Kyuho Kang, Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at Chungbuk National University, shared a post on LinkedIn about a paper he co-authored with colleagues published in Advanced Science:
“Today, I’m excited to share that our lab has published a paper in Advanced Science – the result of five years of sustained effort and perseverance.
This project began five years ago when Chaelin You (then starting her PhD after completing her master’s) started analyzing bulk RNA-seq data from patients with sinonasal cancer, a rare malignancy, in collaboration with Prof. Jihee Kim at Asan Medical Center. With additional analytical support from Prof. Keunsoo Kang, we expanded the study to include DNA methylation array profiling. At that point, we could have wrapped up the manuscript – but we decided to aim higher and generate snMultiome data ourselves. That decision marked the beginning of a long and difficult phase.
Because we had never run snMultiome experiments before, optimization with MacroGen was challenging from the outset. And since these were rare-cancer samples, there were no second chances – on top of that, some hard-earned data failed QC along the way. Chaelin, who had already established our single-cell analysis pipeline, carried a significant burden during the snMultiome analysis, and I’m grateful that advice from Prof. Jihwan Park and support from Prof. Jongeun Park and Dr. Seungyeol Yoo made a real difference.
Despite repeated setbacks – including the COVID-19 period and the prolonged medical standoff in South Korea – we kept going with a simple mindset: don’t give up. Chaelin (sole first author) completed the manuscript in 2024, and we submitted it to multiple journals. However, for five journals, we could not get past the editorial stage.
Fortunately, an editor at Advanced Science recognized the value and importance of rare-cancer research and invited a resubmission. After revision, the paper has now been published, about a year after that resubmission.
We started this work as an immunology lab aiming to study TAMs, and the final story ultimately matured into a cancer biology-focused paper. Still, through Chaelin’s persistence, our lab has gained both hands-on expertise in snMultiome and deeper know-how in rare-cancer research – and that, in itself, is a major outcome of this journey.”
Title: Single-Nucleus Multi-Omics Reveals Hypoxia-Driven Angiogenic Programs and Their Epigenetic Control in Sinonasal Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Authors: Chaelin You, Jaewoo Park, Jung Yeon Jang, Junho Noh, Jaehyun Lee, Geunho Kwon, Myeong Sang Yu, Yoo-Sam Chung, Seung-Jun Lee, Keunsoo Kang, Jihwan Park, Ji Heui Kim, Kyuho Kang
You can read the Full Article in Advanced Science.
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