Homeostasis is a defining characteristic of life and is essential for survival and health. As a result, many of our behaviors are motivated by the need to maintain homeostasis, as seen by drinking when thirsty and stopping eating when we feel full. The Kim lab seeks to understand how sensory information regulates behaviors that maintain homeostasis, with a particular focus on brain-body communication, and to use this knowledge to develop novel therapeutic strategies for obesity and stress-related disorders.
To learn more about our work, please visit here, and also view Sung-Yon’s talks and lectures on YouTube.
Recent rising stars from the K-Lab
Dong-Yoon Kim was the first PhD student at K-Lab, and he graduated in 2022. His study on a neural circuit mechanism for mechanosensory feedback control of ingestion was published in Nature in 2020, and his work on the neural circuits underlying thermoregulatory behavior was published in Neuron in 2022. As a result of his work, he received numerous academic honors and distinctions, including the Best PhD Thesis Award, the AMOREPACIFIC Next Generation Researcher Award, and the Talent Award of Korea. He received a highly competitive Human Frontier Science Program Postdoctoral Fellowship (top 1% fellowship score!) for his postdoctoral research on neuro-immune interactions at Rockefeller. We are overjoyed with his accomplishments and eagerly await his future discoveries.
Research Highlights:
– In 2022, we found and studied neural circuits for thermoregulatory behavior. This was published in Neuron.
– In 2022, we published a review paper on neural signaling of gut mechanosensation in ingestive and digestive processes in Nature Reviews Neuroscience.
– In 2020, we identified a neural circuit mechanism for monitoring and controlling ingestion based on mechanosensation from the upper digestive tract. This work was published in Nature.
– In 2019, we developed the “ZOOM” technique that enables scalable and isotropic expansion of biological samples with easily tunable ZOOM factors (up to 8x). This was published in Advanced Science and featured as the front cover.
We are actively recruiting!
We are actively seeking highly motivated and enthusiastic postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and undergraduate/post-bac researchers to join our innovative and multidisciplinary team. We invite young scholars from a variety of academic disciplines, including science and engineering. We create a supportive environment and value all lab personnel’s continuing growth and achievement!Interested candidates should send their applications to Dr. Sung-Yon Kim (sungyonkim@snu.ac.kr). Informal inquiries are welcome.
Contact Info
1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu
Seoul National Univ. Bldg 105 Rm 209
Seoul 08826, South Korea
Phone: +82-2-880-4996
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