Four teams from the Department of Convergence Bioengineering at Kookmin University (President Jeong Seung Ryul) won silver and bronze medals at the “2026 Korean Society of Biotechnology and Bioengineering Capstone Design Competition: BB Jump (Biotechnology and Bioengineering Jump),” held on April 10 at the Yeosu Expo Convention Center.

This competition was held as part of the 2026 Fall Academic Conference and International Symposium organized by the Korean Society of Biotechnology and was designed to foster biotechnology talent with creative comprehensive design capabilities. Four teams from Kookmin University—the Immune Cell Tracking Team, the Chae Su-ji Team, BRIGHT, and Cell Trio—participated, presented their research findings, and received high evaluations.

The “Immune Cell Tracking Team” (advisors: Professors Kwak Hyun Jeong and Lee Inhyung), which won the Silver Award, presented research elucidating the immunotoxic effects and mechanisms of action of 6PPD-quinone (6PPD-Q)—an environmental toxin derived from tire oxidizers—on various immune cells, including macrophages and neutrophils. This study provided foundational data for understanding immune dysregulation and inflammatory responses caused by environmental toxins.

The “BRIGHT” team (advisors: Son Boram), which also received a Silver Award, presented research that identified target candidates for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and analyzed the tumor microenvironment based on scRNA-seq analysis. This study garnered attention for suggesting the potential to establish precision cancer treatment strategies.

The ‘Chae Su-ji’ team (advisor: Oh Sangtaek), which won the Bronze Award, demonstrated the potential for regulating pigment formation and the expandability of related mechanisms through research on inducing melanogenesis using Wnt extracellular vesicles (EVs) and SKL2001.

The ‘Cell Trio’ team (advisor: Professor Park Juhwan) conducted single-cell-based experiments using hollow core-shell hydrogel microcapsules, along with antibody-based binding and signal amplification strategies for single EV analysis. Through this, they demonstrated the potential for developing a single-cell and exosome analysis platform based on droplet microfluidics and rolling circle amplification, raising expectations for the future advancement of disease diagnosis and biomarker discovery technologies.

The students stated that this competition allowed them to share their research findings and evaluate the completeness and scalability of their work based on feedback from various experts. They also expressed their ambition to further develop the practical applications of each topic through follow-up research, thereby contributing to the advancement of the field of bioengineering.

△ From the top left, clockwise: Group photo of the Department of Convergence Biotechnology; the Immune Cell Tracking Team (Heo Chae-eun, Kim Ran-mi, Cha Min-gon, Kim Hong-jun, Lee Chae-hwan); the Chae Su-ji Team (Lee Chae-young, Namgung Ji-won, Kim Su-eun); the BRIGHT Team (Kang Shin-hee, Noh Yu-jin, Kim Seo-yoon); and the Cell Trio Team (Lee Seung-woo, Kwon Hyun, Song Dong-hyun)