The Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies (KOFST) announced on December 27, 2018, that Distinguished Prof. Sang Yup Lee's research team's studies on microbial biosynthesis and degradation of plastics were selected as "Top Research of the Year 2018" among research achievements from all the Korean research teams. Prof. Lee's research team reported two complementary studies in 2018 wherein a model bacterium Escherichia coli was metabolically engineered to produce plastics called aromatic polyesters using environmentally friendly biomass feedstocks in one study (Yang et al. Nature Communications, 9:79, 2018), and waste plastics were enzymatically degraded into their monomers in the other study (Joo et al. Nature Communications, 9:382, 2018). These two studies are expected to contribute to establishing a robust pipeline for plastic recycling. This survey was conducted by KOFST for both researchers and non-researchers. Top keywords of the survey this year appeared to be "fight against particulate matter (PM) pollution" and "invasion of plastics"