The UK DRI had the pleasure of welcoming the Ambassador from the Republic of Korea, Her Excellency Enna Park, to the centre at King’s College London last month (25 July). She visited the newly refurbished laboratories and heard from researchers about their work in deciphering the mechanisms behind dementia.
Following a glowing account of the facilities from the scientific officer at the Korean Embassy, Her Excellency scheduled a personal tour with UK DRI Group Leader Prof Kei Cho, who has been instrumental in building collaboration between Korea and the UK.
Seeing these advances, I expect that the dementia research being conducted here will give hope to the future of humanity.Her ExcellencyAmbassador Enna Park
During her visit, Ambassador Park was shown around the labs at the Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute and the newly refurbished UK DRI facilities in the James Black Centre. In addition to hearing about the work of Prof Cho on synaptic dysfunction, Her Excellency spoke to UK DRI Group Leader Prof Annalisa Pastore, who is a specialist in structural and molecular biology.
Her Excellency, Ambassador Enna Park, said:
“I am deeply impressed by the advanced research which I have seen here today, which can improve the quality of life for humankind.
In particular, researchers from diverse backgrounds, such as Prof Kei Cho and Prof Annalisa Pastore, who have been brought in by King’s College London, and the advanced research expertise of neurophysiology and structural biology are great strengths for the UK Dementia Research Institute. Seeing these advances, I expect that the dementia research being conducted here will give hope to the future of humanity.
Dementia affects not only the quality of life of an individual but also the basic structures of family and society. More societal attention and a greater input of resources are necessary, and Korea is also investing with great interest in this field domestically. I hope that researchers from both countries will co-operate and generate synergy in dementia research for mutual benefit.”
In 2005, Prof Kei Cho and Nobel Prize Winner Prof John O’Keefe founded ‘UKorea’ – a platform for UK-Korea collaboration in neuroscience research. Central to this partnership between the two countries is an annual UK-Korea neuroscience symposium, which has hosted over 450 speakers.
This year’s 2-day symposium is taking place at the Francis Crick Institute in London (12-13 August 2019), with plenary lectures from world leading geneticist and UK DRI Associate Director, Prof Julie Williams, and Artificial Intelligence pioneer Matt Botvinick from DeepMind.