The Ischemic/Hypoxic Disease Institute, established in February 2008, aims to conduct physiology, pharmacology, pathology, and immunological studies on hypoxia related to numerous disease mechanisms as well as the normal function of the human body. Traditionally, in-vivo hypoxia was a major concern for vascular occlusion and hypoglycemia, i.e., ischemia. This reflects the reality that the ischemic infarction of the heart, lungs and brain takes the largest part of the overall mortality rate. In addition, the local hypoxia of cancerous and inflammatory tissues and the resulting cellular responses are associated with almost all human diseases. Although vascular proliferation by angiogenesis factors produced by hypoxic tissues and cells is important for physiological responses, the pathological hyperproliferation is also important for various microvascular diseases and cancer cell metastasis.
In order to study these various disease mechanisms, it is necessary to have a convergent and cooperative research by researchers in various fields, rather than research on a single organ or organ system. Before the establishment of the institute, regular monthly meetings of participating professors were held for about three years, which led to the formation of the institute.
Since then, the institute's main activities have centered around academic events, including meetings, annual joint workshops and symposiums. The results of cooperative research among the members of the institute have been demonstrated by many co-authored publications. In addition, significant achievements have been made in securing national research grants. For example, the Medical Research Center (MRC) project, one of the major group research projects of the Korea Research Foundation, was awarded, which was led by professors participated in the Ischemic Hypoxia Research Institute. Out of all MRC professors, 50%, including the principal investigator Kim Sang-jeong, are adjunct professors of the Institute of Ischemic Hypoxia Research Institute.
The first director of the Institute was Professor Park Jong-wan of the Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine. Professor Sung-Jun Kim of the Department of Physiology (March 2015 - February 2019) was the 2nd Director, who was succeeded by Professor Jeon Yang-Sook of the Department of Physiology in March 2019. Professors of basic medicine and clinical medicine gathered once a month to exchange up-to-date information on ischemia and hypoxic reactions, allowing them to consult their research from their respective major perspectives. In addition, it helps to determine the objective value of the research project so that it can move forward in the direction of development at the beginning of the research, and furthermore, the foundation for establishing a globally competitive hypoxic research team by conducting interdisciplinary joint research.