Nationality South Korea Alma mater Yonsei University Residence Seoul, South Korea | Name Cheon Jinwoo Institutions Yonsei University | |
Known for Nanoscience and Nanomedicine Notable awards 2010 Inchon Prize(Inchon Memorial Foundation)
2012 Korea’s 100 Most Influential Person for Next 10 Years(DongA Daily News)
2012 POSCO ChungAm Prize(POSCO Foundation)
2015 Ho-Am Prize (Ho-Am Foundation) Fields Inorganic chemistry, Materials Science, Nanotechnology | ||
Doctoral advisor Gregory S. Girolami | ||
Cheon Jinwoo is the H.G. Underwood Professor at Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea and the Director of Center for Nanomedicine, Institute of Basic Science(IBS). He is one of the leading chemists in inorganic materials chemistry. Dr. Cheon and his group carried out studies of chemical principles for the preparation of complex inorganic materials. As a pioneer in “nanomedicine”, he integrated nanomaterials and medicine. Dr. Cheon is a Senior Editor of Accounts of Chemical Research and an editorial advisory board member of Journal of Materials Chemistry, Nano Letters and Materials Horizons.
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Education
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Cheon's research has contributed significantly to the "molecular design of inorganic nanoparticles" and their innovative uses for highly sensitive detection and effective therapeutics of diseases. His work has been published in journals, including Nature Materials, Nature Medicine, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Communications, Accounts of Chemical Research, JACS, and Angewandte Chemie.
Cheon carried out studies that have led to a fundamental understanding of the growth principles leading to inorganic nanocrystals. He elucidated chemical principles for the shape controlled preparation of nanoparticles which provided key tools to guide other scientists in their quest to produce high quality inorganic materials. Furthermore, his researches and concepts of mechanistic design have contributed to the inorganic nanomaterial field.
Through his fundamental studies, he integrated the fields of inorganic nanomaterials and medical science. This nexus led to the advent of a new field known as "nanomedicine". In 2005, for the first time, he demonstrated the principle of size-dependent MRI contrast effects using nanoparticles. This enabled the development of a new class of nano-MRI contrast agent, MEIO (magnetism-engineered iron oxide) which displayed 10 times stronger MRI signals compared to those of conventional contrast agents. This study opened possibilities to the advancement of the early stage diagnosis of cancer and stands as a research milestone in the field. In addition, Cheon developed multimodal probes to enhance the imaging accuracy by designing opto-magnetic probe, PET-MRI probes, dual-mode T1-T2 MRI probes. Successful discrimination of true signal of biological targets could be attained by these developments, opening a new avenue to have accurate diagnosis of disease.
In related investigations, Cheon developed innovative design concepts that are effective for the treatment of diseases, known as "nano-hyperthermia". Here, nanoparticles with high thermal therapeutic ability were created and used for the effective cure of cancer in model systems. One example involves the concept of "exchange-coupled magnetism", which has been applied to the preparation of inorganic materials that exhibit superior heating power and can effectively lead to cell death.
Cheon demonstrated that nanoparticles have the potential of becoming useful tools to control cell signaling pathways in a spatio-temporally regulated fashion. Especially, he employed “Magnetic NanoSwitch” to selectively regulate cellular fate inducing programmed cell death (i.e., apoptosis) and cell growth. In 2014, he also developed a new method that uses magnetic nanoparticles to manipulate auditory cells (hair cells).