Professor of Chemistry
email: shkim@cchem.berkeley.edu
office: 351A Donner Laboratory
phone: 510.643.7377
lab: 301, 308, 315, 321 Donner Laboratory
lab phone: 510.643.7376
student/post doc office: 301, 308 Donner Laboratory
Research Interests
(1) Biophysical, biochemical and computational methods are used to understand structure-function relationships of proteins of therapeutic value or proteins involved in cell movement, cell differentiation and stem cell pluripotency;
(2) Development and application of computational genomics methods for understanding the demographics and evolution of proteins, genes, and whole genome sequences.
I. STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY
Most cellular processes are modulated by complex orchestrations of multiple signals like symphonic sounds. Each signaling pathway is usually not a linear but a multi-branched network. Altering one or more signals can significantly alter cell fate or behavior. We study the structures of proteins involved in signal transduction pathways associated with cell growth, stem cell differentiation, and chemotaxis. We are also interested in discovering and designing drugs that inhibit key signaling molecules that direct stem cells to differentiate into specific cell types of therapeutic value and that can inhibit stem cells that may cause cancers.
II. COMPUTATIONAL GENOMICS
Three aspects of computational biology are being pursued: (1) Global mapping of "the protein structure universe" for understanding the demographics of all protein structures and for discovering their evolutionary relationship among the demographic groups, (2) Global mapping of "the protein sequence universe," and (3) Development of alignment-free methods for whole genome/proteome comparison to group all organisms and infer evolutionary relationships among organisms.
Biography
Born 1937; B.S. (1960), M.S. (1962) Seoul National University, Korea; Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh (1966); Research Associate M.I.T. (1966-70); Senior Research Scientist M.I.T. (1970-72); Assistant and Associate Professor, Biochemistry, Duke University School of Medicine (1972-78); Professor, University of California, Berkeley (1978- ); Faculty Senior Scientist, Physical Biosciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley (1979- ); Fulbright Fellow (1962); Sidhu Award (1970); N.I.H. Research Career Development Award (1976-79); Miller Research Professor ( UC Berkeley, 1983); Guggenheim Fellow (1985); E.O. Lawrence Award (US Department of Energy, 1987); Princess Takamatsu Award (Tokyo, Japan, 1989); The HoAm Prize ( Samsung Foundation, Korea, 1994); Fellow, American Academy of Arts & Sciences (1994); Member, National Academy of Sciences (1994); Korean Academy of Science and Technology Prize in Science ( Korea, 2000); Legacy Laureate Award, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA (2005); The Pride of Seoul National Univ. Alumni Award (Seoul, Korea, 2006); Department of Chemistry Alumni Award, Univ. of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA (2008); Member American Society of Biological Chemists, American Crystallography Association, American Chemical Society, and Biophysical Society