On the morning of September 9, The KAIST Global Strategy Institute (GSI) hosted its third online international forum titled “Post Corona, Post Human: Medical and Bio Engineering Revolution”, broadcast live on Korea TV, Naver TV, and Youtube. This forum explored novel biomedical approaches to treat both genetic and infectious diseases and to prolong human lifespan in a post-corona world. It was distinct from GSI’s previous forums in that it featured an online panel of about 50 young scientists, students, and researchers from both in and outside of KAIST, who interacted in real time with the forum’s speakers through Q&A sessions.

KAIST President Sung-Chul Shin opened the forum by emphasizing the importance of medical and bioengineering breakthroughs to increase our quality of life amidst the current COVID crisis. The first welcome remark was given by Prime Minister Sye-Kyun Chung, who expressed the Korean government’s positive stance towards and support for biomedical research. Afterwards, Dr. Victor Dzau, President of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, explained how the convergence of biomedical and technological advancements can help the global population age in a healthier and more productive manner — the main theme of the forum itself.

Futurist Thomas Frey began the plenary session by stating his predictions on the role of biotechnology and healthcare in a post-corona world. He emphasized the emergence of digital twins, which uses big data to create a replica of a patient  to diagnose health problems, and increased use of CRISPR technology — the cut-and-pasting of genes — to solve these problems. The technologies of CRISPR gene editing and Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and their role in treating diseases were discussed in more detail by Professor George Church from Harvard Medical School and Susan Tousi from the genome sequencing company Illumina. Finally, KAIST alumnus Kwang-Soo Kim presented his recent research on human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), or preprogrammed cells, and their potential to treat Parkinson’s disease.

The following keynote session consisted of more in-depth presentations about ongoing research from several researchers, including Professor Jin Hyung Lee at Stanford University and her circuit-based approach to the brain, Professor Vera Gorbunova from the University of Rochester and her studies on decoding the molecular mechanisms of long-lived animals, and KAIST Professor Jeong Ho Lee and his research on the genetic aspect of brain disorders. David Resnik from the National Institute of Health (NIH) wrapped up the session by providing a new perspective to biomedical research — that of the public, including important ethical concerns and skepticisms.

Following an interactive Q&A session between the pre-selected online panel and the speakers, GSI Director Joungho Kim concluded the forum by bringing to light the need for not only biomedical and pharmaceutical advancements, but also for social and economic efforts to sustain such research.