Health Science & Technology (HST) is an emerging field that needs urgent efforts to foster a future growth industry and market for Korea. Though several departments at KAIST have been worked on state-of-the-art HST and established advanced research skills, those efforts were not focused into an initiative to create novel value and provide a vision for new markets. KIHST aims to develop new high-impact technologies through the combination of engineering and medicine, providing a new platform to incubate them for the future health markets. To achieve this goal, Biophotonics, Neuroimaging & Neuromodulation and Therapeutic Bioengineering were set as core competencies to establish the core-infrastructure that can integrate R&D task forces from multi-disciplinary departments at KAIST for synergistic results. Furthermore, Translational Medical Engineering will be conducted to aid the development and application for practical health technology that reflects clinical needs in the medical field.

♦ Neuroimaging & Neuromodulation

PI: Prof. Yong, Jeong

Understanding of the brain mechanisms and disorders is considered one of the most important research as the society becomes older. KIHST will broaden various imaging techniques and animal models of brain disorders to provide innovative diagnostic and therapeutic solution for brain disorder

Target Research Area:

-Early Diagnosis and Intervention in Neurological/Psychiatric Disorders

-Brain Imaging for Early Diagnosis and Neuromodulation Techniques for Treatment

♦ Center for Biophotonics

PI: Prof. Wang Yuhl, Oh

Target Research Area:

-In vivo Imaging for Pathophysiology Study and Clinical Application

-Adaptive Optics and Complex Photonics

-Intravital Microscopy for In Vivo Molecular/Cellular Imaging

-Optical Coherence Tomography

♦ Dr.M Smart Healthcare Research Center

PI: Prof. Yong, Jeong

Dr. M is an innovative "Smart Mobile Healthcare System" which collects and syntagmatically analyzes the user's various bio-signals and provides the customized health enhancement service to customers in real-time.

Target Research Area:

-Wearable Device for Healthcare

-Personal Physical and Mental Health Record & Service

-Digital Phenotype for Healthcare

-Cloud based Big-data Platform

♦ Therapeutic Bioengineering

PI: Prof. Ji-Ho, Park

Established on 2016 Spring, the center for therapeutic bioengineering (CTB) uses multidisciplinary engineering approaches to develop new biomedical devices and therapeutic technologies for treatment and prevention of human diseases. The center will use nanotechnology solutions to develop targeted drug delivery systems for disease treatment that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle for each person. Furthermore, the center will develop biomedical devices for real-time and precise monitoring of response to treatment with non-invasive or minimally-invasive methods.

Target Research Area:

-Smart nanomedicine for individualized and targeted disease treatments

-Innovative biomedical devices for monitoring therapeutic response in patients

♦ Neuro-Rehabilitation Engineering

PI: Prof. Hyung-Soon Park

Neuro-Rehabilitation Engineering is a research area that applies engineering principles to enhance rehabilitation effectiveness after injuries and to improve the reliability and accuracy of health diagnoses. By understanding the mechanisms of recovery, it is possible to suggest optimal rehabilitation programs after injuries. This research benefits both individuals and the broader aging society by advancing healthcare systems.

Target Research Area:

-Rehabilitating tools for upper and lower limbs

-Robotic devices for therapeutic, assistive, and assessment

-Soft exoskeleton

-Brain imaging and brain machine interface

-Virtual-reality systems for rehabilitation

-Orthopedic biomechanics