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| Can frozen men revive? | |||
| 작성자 | Department of External Cooperation | 작성일 | 2014-03-17 |
| 조회수 | 1436 | ||
| Can frozen men revive? | |||||
 |
Department of External Cooperation |  |
2014-03-17 |  |
1436 |
|
Special Interview (Professor Kim Hak-Jun, Department of Chemistry) -8.JPG) Is the frozen man in the movie real? Since a man was frozen in USA in 1967 as the first, there have been more than 100 frozen bodies waiting revival through high-improved science. Can they be alive safely? We visited Kim Hak-Jun (46 years old, department of chemistry) who is proceeding researches about the most similar subject with 'revival of frozen man' in Korea.
He is careful about being travesty of his study, but he also has a strong will and confidence about his study area of freezing body and successful unfreezing.
The reason why a life is dead from freezing is cell destruction from that expanding of ice crystals on inside and outside of the frozen cells push the cells and tear it.
In addition, unfreezing is more complicated problem than freezing in freezing body field. When the unfreezing is on progress, it can hurt cell membrane. In the progress, recrystallization of the ice which means that he crystals crumple into big ice can destroy the cells.
Inventing a new deep-freezing material to prevent making the crystals larger is the core task of the study of freezing body.
However, the material has been found. It is anti-freezing protein. Then, what is the protein? Let's see the interesting freezing body's world with professor Kim.
As everyone knows, liquid state of water will slowly change into ice when the temperature is below zero. Ice is also a different type of water, but it cause critical damage to lives, so it brings to them death.
Let's check the case of fishes in the sea. If the temperature of sea is below zero, invisible small ice crystals are formed in the fishes’ blood and body fluid. If they just leave this small ices in their body, these are going to crumple as big ice, and that makes the fishes dead because of stopping function of metabolism by freezing its blood and body fluid.
Then, how fishes in the North and South poles can live in the cold water? They would have their special survival skills.
-4.JPG) Professor Kim said that fishes in there make anti-freezing protein which makes them coexist with ice. This protein has effect to stop ice crumpling into big one at small ice crystal stage. "The anti-freezing protein stops growth of ice through interrupting combination of fluid watermolecule and solid watermolecule through chemical incorporation with watermolecule on the surface of ice crystal," he said.
Therefore, if we freeze or unfreeze bodies adding with the protein, it can help survival of cells by minimizing physical damage through interruption for ice growth. Bingo!
Now, you can see the frozen man walking through your imagination. It is coming to you from freezer, but we need to have a look more.
We need to have a look about the professor's research first. He is the one who firstly started the research about freezing and unfreezing lives with the protein. He shows the best result of researches about the subject in domestic.
His thesis posted on 「SCIENCE」in June 2009 which is top three science journals in the world. The subject is 'The Investigation of Phosphotransferase's Bìomémbrane Protein Structure by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy'. This research was the first step of effective freeze preservation of high-value ingredient of next generation for bio business such as stem cell, cord blood, blood, and gamete.
He showed the great results of his researches such as registering patent about microalgaes in the polar region which is making anti-freezing protein and also about vector production system for mass production of anti-freezing protein.
Professor Kim led the first stage of research project 'Development of Preservation for High-value Living Resources with Anti-freezing Protein from the Polar Region' from 2010 to 2012. The research proceeded as NAP (National Agenda Project). Korea Basic Science Institute, Medipost, Hurim Bio Cell, Konkuk University, and Gachon University participated the research.
The research team showed very interesting and notable result.
They invented mass production technology with recombination of the protein's gene which is the essential material for keeping bodies in frozen. The protein used to be impossible to produce much amount because of its characteristic.
The team was also successful about the percentage of survival on unfreezing. With the protein, they raise the percentage of survival from 85% to 95% on the procedure of freezing and unfreezing human's blood and stem cells.
Professor Kim's team found anti-freezing protein in Antarctic sea ice and Artic lake as the first in the world. They succeeded to find the protein from yeast from the North Pole and produce it after cultivation in large numbers.
The survival rate of red blood cells was also improved. If it is frozen and unfrozen at from 80 to 196 degrees below zero, it usually damaged hard. However the team developed the technology to prevent damages from low temperature.
It means that the technology using anti-freezing protein can be also used in many other various way except reviving frozen man.
The technology can be used in storage of blood. Blood at 4 degrees above after pulling out red blood cells should be discarded after 40 days, and that's why the technology is useful.
Organ transplant surgery also needs the technology. The organs for transplantation usually are kept in refrigeration at 4 degree above, and it could damage tissues frequently. At zero degree of temperature can damage cell issues easily. However, with the anti-freezing protein, the organs can be kept without damage at 0 degree.
"In the food industry, ice cream has quite much share. If we put left ice cream after eating into freezer, taste of the ice cream can be changed. However, if we put the protein to the ice cream, the taste can be maintained as it prevents ice making," professor Kim said.
Functional cosmetics added anti-freezing protein to prevent frostbite of skin from cold weather. In agriculture, they are making transformed plants with the protein which are strong toward cold.
.JPG) Professor Kim also mentioned that this protein can be used more in the medical industry. As the population is aging, the effect of anti-freezing protein becomes very important for effective frozen preservation and bulk security of stem cells and cord blood which are main ingredient for cure of geriatric illness, cell therapy products, new bio medicine, and research and development of organs. The world market size about stem cells and cord blood will be around 25 trillion won at least in 2015.
"Stem cells tend to die after unfreezing or be divided into unspecified cells as its efficiency of freezing preservation is not good compared to cell trains, so keeping its own characteristic perfectly after freezing is needed. If the protein can be used as an alternative or complementary material of existing freeze preservation one for freezing preservation of stem cells and cord blood, the ripple effect will be great," the professor said.
He is on national policy research now about freezing preservation of issues of ovary and ovum together with Seoul National University Bundang Hospital. The research is about freezing preservation of ovary taken from cancer patients, and using it later.
He is also on the progress about how to preserve cord blood for drawing stem cells with public cord blood bank of Seoul Boramae Medical Center. (President Yun Jong-Hyun, professor of medical college in Seoul National University)
As you might guess, the most important mission about the protein is securing large amount of it with cheap price. Enriching and refining protein are ineffective in the aspect of its cost and labor as the amount of protein combined inside of creatures is too small.
Kim said that A/F Protein, the only one company what did commercialization of anti-freezing protein currently, is selling the protein as twelve million won for a gram because they are took it from huge amount of fishes. That is why the protein is not commercialized yet.
Therefore, his purpose of research is developing high-efficiency freezing preservation system based on anti-freezing protein.
His goal is producing various high-active anti-freezing protein from the pole regions which has competitive price like thirty thousand won for a gram and establishing freezing preservation protocol customized on cells and issues.
Do you still wonder of possibility for revival of frozen man? It is not the time to decided the result yet, because we are still finding clues of it. <Pukyong Today>
What is anti-freezing protein?
It is a special metabolite made in the body of creatures in pole regions as they are living in extremely cold area. The material prevents growth of ice and recrystallization which can give critical damage to cells as it is combined with small ice crystals. The clues what shows that mechanism of the protein can protect cell membrane through its interaction between mammal cell membrane and ice are getting increased.
Who is Kim Hak-Jun?
The professor Kim Hak-Jun (department of chemistry) graduated from microbiology department in Pukyong Natioanl University as the class of 87'. After finishing bachelor's degree and master's degree in PKNU, he got the doctor's degrees from Washington State University and Vanderbilt University of USA. He worked as senior researcher in Korea Polar Research Institute from September 2006, and he was appointed as the professor of his old university from September 2013. His major is structural biology and biochemistry. |