Researchers

Over the past two decades, Professor Young-Ho Khang has made significant contributions to the study of health inequalities, including their measurement, underlying mechanisms, and trends in population health. His research has consistently highlighted the importance of early-life exposures in shaping health trajectories and social outcomes across the life course. Building on this evidence, he has focused on the development and evaluation of evidence-based home-visiting interventions designed to support families during pregnancy and early childhood. He recently led a large-scale community randomized controlled trial of the Korea Early Childhood Home-visiting Intervention (KECHI), demonstrating the feasibility and effectiveness of professional home-visiting services in Korea. The program is currently being expanded nationwide as part of the government-funded Early Childhood Health Management Program. In his role as director of the national implementation support team, Professor Khang provides leadership in program refinement, workforce capacity building, and quality assurance to support the successful scale-up of this evidence-based intervention.

1) Establishment, characterization, and biobanking of cell lines, iPSCs, and organoids derived from human and animal tissues 2) Multi-omics analysis, high-throughput screening (HTS), and new approach methodologies (NAMs) using established cell lines and organoids 3) Biobanking and biological resource repository for cell Lines and organoids

Our laboratory investigates the interactions between metabolic diseases and the nervous system, based on endocrinology and metabolism, neuroscience, and biochemistry. We aim to elucidate the fundamental mechanisms underlying dysregulated energy metabolism and its complications in diabetes, obesity, and altered growth or nutritional environments, and to identify new therapeutic targets and biomarkers. A major focus is to understand how the brain regulates appetite, energy expenditure, glucose homeostasis, and systemic metabolism, as well as how hypoglycemia, glycemic variability, and metabolic stress affect brain injury, cognitive dysfunction, and neurodegenerative changes. To address these questions, we use mouse disease models, metabolic phenotyping, behavioral tests, in vivo imaging, molecular and cellular analyses, and single-cell and multi-omics approaches. We also conduct translational studies using biospecimens from patients and control subjects. Ultimately, our laboratory seeks to bridge basic and clinical medicine by providing an integrated understanding of the pathophysiology of metabolic diseases and their complications, and by developing mechanism-based precision therapeutic strategies.