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Thanks to the recent breathtaking technological advancements in such fields as recombinant DNA, protein engineering, and cell biology, much about life has been deciphered. However, there still remain unknown areas which have yet to be explored; for example, brain functions, the aging mechanism, and the immune system among others. This makes the discipline of life science one of the most important and promising areas of all sciences, with ever-increasing challenges and opportunities for young, brilliant scientists. New knowledge of life phenomena is directly related with the betterment of human welfare, since it can be channelled right into the prevention, diagnosis, and therapy of diseases, the development of new species in plant and animals, environmental preservation, and so on. To spearhead the advancement in this burgeoning new field, the Department of Life Science at POSTECH was opened in March 1989, two years after the University was established in December 1986. The Department aims to produce young scientists in the field of life science, by educating them to be fully equipped with the basic knowledge of life phenomena and training them to develop and conduct creative research, using state-of-the-art facilities and techniques, in such fields as physiology, genetics, biochemistry, cell biology, immunology, structural biology, virology, and other related fields. There are currently 110 undergraduate students and 185 graduate students working for their BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees. Incoming freshmen represent the top 1 percentile of the nation's high school graduates, and graduate students have outstanding academic records with sound backgrounds in research. Students are placed under the guidance and tutelage of 22 professors, whose credentials stem from prestigious institutions at home and abroad. To meet growing research demands in the field of life science, the Department also has 5 research professors, 36 post-docs, and 130 research assistants. 10 administrative staff members efficiently manage departmental affairs. Each professor carries out independent research supported by the Ministry of Science & Technology, the Ministry of Education, the Korea Science & Engineering Foundation, or industries. The shear number of research labs and centers, housed in the POSTECH Department of Life Science - 3 Creative Research Initiatives, 2 National Research Laboratories, one National Core Reserach Center, the Postech Biotech Center which is a grand scale academy-industry collaboration among many others - all accounting for over 30% of the University's total research fund, well reflect the leading role the Department plays both at POSTECH and across the nation.
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Life
Science is a discipline that fosters the fundamental
understanding of life phenomena by exploring the complex
and mysterious structure and function of living forms,
and applies the acquired knowledge to human life, with
an ultimate goal to contribute to the better of human
welfare.
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