News Underwood Distinguished Professor Jinwoo Cheon Receives the 2026 Korea Top Scientist Award for Pioneering the Field of Nanomedicine
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Professor Jinwoo Cheon, Underwood Distinguished Professor, has been awarded the 2026 Korea Top Scientist Award (대한민국 최고과학기술인상).
Established in 2003, the Korea Top Scientist Award is the nation's most prestigious honor in science and technology, presented by the President of the Republic of Korea. It recognizes scientists and engineers whose research achievements represent the very best of Korean science, celebrating their accomplishments publicly and honoring their contributions. Only 48 individuals have received the award to date.
Professor Cheon was recognized for pioneering the field of nanomedicine by fusing nanochemistry with biotechnology, opening up medical approaches that transcend the limits of conventional medicine in areas such as disease diagnostics, cell therapy, and the modulation of neural circuits. Nanomedicine has already revolutionized disease diagnosis and drug delivery, and is expected to play a pivotal role in tackling grand challenges in neuroscience and enabling brain–computer interfaces (BCI).
Through the development of nano-magnetogenetics, Professor Cheon demonstrated that neuronal activity in living animals can be controlled wirelessly and remotely using magnetic fields. This achievement simultaneously resolved two long-standing challenges in the BCI field—wireless control and molecular-level biological selectivity—and established a new therapeutic paradigm for safely and precisely controlling specific neural circuits in the brain without surgery. These findings were published in Nature Materials (2021) and Nature Nanotechnology (2024).
Professor Cheon founded the IBS Center for Nanomedicine at Yonsei University in 2015 and, in 2025, established an international Max Planck Center in partnership with the Max Planck Society in Germany, strengthening both international research collaboration and Korea's domestic research infrastructure to build a global hub for nanomedicine research in Korea. He also serves as an Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), elevating the standing of Korean science and technology as a leader in the international academic community.