The Center for Genome Engineering (CGE), led by Director Bon-Kyoung Koo, is a research center at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS). At CGE, we work on expanding our understanding of life sciences by studying animal and plant biology using genetic engineering. Our work leverages this knowledge to elucidate biological phenomena and develop new tools for investigating basic biology.
CGE consists of twelve teams conducting research across various domains united by genome engineering. Our well-established infrastructure covers genome editing in various organisms, from transgenic mouse and fish models to plant and non-model species. We possess strong core facilities in histology, imaging, omics analysis, high-throughput screening, structural biology, and bioinformatics. Additionally, CGE’s Health & Safety Facility, Media Kitchen, and administrative team provide full support to all our researchers.
CGE has three main goals:
1. Develop projects that are only possible at the IBS and conduct research in previously unexplored territory in the field of genome engineering.
2. Raise the next generation of young scientists who can successfully lead the future of Korean science.
3. Become a biotechnology-based open innovation center for the local community of Daejeon City and South Korea as a whole.
More specifically, our work consists of the following:
- 1. We optimize previously developed genome editing tools – such as Cas proteins and Zinc finger proteins – and apply them to various species. Prof. Ho-Seok Lee (Kyunghee University) and Prof. Donghwan Shim (Chungnam National University) have been appointed as adjunct scholars, and fish expert Dr. Jung-Hwa Choi is a senior research fellow at the CGE.
- 2. We are developing de novo genome editing tools on the basis of AI-based structure predicting algorithms in collaboration with Prof. Minkyung Baek (Seoul National University), who led RoseTTAfold, and Dr. Kayeong Lim (KIST), an expert in the genome editing field. Furthermore, we have also recruited Dr. Ji-Hye Yun as a research fellow in structural biology and promoted Dr. Annie Kim as the CGE’s team leader for genome editing.
- 3. We are developing and actively utilizing a conditional knockout platform called SCON. For this project, a research team led by the CGE’s acting director, Dr. Bon-Kyoung Koo, was established. Dr. Koo’s team is working to improve and utilize genetic tools to seek answers to big biological questions through research on mice and organoids.
- 4. Dr. Bon-Kyoung Koo’s team actively utilizes the mosaic genetics developed by his lab to ask biological questions associated with the early stages of tumors and aging. Meanwhile, Prof. Jihoon Kim (Catholic University), D.D.S. / Ph.D. Eunae Sandra Cho (Yonsei University), both adjunct scholars, and Dr. Ji-Hyun Lee, a CGE research fellow, are conducting their own research projects to shed light on the stem cell field. The newly established bioinformatics team, led by Dr. Heetak Lee, provides bioinformatic insights for all these projects.
