On July 22, 2026, Yonhap News published a Korean article titled “전남대, 박테리아 기반 암 치료 연구 생산성 ‘세계 2위’” (“Chonnam National University ranks second worldwide in research productivity in bacteria-based cancer therapy”).
I keep this article in My story because it is a meaningful milestone in my PhD research journey. The professor featured in the article is my PhD advisor, Prof. Jung-Joon Min, from the Chonnam National University Medical School. I am also included in the photo of the research group shown in the article.
According to the article, researchers from the University of Texas analyzed global publications on bacteria-mediated cancer therapy from 2012 to 2021 and published the results in Drug Discovery Today. In that analysis, Chonnam National University was ranked as the second most productive research institution in the world in this field, after the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The article also reported that Prof. Jung-Joon Min was identified as the most productive individual researcher in the analysis, with 19 related papers. This is personally meaningful to me because I have been studying and working in a research group that has steadily developed tumor-targeting attenuated Salmonella as a platform for cancer diagnosis and therapy.
Looking back, this article is not only a news report about a university ranking or my advisor’s research record. For me, it also records part of the scientific environment in which I am growing: working with an international research group, pursuing a challenging direction in cancer therapy, and learning how scientific ideas can become contributions with real biomedical value.
The original article is in Korean and can be read on Yonhap News:
전남대, 박테리아 기반 암 치료 연구 생산성 ‘세계 2위’
Source: Yonhap News, written by Jang Ah-reum, published on July 22, 2026.