□ DGIST (President Kunwoo Lee) announced that it held a launch ceremony for the Global Ion Channel Innovation Research Center (GI2RC) on the 12th at the Department of Brain Sciences lounge in DGIST's E4 building. Through this project, DGIST will receive a total of KRW 21.85 billion in government research funding over the next 10 years and pursue full-scale international joint research to address intractable neurological disorders, including pediatric encephalopathy.
□ At the launch ceremony, participants shared the center’s vision and research strategies and formalized a collaboration framework for joint research and researcher exchanges among participating institutions in Korea and abroad. Particularly, 14 researchers from the Japanese consortium, including the National Institute for Physiological Sciences (NIPS), attended the ceremony and reaffirmed their commitment to expanding joint research and researcher exchanges between Korea and Japan.
□ GI2RC aims to serve as an international joint research platform that comprehensively studies ion channels, from their molecular characteristics to their functions at the cellular, neural circuit, and organismal levels. Particularly, the center plans to establish a research framework that begins with genetic variants identified in patients with intractable neurological disorders associated with ion channel abnormalities, including pediatric encephalopathy, elucidates the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying these diseases, and translates these findings into the development of novel therapeutic strategies.
□ Key research areas include: (1) identifying key ion channels associated with pediatric encephalopathy and patient-derived variants; (2) elucidating the high-resolution structures and functional mechanisms of disease-associated ion channels; (3) conducting multiscale functional validation at the cellular, neural circuit, and behavioral levels; (4) predicting the functions and phenotypes of ion channel variants using AI and computational models; and (5) identifying structure-based candidate compounds for functional correction and validating their therapeutic efficacy. Together, these areas form a full-cycle research framework from identifying patient-derived variants to validating therapeutic candidate compounds.
□ The research will integrate DGIST’s expertise in brain science and electrophysiology, the Korea Brain Research Institute’s research capabilities in ion channel structure and function, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine’s expertise in identifying patient-derived variants, and the expertise of researchers from Japan’s NIPS and a consortium of seven universities in neurophysiology, neural circuits, and animal models. Furthermore, the center plans to incorporate AI and computational biology technologies to pursue interdisciplinary research.
□ Following the launch ceremony and commemorative symposium on the 12th, a research collaboration symposium was held at the Korea Brain Research Institute on the 13th, bringing together participating researchers from Korea and abroad. At the symposium, researchers shared their major research achievements and areas of expertise and discussed ways to identify future joint research topics and expand interinstitutional collaboration.
□ “The launch of GI2RC is significant in that it combines the capabilities of researchers in Korea and abroad to identify ion channel variants that cause intractable neurological disorders and translate these findings into novel therapeutic strategies,” said Professor Kyuhyung Kim of DGIST’s Department of Brain Sciences (Director of GI2RC). “We will continue to promote joint research, researcher exchanges, and talent development with leading research institutions in Korea and abroad to establish GI2RC as a world-class hub for ion channel research.”
□ Meanwhile, GI2RC was established following its selection for the “Program for Establishing Collaboration Platforms and Supporting Joint Research among Top-Tier Research Institutions” under the “2026 Global R&D Center Cooperation Hub (G-HUB)” program, supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Research Foundation of Korea. Through this project, DGIST plans to expand joint research and researcher exchanges with leading research institutions in Korea and abroad and develop GI2RC into an international collaborative research hub that leads research on ion channel-related intractable neurological disorders.
