Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital

The 11th Hallym-Columbia-Weill Cornell-NYP Symposium that dealt with “Advances in Translational Neuroscience” ended with a resounding success on Oct. 22 at the New York Academy of Sciences.

The symbolic symposium, which was held in conjunction with Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Weill Cornell Medical College and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, attracted some 100 scientists and physicians from leading American medical institutions including Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Mount Sinai Health System, New York University, and SUNY Downstate Medical Center.

“Having a joint symposium with Columbia’s Department of Neurology, a world leader in neuroscience, will pave the way for Hallym as well as for entire neuroscience field to move its scientific innovation a notch higher,” said Dr. Dai-Won Yoon, Chairman of Ilsong Educational Foundation. “I hope today’s meeting will serve as a momentum to lay the foundation of Hallym-Columbia future collaboration.”

Among the Columbia, Weill Cornell and NYP dignitaries who participated in the symposium include Dr. Robert E. Kelly, President of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Dr. Gerald D. Fischbach, Dean Emeritus of Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, President Ellis Rubinstein of New York Academy of Sciences and Dr. Richard S. Rhee of Neurology at Jersey Shore Neurology Associates, former chairman of Korean American Medical Association.

Some 100 audience stayed for the whole symposium thanks to excellent presentations prepared by Korean and US speakers and heated discussions followed during Q&A sessions of each session.

This is the second occasion that HUMC is having a neuroscience symposium in New York since it successfully held the 5th Hallym-Columbia-Weill Cornell-NYP Symposium themed “Neurodegenerative Diseases: Genetics, Biological and Vascular Mechanisms” in 2007.

Hallym’s collaboration with the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Weill Cornell Medical College and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital goes back to the year 2004 when Hallym signed an international affiliation agreement Columbia University College of Physicians to promote exchanges of professors and students, collaborative research and joint academic meetings.

Since then, the institutions have collaborated on a series of annual symposium, with this year being the eleventh. The ten previous annual conferences have addressed a wide array of medical issues including geriatric medicine, obesity and metabolic syndrome, innovative surgery and medicine, pediatrics, neurodegenerative diseases, arthroplasty and spine surgery, cardiovascular diseases, pulmonary diseases, gastrointestinal cancer and prematurity.

The specific programs of the 11th symposium including speakers and topics are as follows:

■Session 1

1. Optical Analysis of Neurotransmission in Basal Ganglia
(David L. Sulzer, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Pharmacology, Columbia University Medical Center)

2. The Pathogenic Human Torsin A in Drosophila Activates the Unfolded Protein Response and Increases Susceptibility to Oxidative Stress
(Young Ho Koh, PhD, Professor, Lab. of Molecular Neurogenetics, Ilsong Institute of Life Science, Hallym University)

3. Towards the Understanding of Alzheimer's Disease through Lipidomics
(Gilbert Di Paolo, PhD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University Medical Center, Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain)

4. Peptidylarginine Deiminases and Protein Citrullination: New Frontiers in Neurodegenerative Disease Research
(Eun-Kyoung Choi, PhD, Professor, Lab. of Cellular Aging and Neurodegeneration, Ilsong Institute of Life Science, Hallym University)

■Session 2

5. Zooming into Alzheimer’s Disease: MRI Maps to Molecular Mechanisms
(Scott A. Small, MD, Boris and Rose Katz Professor of Neurology, Dept. of Neurology and Radiology Columbia University Medical Center)

6. Inhibition of NADPH Oxidase Activation Reduces EAE-induced White Matter Damage in Mice
(Sang Won Suh, MD, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Physiology, Hallym University College of Medicine)

■Session 3

By Miju Kim, Int’l Cooperation Team, HUMC (miju@hallym.or.kr)