Director Gou Young Koh won the ‘LE&RN-GRC Lifetime Achievement Award' at the  Gordon Research Conference, Lymphatics

Director Gou Young Koh won the ‘LE&RN-GRC Lifetime Achievement Award' at the 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Lymphatics.

The LE&RN-GRC Lifetime and Career Achievement Awards in Lymphatic Research are intended to recognize those individuals who have made a significant contribution to the promotion and support of lymphatic research, to advancing lymphatic research and/or finding improved treatments and cures for lymphatic diseases (LD), lymphedema (LE), lipedema (LI), and related diseases.

The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to an individual who has had a lifetime of outstanding achievements in the field of lymphatics and who must have a career spanning over 20 years.

Prof. Won-Suk Chung of IBS Center for Vascular Research Receives Grand Prize at 20th Life's Mystery Award 

Established in 2006 by the Bioethics Committee of the Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul, the award honors individuals and organizations that uphold the dignity of human life. Prof. Chung was recognized for his pioneering contributions at the intersection of neuroimmunology and neuroscience.

His research has demonstrated that astrocytes and microglia play key roles in remodeling neural circuits and maintaining brain homeostasis, and that glial dysfunction is linked to conditions such as epilepsy, stroke, depression, and Alzheimer's disease — pointing toward new therapeutic possibilities.

The award ceremony will be held on June 9 at the Seoul St. Mary's Hospital Campus of The Catholic University of Korea.

An article titled “Cooperative ETS transcription factors are required for lymphatic endothelial cell integrity and resilience” has recently been published in Journal of Clinical Investigation

An article titled "Cooperative ETS transcription factors are required for lymphatic endothelial cell integrity and resilience" is published in Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Co-first authors Myung Jin Yang and Seok Kang, along with their research team at the IBS Center for Vascular Research, have identified the transcription factors Erg and Fli1 as essential cooperative regulators of the lymphatic system. 

Their study demonstrates that the combined loss of these factors in adult mice leads to fatal lymphatic failure, impaired immune cell trafficking, and chronic inflammation. By linking these genetic mechanisms to human conditions like lymphedema, the authors establish Erg and Fli1 as the core "switches" required for lymphatic identity, functional resilience, and injury repair.

Newly published in Nature Communications: “Motor learning and dopamine-dependent striatal synaptic plasticity are controlled by astrocytic MEGF10”

A study recently published in Nature Communications by a research team led by Won-Suk Chung (IBS) and Jae-Ick Kim (UNIST) reveals that astrocytes are key players in motor skill acquisition. The research, titled “Motor learning and dopamine-dependent striatal synaptic plasticity are controlled by astrocytic MEGF10,” identifies a new cellular mechanism for brain plasticity.

The team, including first author Young-Jin Choi, discovered that a specific receptor on astrocytes called MEGF10 is responsible for "pruning" or removing unnecessary synapses in the striatum during learning. While dopamine signals which connections to strengthen, astrocytes ensure efficiency by clearing away unnecessary synaptic "noise" via MEGF10. When this receptor was removed in animal models, the ability to learn new physical tasks and the brain's synaptic plasticity were significantly impaired.

These findings suggest that successful learning requires not only the strengthening of neural signals by dopamine but also the active structural refinement by astrocytes, offering new insights for treating motor-related neurological disorders.

Nasal ciliated cells are primary targets for SARS-CoV-2 replication in early stage of COVID 19

Lymphatic vessel in lacteal