Cheon Jin-woo, an Underwood Distinguished Professor at Yonsei University who pioneered the sphere of nanomedicine, has been chosen as this 12 months’s recipient of the Korea Top Scientist and Engineer Award.
The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) and the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies introduced Cheon’s choice because the winner of the 2026 Korea Top Scientist and Engineer Award on Tuesday. The award is Korea’s most prestigious science prize, given to scientists and engineers who’ve produced world-class analysis achievements. It has been awarded since 2003, with a complete of 48 recipients by way of final 12 months.
Cheon was acknowledged for combining nanochemistry and biotechnology to suggest new approaches that transcend the boundaries of typical medication, together with illness analysis, cell remedy, and mind circuit correction. Nanomedicine is a area that applies supplies and applied sciences working on the nanometer scale to medication. Its vary of utility is increasing past illness analysis and drug supply to brain-computer interfaces and neuroscience analysis.
His consultant achievement is nano-magnetogenetics know-how. Cheon demonstrated that neuron exercise in residing animals might be managed wirelessly and remotely utilizing magnetic fields. This is thought to be an achievement that concurrently solved “wireless control” and “molecular-level biological selectivity,” each thought-about challenges within the area of brain-computer interfaces. By opening the potential for exactly controlling particular neural circuits within the mind with out surgical procedure, it introduced a brand new paradigm for treating mind ailments.
The associated analysis achievements had been revealed within the worldwide journal Nature Materials in 2021 and Nature Nanotechnology in 2024, respectively. MSIT expects that nano-magnetogenetics know-how may make clear how mind circuits work and result in analysis on therapies for intractable mind ailments similar to Parkinson’s illness, dementia, and melancholy.
Cheon has additionally contributed to constructing the inspiration for home nanomedicine analysis. He established the Center for Nanomedicine on the Institute for Basic Science in 2015, and in 2025 attracted a global Max Planck analysis middle. Through this, he’s credited with serving to to develop Korea right into a world-class nanomedicine analysis hub. He is a fellow of the American Chemical Society and the Royal Society of Chemistry, and serves as an affiliate editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a number one world chemistry journal.
Cheon obtained his bachelor’s and grasp’s levels from the Department of Chemistry at Yonsei University, then earned his doctorate from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign within the United States. He subsequently labored at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and KAIST, earlier than becoming a member of the Department of Chemistry at Yonsei University as a professor in 2002. He at the moment serves as an Underwood Distinguished Professor at Yonsei University, director of the IBS Center for Nanomedicine, and director of the Max Planck-Yonsei IBS Center.
Beginning late final 12 months, MSIT performed a three-stage analysis of candidates really helpful by way of open recruitment and identification, together with a evaluate by specialists, a area evaluate, and an built-in evaluate. The ultimate recipient was chosen by way of a complete evaluation of analysis and improvement achievements, in addition to contributions to financial improvement and affect on enhancing folks’s lives.
The award ceremony will happen on the 2026 World Korean Science and Technology Conference on Wednesday. Cheon will obtain a presidential certificates and a prize of 300 million gained.