$1.25 million pharmaceutical sciences donation will fund lab’s biomaterials research

A $1.25 million gift from PharmaResearch Products Co. Ltd. will fund research by Young Jik Kwon, UCI professor of pharmaceutical sciences. His BioTherapeutics Engineering Laboratory group has been exploring innovative methods for the efficient and safe delivery of therapeutic molecules such as drugs, nucleic acids and proteins. With this support, Kwon hopes to generate novel DNA-based nanoscale biomaterials for the treatment of cancers and degenerative diseases. “By applying the technologies developed in my laboratory to salmon-derived DNA from PharmaResearch Products, I am confident we will move closer to helping our society live longer, healthier lives,” he said. “This type of funding and this partnership with corporations transform already exceptional programs and enable them to become the very best in the world,” added J. Christopher Smith, UCI associate vice chancellor of Health Advancement. Richard Chamberlin, chair of pharmaceutical sciences, thanked PharmaResearch Products CEO Sang Soo Jung at a ceremony May 1. “We are grateful for this collaboration,” he said. “And we thank them for supporting our shared vision to develop innovative solutions to shape a brighter, healthier future.”