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‘생명공학작물과 지식재산’ 포럼 개최
“Biotech crops and intellectual properties” forum held

Jeju National University Subtropical Horticulture Research Institute (Lee Hyo-Yeon, Director) and Subtropical Agriculture and Life Science Research Institute (Kim In Joong, Director) held a forum under the thematic Banner entitled “Biotechnological crops and intellectual properties” supported by the Korea Association of Scientific and Technological Societies Jeju Regional Branch (Lee Sun Joo, President) last Friday (October 16, 2020).

The forum chaired by Professor Kim In Joong (Biomaterials Majors) featured the LMO risk assessment and security as well as the relevant protocols and trends thereof.

The program included presentations by Professor Yang Young, Sookmyung Women’s University, “Support pattern for life science field,” Dr. Song In Ja, National Research Safety Management Headquarter, Team Leader, “LMO safe management; current status and policy changes,” and Professor Lee Beom Kyu, Jeonju University, “Concept and principles of LMO risk assessment and principles.

” The main session was followed by lively discussions on the commercialization of LMO crops in Korea, with the debates revolved around the LMO commercialization and strategic ideas put forward by Professor Lee Hyo-Yeon and Dr. Kang Hong Gyu of the JNU Subtropical Horticulture Research Institute.

Professor Kim Beom Yong of the Intellectual Properties Education Center reported on the pending patents and the problems associated with LMO patents applications on Korean herbicide resistant crops. Discussion followed the presentations.

The forum organizers pointed out that this year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine went to the gene editing technology, a new alternative to the traditional LMO technology, and its applications to biotechnological areas are expected to expand greatly, but disappointingly its industrial applications seem discouraging under the current restrictions on LMOs in Korea.

It was pointed out that COVID-19 diagnostic tools, insulin and other therapeutics, have been commercially developed through LMO technologies, but none has been developed for commercial use in Korea, due to the regulatory restrictions imposed on LMOs in general.

The forum ended with the emphasis on the LMO commercialization issue, its rational de-regulations, and the improved communications between the developers and the consumers.