DNA change tracking tells you when illness and aging knocks on your door

Professor Kim Hyeong-beom of Yonsei University College of Medicine and his research team made the world's first launch of a system to measure a biological timeline by changing DNA sequencing, in sponsorship with the Samsung Science & Technology Foundation. Thanks to this study, researchers can trace the human body all the way back to the moment when a viral alien causes an infection; or when aging starts taking effect. 　

Professor Kim's groundbreaking thesis was posted in the Cell, or the world-renowned bioscience academic journal, on Wednesday (local time) in recognition of its contributions to the basis for scientists to gain an accurate level of understanding of when biological phenomena come along such as disease and aging. Back in June 2017, the research project was selected by the Samsung Science & Technology Foundation to receive sponsorship.

Professor Kim's research team collaborated with research crews for Yonsei University Medicine Professors Jung In-kyung & Cho Sung-rae; Yonsei University Statistics and Data Science Professor Park Tae-young; and Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Yoon Sung-ro. The multi-researcher study project became the first among the ones sponsored by the Samsung Science & Technology Foundation to claim a place in the Cell. Among the thesis in sponsorship with Samsung, five thesis were introduced by the Nature and other six were posted in the Science, both of which are journals in the world's highest ranks of academy.

An illness changes how the threads of our DNAs weave together. If you detect a hint of when DNA sequencing starts changing, it is possible to find traces of the onset of a disease and apply remedies to the patient based on how long the condition has come so far. Once you discover when a virus lands on the body system, you can prescribe the right medicine that is leveled squarely at the viral disease at a specific step.

“We've defined ways to grasp the progress of a biological phenomenon within a living organism. Methodologically, this technic is the same as the method to use radioactive isotopes to learn how old fossils are,” Professor Kim said. “This will have wide uses in biological research regarding disease tracing and aging.”


Hyoun-Soo Kim kimhs@donga.com