New ROOT method charts a path to reversing biological changes once thought irreversible

Once a cell has locked into an abnormal state—the way cancer cells do—can it ever be restored to normal? A KAIST research team led by Professor Kwang-Hyun Cho of the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering has, for the first time, identified the causal circuits responsible for irreversibility in intracellular molecular networks and developed a fundamental control technology called ROOT that can regulate these circuits and restore biological states to their original conditions.