Dr. Kim Sunghoon is a South Korean biologist.
Education 1981 B.S. Seoul National University 1983 M.S. Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology 1991 Ph.D. Brown University, U.S.
Work Sunghoon Kim has been studying novel functions of human aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs) and searching for their pathophysiological connections to human diseases (PNAS 105:11043,Aminoacyl tRNA synthetases and their connections to disease 2008; Nat Rev Cancer 11:708, 2011). He has identified potent novel tumor suppressors such as AIMP2/p38 (Nat Genet 34:330, 2003), AIMP3/p18 (Cell, 120:209, 2005Cell - The Haploinsufficient Tumor Suppressor p18 Upregulates p53 via Interactions with ATM/ATR). Besides, he has also investigated novel extracellular activities of ARSs and associated factors such as lysyl-tRNA synthetase (KRS) (PNAS 102, 6356, 2005Human lysyl-tRNA synthetase is secreted to trigger proinflammatory response), tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase(WRS)(Nat Struct Mol Biol 11:149, 2004) and AIMP1/p43 (PNAS 103:14913, 2006Hormonal activity of AIMP1/p43 for glucose homeostasis). He also discovered the oncogenic variant of AIMP2, designated AIMP2-DX2, as one of the critical factors that determines the survival of lung cancer patients (Plos Genet 7:e1001351, 2011PLOS Genetics: Cancer-Associated Splicing Variant of Tumor Suppressor AIMP2/p38: Pathological Implication in Tumorigenesis). More recently, he found that leucyl-tRNA synthetase (LRS) serves as an amino acid sensor for mTOR signal pathway (Cell 149:410, 2012Cell - Leucyl-tRNA Synthetase Is an Intracellular Leucine Sensor for the mTORC1-Signaling Pathway).
1991 – 1994: Post-doc, MIT 1994 – 2001: Associate Professor, Sung Kyun Kwan University 2001 – present: Professor, Seoul National University 1988 – 2007: Director, Center for ARS Network National Creative Research Initiatives 2007 – 2010: Director, Center for Medicinal Protein Network and Systems Biology 2010 – present: Director, Medicinal Bioconvergence Research Center
Awards 2000: Donghun Award, Korean Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 2003: Korea Science Award, Ministry of Science and Technology 2003: Scientist of the Month, Ministry of Science and ICT and National Research Foundation of Korea 2006: Top Scientist and Technologist Award of Korea, Ministry of Science and Technology 2012: Award of Korean National Academy of Science 2015: Ho-am Prize in Medicine, Ho-Am Foundation
See also AwardsAminoacyl tRNA synthetase Leucyl-tRNA synthetase
References
External links College of Pharmacy, Seoul National University Medicinal Bioconvergence Research Center Dept. of Molecular Medicine and Biopharmaceutical Sciences, Seoul National University