Department of Biomedical Sciences, SNU

Faculty

Faculty

Research

Research Field
Bacteria can adapt to environments that promotes its long-term survival. Pathogenic bacteria cause chronic infectious diseases in the host by evading host immune systems and antibiotics. Big question of our research team is how pathogenic bacteria respond to a variety of stresses for long-term survival. First, we will determine how pathogenic bacteria communicate with host cells to cause the chronic infections. Second, our team will establish the mechanisms of bacterial antibiotic persistence. Third, we will investigate how the mechanisms of protein homeostasis such as translation, folding, degradation regulate survival and pathogenesis in bacteria. Outcomes from these studies will potentially uncover novel strategy to control chronic infectious diseases by pathogenic bacteria.
Keyword
Pathogenic bacteria, Host-pathogen interaction, Bacteria stress response, Antibiotic persistance, Protein homeostasis

Education

  • 2001-2006 B.S., Korea University, College of Life Science and Biotechnology (Environmental Science & Ecological Engineering)
  • 2006-2008 M.S., Korea University, College of Life Science and Biotechnology (Microbiology)
  • 2008-2011 Ph.D., Korea University, College of Life Science and Biotechnology (Microbiology)

Career

  • 2011-2012 PostDoc, Korea University (Antibiotic resistance bacteria)
  • 2012-2013 PostDoc, Korea Basic Science Institute (Bacterial Metabolomics)
  • 2013-2017 PostDoc, Yale University (Bacterial pathogenesis)
  • 2017-2019 Associate Research Scientist, Yale University (Bacterial proteolysis)
  • 2019-2020 Assistant Professor, Duke-NUS Medical School (Antibiotic persistence bacteria)
  • 2020-present Assistant Professor, Seoul National University

Publication

  1. Reduced ATP-dependent proteolysis of functional proteins during nutrient limitation speeds the return of microbes to a growth state. Science Signal, 14(667): eabc4235, 2021.
  2. Small proteins regulate Salmonella survival inside macrophages by controlling degradation of a magnesium transporter. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 117(33):20235, 2020.
  3. The expanded specificity and physiological role of a widespread N-degron recognin, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 116(37):18629, 2019. *co-first author
  4. A protein that controls the onset of a Salmonella virulence program. EMBO J. 37(14):e96977, 2018.
  5. Sequestration from protease adaptor confers differential stability to protease substrate. Mol Cell 66 (2): 234-246, 2017.