DGIST Professor Hyun Jung-ho recognized for schizophrenia research

Professor Hyun Jung-ho of DGIST has been selected for the ‘People Who Shine Korea’ (Hanbitsa) program by the Biological Research Information Center (BRIC). This recognition follows his research validating the reliability of preclinical animal models used in schizophrenia treatment development.

In collaboration with Professor Lee Tae-young of Kyungpook National University Hospital and Visiting Research Professor Eom Ki-sang, the team conducted a systematic review of the ‘maternal administration of methylazoxymethanol acetate (MAM) model’. This model is widely used to study schizophrenia, but previous research lacked objective verification due to inconsistent experimental conditions across laboratories.

The study, published in the journal ‘Biological Psychiatry’, utilized international standard guidelines to perform an unbiased analysis of existing research. The findings confirm that the MAM model consistently reproduces key pathological features of schizophrenia, such as developmental abnormalities in specific brain circuits (ventral hippocampus-medial prefrontal cortex) and imbalances in neural network excitation and inhibition.

This validation provides a more reliable foundation for evaluating the efficacy and safety of drug candidates and neurostimulation technologies, bridging the gap between basic neuroscience and clinical psychiatry.