EDUCATION
2005.8 Ph. D. in Physical Chemistry, Seoul National University
Thesis: “Single-molecule Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer by Alternating-Laser Excitation”
Advisor: Prof. Seong Keun Kim, Co-advisor: Prof. Shimon Weiss (UCLA)
2000.2 M. Sc. in Physical Chemistry, Seoul National University
1998.2 B.S. in Chemistry, Seoul National University
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
2021.9-present Vice Chair, Department of Chemistry, Seoul National University
2019.9-2021.8 Associate Director, Science & Policy Advanced Research Course, College of Natural Science
2017.3-present Associate Professor and Professor, Department of Chemistry, Seoul National University
2013.9-2017.2 Associate Professor, Department of Physics & School of Interdisciplinary Bioscience and Bioengineering, POSTECH
2009.1-2013.8 Assistant Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Bioscience and Bioengineering & Department of Physics, POSTECH
2006.5–2008.12 Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University (Advisor: Prof. X. Sunney Xie)
2005.9–2006.4 Postdoctoral Fellow, Seoul National University (Advisor: Prof. S. K. Kim)
2002.2 –2003.8 Visiting scholar, University of California at Los Angeles (Advisor: Prof. Shimon Weiss)
AWARDS
2021 Award for Excellent Research, College of Natural Science, Seoul National University
2019 Sigma-Aldrich Chemist Award of Korean Chemical Society
2018 Distinguished Lectureship Award of the Chemical Society of Japan
2017 Excellent Teaching Award of Pohang University of Science and Technology
2016 Award for Excellent Research Project by Ministry of Education, South Korea
2014 Advisor of the recipient of Samsung HumanTech paper award (Gold Medal in Basic Science & Technology)
2005 The Korean Chemical Society Award for Outstanding Ph.D. Thesis
2003 Award for Excellent Papers (conferred by the “Brain Korea 21” program by Ministry of Education & Human Resources Development)
2002 Award for Excellent Papers (conferred by the “Brain Korea 21” program by Ministry of Education & Human Resources Development)
1996 Korea Research Foundation Scholarship
REPRESENTATIVE PAPERS
• J. Yi#, S. Yeou#, N. K. Lee*, "DNA bending force facilitates Z-DNA formation under physiological salt conditions", J. Am. Chem. Soc. 144, 29, 13137-13145 (2022).
• Y. Cho#, H. J. An#, T. Kim, C. Lee*, N. K. Lee*, “Mechanism of Cyanine5 to Cyanine3 photoconversion and its application for high-density single-particle tracking in a living cell”, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 143, 14125-14135 (2021).
• J. Hwang, J.-Y. Kim, C. Kim, S. Park, S. Joo, S. K. Kim*, N. K. Lee*, "Single-molecule observation of ATP-independent SSB displacement by RecO in Deinococcus radiodurans", eLife, 9, e50945 (2020).
• S. Yang#, S. H. Kim#, D.-K. Kim, H. J. An, J. B. Son, A. H. Gynnå, N. K. Lee*, " Transcription and translation contribute to gene locus relocation to the nucleoid periphery in E.coli", Nat. Commun. 10, 5131 (2019).
• C. Kim, O. Lee, J.-Y. Kim, W. Sung, N. K. Lee,* “Dynamic release of bending stress in short dsDNA by a kink and forks”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 54, 8943–8947 (2015).
• J.-Y. Kim, C. Kim, N. K. Lee,* “Real-time sub-millisecond single-molecule FRET dynamics of freely diffusing molecules with liposome tethering”, Nat. Commun. 6, 6992 (2015).
• D.-H. Kim#, K. Zhou#, D.-K. Kim#, S. Park, J. Noh, Y. Kwon, D. Kim, N. W. Song, J.-B. Lee, P.-G. Suh, N. K. Lee*, S. H. Ryu,* “Analysis of Interactions between the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor and Soluble Ligands on the Basis of Single-Molecule Diffusivity in the Membrane of Living Cells”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 54, 7028–7032 (2015).
• S. Yang, S. Kim, Y. R. Lim, C. Kim, H. J. An, J-H. Kim, J. Sung*, N. K. Lee,* “Contribution of RNA polymerase concentration variation to protein expression noise”, Nat. Commun. 5, 4761 (2014).
• B. K. Choi,# M.-G. Choi, # J.-Y. Kim,# Y. Yang, Y. Lai, D.-H. Kweon, N. K. Lee,* Y.-K. Shin,* “Large α-Synuclein oligomers inhibit neuronal SNARE-mediated vesicle docking”, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 110, 4087–4092 (2013).
• J.Y. Kim,# B. K Choi, # M. G Choi, S. A. Kim, Y. K. Shin,* N. K Lee,* “Solution single-vesicle assay reveals PIP2 is required for the sequential actions of synaptotagmin-1 on SNAREs”, EMBO J. 31, 2144-2155 (2012).
RESEARCH AREAS
Methods : Single-molecule Fluorescence and FRET, Single Fluorescent Protein imaging in living cell, Super-resolution optical imaging (PALM), Single cell analysis on microfluidic device
Biology : Signal transduction by EGFR and GPCR, Membrane protein dynamics, Transcriptional dynamics, DNA recombination, Neurotransmitter release, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease