There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
This February, an exceptional international symposium on biomaterials was held at
the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). The reason for its
extraordinariness was not the symposium theme 'Emerging Biomaterials', nor the reputed
scientific speakers from around the world, but the commemoration of a respected scholar
who had committed suicide a year ago.
Professor Tae Gwan Park was a prominent master and mentor of biomaterials research.
After graduating from Seoul National University School of Engineering in 1980, he
earned his doctorate from the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington,
Seattle, in 1990 under the guidance of Professor Allan S. Hoffman. In 1996, he joined
the Department of Biological Sciences at KAIST, where he taught until his death. Professor
Park was the recipient of numerous honors and awards during his academic career, which
include the Clemson Award from the Society for Biomaterials and the Creative Knowledge
Award, one of the highest awards bestowed by the Korean government.
Professor Hoffman began his presentation by describing Professor Park as an outstanding
and creative scientist. He reviewed Professor Park's pioneering and ground breaking
research work at University of Washington on "smart" poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) hydrogels.
He described the current need for smart polymer diagnostic assays, which are inexpensive,
rapid, and portable assay systems to diagnose and report on contagious diseases that
spread rapidly and create epidemic conditions in population centers throughout the
world. He called these tests "Point of Care" assays, and explained that they were
often carried out using microfluidic or paper "dipstick" assay formats. Professor
Hoffman finished his speech with a summary of his own recent study outcomes and the
contributions of Professor Park.
Personally, I cannot forget Tae Gwan Park's enthusiastic academic guidance and amiability
when I met him to discuss biomaterials for tissue regeneration and all of the participating
well-known scientists, including Jeffrey Hubbell, Melody Swartz, Jackie Ying, Patrick
Stayton, and Atsushi Maruyama highly estimated his warm personality as well as creative
talent. Another of Professor Park's mentors, Robert S. Langer at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, who could not join this meeting due to his schedule, sent
a video talk and recalled that Professor Park was not only intelligent but also collaborative.
Although Professor Park took his own life, we do not have to think of him as gone
if we comprehend a quote from Alan Watts, a British philosopher. In his book, The
Wisdom of Insecurity, he observes, 'Life and death are not two opposed forces; they
are simply two ways of looking at the same force, for the movement of change is as
much the builder as the destroyer.' Indeed, we owe our achievements in biomaterials
research to him and live with him today.
Journal ID (iso-abbrev): J Periodontal Implant Sci
Journal ID (publisher-id): JPIS
Title:
Journal of Periodontal & Implant Science
Publisher:
Korean Academy of Periodontology
ISSN
(Print):
2093-2278
ISSN
(Electronic):
2093-2286
Publication date
(Print):
April
2012
Publication date
(Electronic):
30
April
2012
Volume: 42
Issue: 2
Pages: 31-32
Affiliations
Department of Periodontology, Seoul National University School of Dentistry, Seoul,
Korea.
Author notes
Correspondence: Tae-Il Kim. Editor. Department of Periodontology, Seoul National University
School of Dentistry, 101 Daehak-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul 110-749, Korea.
periopf@
123456snu.ac.kr
, Tel: +82-2-2072-2642, Fax: +82-2-744-1349