Collaborative Project: Biosensing of Alpha-synuclein Phase Separation Using Nanoparticles
PI: Hye Yoon Park (University of Minnesota, Twin Cities), co-PI: Yongdae Shin (Seoul National University)
This project was conducted in the context of the International Institute for Biosensing's first faculty mobility funding to facilitate international activities at SNU – travel support for the faculty, postdoc, or graduate student - aligned with the IIB's mission to promote collaboration with partners at the SNU campus.
The collaborative project between the Park Lab at the University of Minnesota (UMN) and the Shin Lab at Seoul National University (SNU) has made significant progress over the last year. The primary goal of the project is to develop a novel nanoparticle-based photonic sensing platform for the single-molecule detection of alpha-synuclein oligomerization and condensates, which are implicated in Parkinson's disease. The project successfully launched its initial phases, including planning, design, and protocol development, facilitated by an exchange visit of UMN team members to SNU in the summer of 2025.
Results from prior collaborations between the two labs have been also disseminated through seminars at Seoul National University, Chung Ang University, the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), and the National University of Singapore (NUS). Direct knowledge transfer through in-person collaboration, combined with broad dissemination of research findings, is expected to accelerate project progress and help address complex scientific challenges.