Chemistry People: Faculty by Name:

Research Interests: Biophysical Chemistry, Structural and Computational Genomics – (1) Biophysical, biochemical and computational methods are used to understand structure-function relationships of proteins of therapeutic value or proteins involved in cell movement, and (2)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 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 cancer stem cells.

II. COMPUTATIONAL GENOMICS
Four aspects of computational biology are being pursued: (1) Global mapping of conformations of all proteins and nucleic acids for understanding the conformational “landscapes” at the peptide and oligonucleotide level, (2) 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, (3) Global mapping of "the protein sequence universe," and (4) Development of alignment-free whole genome sequence comparison methods for demographic grouping and inferring evolutionary relationships of all 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); Faculty of 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, Berkeley (1983); Guggenheim Fellow (1985); E.O. Lawrence Award (1987); Princess Takamatsu Award (1989); The HoAm Prize (1994); Fellow, American Academy of Arts & Sciences (1994); Member, National Academy of Sciences (1994); Korean Academy of Science and Technology, First KAST Prize in Science (2000); Legacy Laureate Award, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA (2005); The Pride of SNU Alumni Award, 60th Anniversary of Seoul National Univ., 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