Director of the CMCM IBS Center at UNIST. (Photography by IBS Public Relations Team) Dr. Rodney S. Ruoff is the Director of the IBS Center for Multidimensional Carbon Materials and professor at UNIST. The CMCM IBS Center is dedicated to discovering and charaterizing new materials with exceptional physical, chemical, and biomedical, and other properties. When asked to share some thoughts on today's ceremony, he states, "We see a bright future for the fundamental science of carbon and related materials in Ulsan. Our goal is to make CMCM a world-class Center for new carbon and related materials." He continued by saying, "We appreciate the continued support from the IBS and UNIST, as well the city of Ulsan for showing tremendous vision in helping to make this building and its infrastructure "come to life." Dr. Steve Granick, Director of the IBS Center for Soft and Living Matter at UNIST. (Photography by IBS Public Relations Team) Dr. Steve Granick is the Director of the IBS Center for Soft and Living Matter and professor at UNIST. His research interests include polymers, complex fluids, and biomaterials. Established in 2014, this Research Center for Basic Science aims to lead in understanding the principles of soft and living matter and to make new discoveries that will benefit humanity. Commenting on today's special occasion, Dr. Granick stated: "I am impressed that Korea is investigating on its future in such a creative way. As the Director of this center, my goal is to achieve science, scientific results, and even more importantly to train the next generation of scientists." He continues by saying, "However, as an IBS research center Director, I can do nothing myself. The real work will be done by students and researchers, and I am only the coach." Dr. Kyungjae Myung, Director of the CGI IBS Center at UNIST. Dr. Kyungjae Myung is a world-renowned scientist and has been also appointed as a UNIST Distinguished Professor in recognition of his significant scientific achievements in the fieldof genomic integrity. He is also the Director of the IBS Center for Genomic Integrity (CGI) at UNIST. At this center, he will be conducting research, regarding genome stability and chemotherapeutic application. His studies of DNA repair pathways are expected to lead the development of therapeutics for many human illnesses, including cancer and diseases of aging. When asked to share some thoughts on today's ceremony, he stated: "We are very grateful for the support of the Government of Korea and UNIST. Our successes wouldn't have been possible without the continued support from the city of Ulsan and UNIST." Using cutting-edge research techniques, Dr. Myung hopes to make new discoveries and breakthroughs in understanding disorders carcinogenisis, genetic diseases, and aging processes. He continues by saying, "I personally hope the CGI IBS Center continues to stay in Ulsan and become one of symbols of Ulsan."

In recent years, flexible sensor has attracted much of the attention in the tech industry over the past years. Transparent electrodes, for instance, have been widely used in things like touch screens, flat-screen TVs, solar cells, and light-emitting devices. Moreover, the majority of today's touchscreen devices, such as tablets and smartphones are made using indium tin oxide (ITO) due to its high conductivity and high tansmittance. However, the fragility and lack of flexibility of ITO severely limits it for applications in flexible and stretchable electronics. To solve these problems, researchers have been working hard to demonstrate how graphene-treated nanowires can be used to produce flexible touchscreens at a fraction of the current cost. Using a simple, scalable and inexpensive method, a team of scientists, led by Prof. Jang-Ung Park from UNIST’s School of Materials Science and Engineering has produced transparent and stretchable field-effect transistor sensors, using graphene-metal nanowire hybrid nanostructures. This joint research team includes Prof. Park, Professor Byeong Su Bae from KAIST, and Executive Director Hye Yong Chu from the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI). In a paper published online April 22, 2015, Prof. Park’s research team demonstrated that these wearable wireless smart sensors can still maintain its electrical properties stably against large mechanical deformations, even under high stretching and bending strain. The results were published in Advanced Materials. Wearable wireless smart sensor, composed of the antenna and electrodes based on hybrid structure, and a graphene channel. These graphene-metal nanowire hybrid nanostructures are trasparent when attached to the skin of the back of a human hand and show high electrical conductivity even under high stretching and bending strain. UNIST Flexible Nanoelectronics and Biotechnology Lab focuses on the fabrication of flexible integrated circuits for applications in electronics and biotechnology. They seek to exploit interesting properties of nanomaterials, and develop methods for fabrication of devices with unconventional geometries (i.e. flexible and stretchable forms) using diverse nanomaterials. This work was supported by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of Korea through Basic Science Research Program of National Research Foundation, IT R&D program, Materials Original Technology Program, Technology Innovation Program, Convergence Technology Development Program for Bionic Arm, and Pioneer Research Center Program. Journal Reference: Joohee Kim, Mi-Sun Lee, Sangbin Jeon, Minji Kim, Sungwon Kim, Kukjoo Kim, Franklin Bien, Sung You Hong, Jang-Ung Park., "Highly Transparent and Stretchable Field-Effect Transistor Sensors Using Granphene-Nanowire Hybrid Nanostructures," Advanced Materials, published online (2015).

On March 30, a team of UNIST researchers announced that they may have found a way to combat bacteria-associated infections in humans. This study is a collaboration amongest three scientists from the School of Life Sciences, including Professor Robert J. Mitchell, Professor Cheol-Min Ghim, and Professor Dougu Nam. This study is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) through the U.S Army Research Office (ARO) to develop treatment and prevention approaches against bacteria-associated infections in humans. DARPA initially solicited proposals for research supporting the potential use of Bdellovibrio and/or Micavibrio bacterial predators as therapeutics againgst infections caused by Gram-negative antibiotic-resistant and priority threat pathogens. The research team will be receiving about $1.3 million dollars in funding over three years, or an average of $433,330 dollars per year. "The grant was awarded to study predatory bacteria and their potential use to combat bacteria-associated infections in humans," says Professor Mitchell who is heading the study. In previous studies, Professor Mitchell and his students have shown that proteins secreted by B. bacteriovorus reduce Staphylococcus aureus invasion into human cells and predation by Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus rapidly kills the prey bacterium/pathogen. Moreover, his lab also found that prey DNA is significantly degraded during predation, potentially reducing chances for gene transfer and antibiotic resistance to develop. In a related study, they also demonstrated that predatory bacteria, as obligate predators of bacterial, are not harmful to humans cells in vitro, yet are able to pedate on numerous human pathogens, such as E. coli, Yersinia, Acinetobacter, baumannii, Pseudomonas, and Klebsiella, including multidrug resistant superbacteria. Through a DARPA-funded program, the team will be heading the research to continue studying predatory bacteria. Professor Mitchell's group will be handling all the experiments with the predatory bacteria, human cell lines, and pathogens, as well as the data collection. Professor Nam's group will be responsible for the bioinformatics data, including analysis of the transcroptomic data obtained from the experiements. Professor Ghim's group will use the collected data to generate models that will help explain predation and identify the importance of the different factors involved and their influence. Professor Mitchell concluded by adding, "It is my hope that through this study and our collaborative efforts, we will advance the use of predatory bacteria to the medial treatment of superbacterial infections and as an alternative to, or in conjunction with, current antibiotic treatments."

On March 18, a team of UNIST and DGMIF researchers announced they have developed a new "smart" cancer therapy they hope may be a breakthrough in treating cancer cells. This study is a collaboration among scientists, including Prof. Changwook Lee (School of Life Sciences), Prof. Byoung Heon Kang (Department of Biological Sciences), and Prof. Ja Hyoung Ryu (School of Natural Science) at UNIST and Seok Gyun Yoon, Director of the New Drug Development Center at Daegu-Gyeongbuk Medical Innovation Foundation (DGMIF). From right are, Prof. Byoung Heon Kang (School of Life Sciences), Prof. Changwook Lee (School of Life Sciences), Prof. Ja Hyoung Ryu (School of Natural Science), and the researcher Hye Kyung Park (School of Life Sciences). Mitochondria, which are known as the 'power stations' in our cells, play a crucial role in cellular energy metabolisum, free radical generation, and apoptosis. Moreover, mitochondrial dysfunctions typically found in cancerous cells have long been suspected as many of the hallmarks of cancer, including altered metabolism and resistance to apoptosis. Therefore, targeting the mitochondria to sensitize cancer cells to apoptosis is a major aim in anti-cancer therapeutics. However, studies have shown that while treating damaged mitochondria enhance drug efficacy, it may also aggravate unwanted off-target effects by affecting normal cells. In this research, the research team proposed Hsp90 and TNF Receptor-associated Protein 1 (TRAP1) as the target proteins for anti-cancer drug development due to their ability to suppress cell death and reprogram energy metabolism in cancer cells. They applied a new type of organelle-specific anti-cancer drugs, called SMTIN-P01 to develop mitochodrial TRAP1 inhibitors and to overcome the limited effects of current Hsp90 inhibitors for TRAP1 inactivation. The above figure shows the modulation of organelle-resident protein, using organelle-targeted and nontargeted drugs. (Source: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja511893n) According to the research team, with the current Hsp90 inhibitors, it has been difficult to activate TRAP1 due to their inefficient accumulation of the drugs in the mitochondria. Therefore, "Current clinical trials of Hsp90 inhibitors are mainly focused on combinations with other cancer drugs," says the research team .... To develop mitochondrial TRAP1 inhibitors, we determined the crystal structures of human TRAP1 complexed with Hsp90 inhibitors," says the research team. The research team states, "[This newly-developed] organelle-specific drugs can be exploited, not only for Hsp90 inhibitors, but also for other therapeutics targeting mitochondrial proteins to improve drug activity, minimize side effects, and often alter the mode of drug actions." Prof. Kang at UNIST says "This study has given us new insights into the development of first-in-class anti-cancer drugs." He adds, "SMTIN-P01 will increase the therapeutic quality and efficacy of an anticancer drug because with this organelle-specific drug, scientists can significanly lower the costs that come about due to adverse drug side effects." This research was supported by the Science Research Center Programs and the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea, the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) and funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare of Korea, and Korea Drug Development Fund (KDDF). The findings have just been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the world's leading journal for all areas of chemistry. Journal Reference: Changwook Lee, Hye-Kyung Park, Hanbin Jeong, Jaehwa Lim, An-Jung Lee, Keun Young Cheon, Chul-Su Kim, Ajesh P. Thomas§, Boram Bae, Nam Doo Kim, Seong Heon Kim, Pann-Ghill Suh, Ja-Hyoung Ryu, and Byoung Heon Kang, “Development of a Mitochondria-Targeted Hsp90 Inhibitor Based on the Crystal Structures of Human TRAP1,” J. Am. Chem. Soc., March 2015.

On March 24, a team of 9 researchers announced that they have successfully developed a technology to provide a new direction for the fabrication of graphene nanoribbons with zigzag-edged directions. This study is a collaboration among researchers, including Prof. Kwanpyo Kim (School of Natural Science) and Prof. Hu Young Jeong (School of Materials Science and Engineering) at UNIST, Dr. Won Chul Lee at Tyoko University, Dr. Jungwon Park at Harvard University, and Prof. Hoonkyung Lee at Konkuk Unviersity. Prof. Kwanpyo Kim (School of Natural Science) and Prof. Hu Young Jeong (School of Materials Science and Engineering) at UNIST are posing for a portrait in front of the Advanced TEM, which they used to study the self-organized growth of inorganic AuCN nanowires. According to the research team, "[With current technology] it has been difficult to fabricate graphene nanoribbons with zigzag-edged directions and only a few previous studies have achieved it so far." This is due to graphene's chemical inertness, the research team says. In fact, although Graphene's chemical inertness makes it an excellent candicate for practical transparent electrodes, this makes it challenging to assemble inorganic nanomaterials on pristine graphene, and even more challenging to align them orderly. The figure shows the directional growth of inorganic nanowires on graphene. During this incubation, the nanowires grow on the graphene surfaces along the specific lattice directions of the graphene. This is an important discovery which overturns previous theories in that through this study, the research team was able to successfully present the self-organized growth of inorganic AuCN nanowires, which is almost one million times thinner than a human hair that grows directly on pristine graphene, aligning itself with zigzag lattice directions of single-layered pristine graphene. The research team states, "This direct alignment can be utilized to extract and control crystallographic information about nanostructures, thus enabling us to fabricate graphene nanoribbons with zigzag-edged directions." Prof. Kim at UNIST says "This study not only provides new insights into nanoribbons, but this marks an important milestone in high mobility graphene devices." The research finding has been featured in the March 24, 2015 issue of Nature Nanotechnology, the world's leading nanotechnology journal. Journal Reference: Won Chul Lee, Kwanpyo Kim, Jungwon Park, Jahyun Koo, Hu Young Jeong, Hoonkyung Lee, David A. Weitz, Alex Zettl, Shoji Takeuchi, “Graphene-templated directional growth of an inorganic nanowire,” Nature Nanotechnology (2015).