Seoul National University · Medicine
Professor Seung-Eun Lee's research lab focuses on interdisciplinary studies at the intersection of neuroscience, materials science, and biomedical engineering. The lab investigates the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Niemann-Pick disease type C using advanced 3D brain organoid models, with a particular emphasis on mitochondrial dysfunction, proteinopathies (e.g., Aβ and p-Tau), and lysosomal storage defects. In parallel, the lab develops next-generation spintronic devices, including perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions (p-MTJs), for high-performance memory and sensing applications, while also exploring scintillator materials for improved medical imaging in brain-dedicated PET systems. These diverse research directions are united by a common goal: advancing fundamental understanding and developing innovative technologies for neurological disease diagnosis and treatment.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with familial Alzheimer's disease (fAD), and the accumulation of damaged mitochondria has been reported as an initial symptom that further contributes to disease progression. In the amyloidogenic pathway, the amyloid precursor protein (APP) is cleaved by β-secretase to generate a C-terminal fragment, which is then cleaved by γ-secretase to produce amyloid-beta (Aβ). The accumulation of Aβ and its detrimental effect on mitochondrial function are well known,
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the progressive neurodegenerative diseases characterized by β-amyloid (Aβ) production and Phosphorylated-Tau (p-Tau) protein in the cerebral cortex. The precise mechanisms of the cause, responsible for disease pathology and progression, are not well understood because there are multiple risk factors associated with the disease. Viral infection is one of the risk factors for AD, and we demonstrated that Zika virus (ZIKV) infection in brain organoids could trigge
A tunneling magneto-resistance (TMR) ratio of ∼163% at an annealing temperature of 400 °C was achieved in a single MgO-based perpendicular-magnetic-tunneling-junction (p-MTJ) spin valve with a tungsten (W)/tantalum (Ta) seed and W capping layer instead of with a Ta seed and capping layer. This was done by improving the interface perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (i-PMA) characteristic of the Co2Fe6B2 free layer and face-centered-cubic (f.c.c.) crystallinity of the MgO tunneling barrier. In parti
Recent studies on developing three-dimensional (3D) brain organoids from stem cells have allowed the generation of in vitro models of neural disease and have enabled the screening of drugs because these organoids mimic the complexity of neural tissue. Niemann-Pick disease, type C (NPC) is a neurodegenerative lysosomal storage disorder caused by mutations in the NPC1 or NPC2. The pathological features underlying NPC are characterized by the abnormal accumulation of cholesterol in acidic compartme
Gadolinium aluminum gallium garnet (GAGG) is a promising scintillator crystal for positron emission tomography (PET) detectors owing to its advantages of energy resolution, light yield, and absence of intrinsic radiation. However, a large portion of the incident photons undergoes Compton scattering within GAGG crystal because of its low stopping power compared to that of lutetium-based crystals such as Lu<sub>2</sub>SiO<sub>5</sub> (LSO). Inter-detector scattering (IDS) and inter-crystal scatter
For double MgO-based p-MTJ spin-valves with a top Co<sub>2</sub>Fe<sub>6</sub>B<sub>2</sub> free layer ex-situ annealed at 400 °C, the insertion of a nanoscale-thickness Fe diffusion barrier between the tungsten (W) capping layer and MgO capping layer improved the face-centered-cubic (f.c.c.) crystallinity of both the MgO capping layer and tunneling barrier by dramatically reducing diffusion of W atoms from the W capping layer into the MgO capping layer and tunneling barrier, thereby enhancing t
Inter-crystal scattering (ICS) is a type of Compton scattering of photons from one crystal to adjacent crystals and causes inaccurate assignment of the annihilation photon interaction position in positron emission tomography (PET). Because ICS frequently occurs in highly light-shared PET detectors, its recovery is crucial for the spatial resolution improvement. In this study, we propose two different convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for ICS recovery, exploiting the good pattern recognition a
Recently, p-MTJ spin-valves with top Co2Fe6B2 free layers have been widely studied. They potentially experience crystallinity degradation in the face-centered-cubic (fcc) structure of the MgO tunneling barrier as a result of the diffusion of Ta atoms and a significant amount of Fe atoms from the Co2Fe6B2 free and pinned layers. A new design of the p-MTJ spin-valve using a nanoscale-thick W bridging and capping layer demonstrated the absence of significant crystallinity degradation in the fcc str
<i>Objective</i>. One major limiting factor for achieving high resolution of positron emission tomography (PET) is a Compton scattering of the photon within the crystal, also known as inter-crystal scattering (ICS). We proposed and evaluated a convolutional neural network (CNN) named ICS-Net to recover ICS in light-sharing detectors for real implementations preceded by simulations. ICS-Net was designed to estimate the first-interacted row or column individually from the 8 × 8 photosensor amplitu
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is one of the major renewable energy sources and is stored and carried in a storage tank that is designed following international standards. Since LNG becomes highly unstable when it encounters oxygen in the air, a leakage from an LNG storage tank can cause a catastrophic industrial accident. Thus, the inspection of LNG storage tanks is one of the priorities to be completed before LNG is stored in a storage tank. Recently, the usage of Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing
Twisted nematic (TN) liquid crystal (LC) cells doped with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were fabricated and their electro-optic characteristics were studied. The CNTs with a minute amount of doping did not disturb the liquid crystal orientation in the off and on state. Effects of CNTs on voltage-dependent transmittance curves and voltage holding ratio were not found to be so strong. The response time however was improved as compared to pure LC.
In this study, we measured the performance of a newly developed Hamamatsu Photonics R13478 photomultiplier tube (PMT) and compared the results with those of an existing R9800 PMT. In R13478, an accelerating electrode is placed between the focusing electrode and first dynode for time resolution improvement through reduced transit time jitter. We investigated the time resolution dependence on the supply voltage and time pickoff method for R13478 and R9800 PMTs, each coupled with a 2.9 × 2.9 × 20 m
We design a Co2Fe6B2/MgO-based p-MTJ spin-valve without a [Co/Pt] n lower synthetic-antiferromagnetic (SyAF) layer to greatly reduce the 12-inch wafer fabrication cost of the p-MTJ spin-valve. This spin-valve achieve a tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) of 158% and an exchange field (H ex) of 1.4 kOe at an ex situ annealing temperature of >350 °C, which ensures writing error immunity. In particular, the TMR ratio strongly depends on the body-center-cubic capping-layer nanoscale thickness (t bcc),
Fungi are ubiquitous in indoor environments, and some taxa can cause clinical symptoms in humans. Thus, from the viewpoint of public health, methods to reduce indoor airborne fungi are needed. The goal of this study was to examine the efficacies of benzalkonium chloride (BAC)–based aerosol disinfectants to remove airborne viable fungi from indoor environments. The laboratory- and field-based experiments were conducted to compare airborne culturable fungal concentrations before and after the disi
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