Park Jong In (advisor: Kim Bum Joon ) and graduate student Seo Ye Na (advisor: Kim Tae Jong) from the Department of Forest Products & Biotechnology, Graduate School of General Studies, won the Best Paper Award at the 2024 General Assembly and Spring Conference of the Korean Society of Wood Science & Technology.

Park Jong In presented “Effects of silane treatment and in situ microfibrillation on tensile properties of FDM 3D printed PLA/PA1010/MCC composites”. Polylactic acid (PLA) is a representative biothermoplastic resin made by polymerizing lactic acid extracted from corn. Filaments were manufactured and then applied to 3D printed materials. In the future, he plans to conduct research on developing high value-added biomaterials through various biodegradable polymers and renewable maternity materials.

Park Jong In is a researcher at the Green Composites and Biomaterials Laboratory (https://cst.kookmin.ac.kr/biotechnology/laboratory) in the Department of Forest Products & Biotechnology at Kookmin University, where he is conducting research on the application of woody and non-woody natural fibers and wood compositions to eco-friendly composites and high value-added biomaterials for construction and automobiles through fusion with biodegradable polymers and functional nanomaterials by applying various physical, mechanical, and chemical technologies.

Seo Ye Na presented on 'Increased antibiotic activity against Staphylococcus aureus through efflux pump inhibition of Hyun Ho Sack and its active compound berberine'. Microorganisms become antibiotic-resistant superbugs by utilizing the ability to efflux antibiotics out of the cell, and she demonstrated that the antibiotic efflux pump is inhibited by berberine. It is expected that the combination of hyacinth and berberine with antibiotics will provide a treatment method for difficult-to-treat superbugs. 

Seo Ye Na started her research in the laboratory of Prof. Kim Tae Jong of the Department of Forest Products & Biotechnology and Pregnancy (http://kmubio.synology.me) as a bachelor's and master's student in March 22, and is currently in her second semester of master's studies and plans to graduate next February. She is conducting research on the identification of the physiological regulation mechanism of microorganisms for the development of new drugs through the development of treatment methods for super bacteria and improvement of microbiota, and has applied for a large number of patents and is planning to publish three papers by graduation, including this one.