Professor Lee Jeong-kug of the Department of Life Sciences
Receives 2021 Academic Grand Prize from the Korean Society for Microbiology and Biotechnology

Professor Lee Jeong-kug of the Department of Life Sciences received the 2021 Academic Grand Prize from the Korean Society for Microbiology and Biotechnology.

The Academic Grand Prize is given out to those who have devoted their lives to the Korean Society for Microbiology and Biotechnology and boast outstanding research achievements in the field of microbiology and biotechnology. This award is based on lifetime achievements, and the best candidates are selected by applying the qualitative and quantitative criteria of papers published in domestic and foreign journals, including academic journals.

Professor Lee Jeong-kug has not only made great contributions to the development of Korea’s microbiology and biotechnology fields by creating international leading research results but also served in diverse positions for the Korean Society for Microbiology and Biotechnology over the years, acting as the president, senior vice president, director, chairperson for various committees, secretary president, editor-in-chief, and administrative secretary. Since 1976, when he entered the Department of Microbiology in the College of Natural Sciences at Seoul National University, Professor Lee has been building outstanding achievements in the field of microbiology (80 journal papers, 19 patent registrations, three technology transfers, and two books). 

In particular, he has focused his efforts on deriving a source technology that stably converts light energy into chemical energy for a long period of time using chromatophore vesicles manufactured from photosynthetic microorganisms in order to prepare a fundamental technology for future alternative energy conversion. Furthermore, Professor Lee has achieved research results that bore fruit for a number of excellent papers and patents, eventually leading to a technology transfer contract.  

In addition, Professor Lee has always remained active in academics since the 1980s, with such efforts carried out under the name of ‘The Korean Society for Applied Microbiology.’ In 2019, he successfully held regular academic conferences and international symposiums as the president of the society. In the same year, he was invited to the U.S. by the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (SIMB) and gave a special lecture, contributing to continued exchanges by excellent researchers.