▲ Research fellow KIM Kwangsoon of Academy of Immunology and Microbiology is receiving the Scientist of the Year award on behalf of the late director Charles Surh

▲ (Recipients of 2017 the Scientist of the Year award. From the left) Research fellow KIM Kwangsoon of Academy of Immunology and Microbiology, President KIM Jin Doo of Korea Science Reporters Association, Professor IM Myungshin of Department of Physics and Astronomy at Seoul National University, Principal investigator LEE Hyung Mok of Korean Gravitational Wave Group

Research fellow KIM Kwangsoon of Academy of Immunology and Microbiology (Professor at POSTECH) was awarded on behalf of the late director Charles Surh. “On behalf of director Charles Surh’s loving family and members of Academy of Immunology and Microbiology, thank you for this great recognition. The director was a dedicated scientist who was committed to exploring our immune system through the lens of superorganisms which co-exist with commensal bacteria and introducing a new paradigm of research. His undying devotion will always be there to guide us to realize his vision,” said Kim.

Director Charles D. SURH, a world-renowned scientist in immunology, passed away on October 7, 2017 in San Diego, US.

Director SURH was an immunologist who presented over 120 papers from 1984. When he was at The Scripps Research Institute, he published papers demonstrating the entire process from birth to death of T cells in leading journals, such as Nature and Science. In particular, he discovered for the first time that only 1% of T cells developed in the thymus fight external invaders. With such outstanding achievements, he was honored with the Ho-Am Prize in Medicine in 2007 and was selected as 100 Distinguished minds who will shine Korea in 2010.

After returning to Korea, he focused on research to identify the interaction mechanism between the immune system and symbiotic microorganisms. His studies demonstrating how food induces immunologic unresponsiveness and competition for survival among immune cells maintains immune balance were published in Science (February 2017) and Immunity (July 2017), respectively. He was diagnosed with cancer in early 2015 but his illness could not stop him from conducting research. He continued his research while receiving treatment for cancer.