Taehyun Shin

Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases have been major health problems and ar also the leading causes of death for several decades. An early diagnosis is very important because the disease often leads to sudden death with few prognostic symptoms. Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and MRI contrast agents are widely used to solve these problems, an early diagnosis cannot be relied upon for identifying small blood vessels or blood vessels that have narrowed and are blocked. Furthermore, current clinical MRI contrast agents contain toxic gadolinium ions which pose a safety risk to patients with  kidney disease.

During Tae-Hyun’s Ph.D. course, Tae-Hyun focused on the design and synthesis of a new type of MRI contrast agent that can meet both high-resolution and safety. Tae-Hyun and colleagues used biocompatible ingredients of iron oxide and polysaccharide to develop one of the highest-resolution imaging agents (code name INV-X), which is 10 times more precise than the images generated using current contrast agents.

In 2018, Tae-Hyun founded Inventera to develop and commercialize the INV-X. Two years after, Tae-Hyun initiated the world's first human trial with its non-gadolinium high-performance MRI contrast agents INV-X. And now, Tae-Hyun is preparing for Phase 2 clinical trials of INV-X and developing various new contrast agents that can solve unmet clinical needs in diagnostic imaging.