Research Summary

Young-Wook Jun, PhD, is an Associate Professor and he is the Director of the Nano-Probing Single Biomolecule Dynamics Laboratory in the Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery (OHNS) at the University of California, San Francisco. He received his PhD from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Seoul, South Korea, and he completed a postdoctoral from Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea, followed by a postdoctoral from the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Jun's research interests include nanoprobing systems to investigate the single molecule dynamics of biomolecules involved in cellular developments such as gene regulation, cell-to-cell communications, and neuron circuit formation. His research on "Nanocrystal-Molecules as Probes for Monitoring the Dynamics of Biomolecular Machineries at the Single Molecule Level" will contribute to a foundation of a new field by providing a comprehensive understanding of the nanocrystal molecules including the fabrication, surface chemistry, scaling laws of magnetic, plasmonic, and charge coupling, and their behaviors in cells.

Dr. Jun has been invited to speak both national and internationally. He has contributed to over 40 articles, and 5 book chapters.

Research Funding

  • March 1, 2020 - February 28, 2025 - Spatiotemporal interrogation of molecular mechanobiololgy at the cell-cell interface with nanotechnology tools, Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NIGMS, Sponsor Award ID: R35GM134948
  • September 15, 2017 - July 31, 2021 - Nanomodules for interrogating chemical, spatial, and mechanical dynamics of cell surface receptors, Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NIGMS, Sponsor Award ID: R01GM126542
  • January 1, 2018 - December 31, 2019 - In situ Investigation of dynamic protein-protein interactions in live cells via Magnetic Co-concentration (MCoC), Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NCI, Sponsor Award ID: R21CA224364
  • August 1, 2014 - July 31, 2019 - Spatiotemporal Control of Dynamic Notch Signaling with Subcellular Resolution, Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NIGMS, Sponsor Award ID: R01GM112081

Education

University of California, Berkeley, CA, Postdoc, 06/2010, Nanoscience
Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea, Postdoc, 06/2007, Nanochemistry
Korea Adv. Inst. Sci. & Tech., Daejeon, Korea, Ph.D., 02/2005, Materials Chemistry
Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea, B.A., 02/1999, Chemistry

Honors & Awards

  • 2005
    IUPAC Prize for Young Chemist: The Honorable Mention Award
  • 2010
    The Sandler Foundation New Innovator Research Award
  • 2011
    The Endowed Hemming Fellow
  • 2014
    The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds
  • 2014
    Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researchers
  • 2014
    BayBRAIN Initiative Award
  • 2016
    The Sandler Foundation New Frontier Research Award

Selected Publications

  1. Meher N, Seo K, Wang S, Bidkar AP, Fogarty M, Dhrona S, Huang X, Tang R, Blaha C, Evans MJ, Raleigh DR, Jun YW, VanBrocklin HF, Desai TA, Wilson DM, Ozawa T, Flavell RR. Synthesis and Preliminary Biological Assessment of Carborane-Loaded Theranostic Nanoparticles to Target Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2021 Nov 24; 13(46):54739-54752.  View on PubMed
  2. Kim E, Jeon J, Zhu Y, Hoppe ED, Jun YS, Genin GM, Zhang F. A Biosynthetic Hybrid Spidroin-Amyloid-Mussel Foot Protein for Underwater Adhesion on Diverse Surfaces. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2021 Oct 20; 13(41):48457-48468.  View on PubMed
  3. Ghim D, Chou PI, Chae SH, Jun YS. Effects of MoS2 Layer Thickness on Its Photochemically Driven Oxidative Dissolution. Environ Sci Technol. 2021 Oct 19; 55(20):13759-13769.  View on PubMed
  4. Tan AX, Michalski E, Ilavsky J, Jun YS. Engineering Calcium-bearing Mineral/Hydrogel Composites for Effective Phosphate Recovery. ACS ES T Eng. 2021 Nov 12; 1(11):1553-1564.  View on PubMed
  5. Bowen CH, Sargent CJ, Wang A, Zhu Y, Chang X, Li J, Mu X, Galazka JM, Jun YS, Keten S, Zhang F. Microbial production of megadalton titin yields fibers with advantageous mechanical properties. Nat Commun. 2021 08 30; 12(1):5182.  View on PubMed
  6. Zhu Y, Li Q, Kim D, Min Y, Lee B, Jun YS. Sulfate-Controlled Heterogeneous CaCO3 Nucleation and Its Non-linear Interfacial Energy Evolution. Environ Sci Technol. 2021 Jul 27.  View on PubMed
  7. Gao Z, Zhang D, Jun YS. Does Tert-Butyl Alcohol Really Terminate the Oxidative Activity of •OH in Inorganic Redox Chemistry? Environ Sci Technol. 2021 08 03; 55(15):10442-10450.  View on PubMed
  8. Kim D, Lee B, Marshall B, Thomopoulos S, Jun YS. Cyclic strain enhances the early stage mineral nucleation and the modulus of demineralized bone matrix. Biomater Sci. 2021 Sep 07; 9(17):5907-5916.  View on PubMed
  9. Li J, Zhu Y, Yu H, Dai B, Jun YS, Zhang F. Microbially Synthesized Polymeric Amyloid Fiber Promotes β-Nanocrystal Formation and Displays Gigapascal Tensile Strength. ACS Nano. 2021 Jul 12.  View on PubMed
  10. Kim D, Lee B, Marshall BP, Jang E, Thomopoulos S, Jun YS. Pulsed Electrical Stimulation Enhances Body Fluid Transport for Collagen Biomineralization. ACS Appl Bio Mater. 2020 Feb 17; 3(2):902-910.  View on PubMed
  11. Kwak M, Gu W, Jeong H, Lee H, Lee JU, An M, Kim YH, Lee JH, Cheon J, Jun YW. Small, Clickable, and Monovalent Magnetofluorescent Nanoparticles Enable Mechanogenetic Regulation of Receptors in a Crowded Live-Cell Microenvironment. . 2019 06 12; 19(6):3761-3769.  View on PubMed
  12. Kim JW, Jeong HK, Southard KM, Jun YW, Cheon J. Magnetic Nanotweezers for Interrogating Biological Processes in Space and Time. Acc Chem Res. 2018 04 17; 51(4):839-849.  View on PubMed
  13. Kim JW, Seo D, Lee JU, Southard KM, Lim Y, Kim D, Gartner ZJ, Jun YW, Cheon J. Single-cell mechanogenetics using monovalent magnetoplasmonic nanoparticles. Nat Protoc. 2017 Sep; 12(9):1871-1889.  View on PubMed
  14. Seo D, Southard KM, Kim JW, Lee HJ, Farlow J, Lee JU, Litt DB, Haas T, Alivisatos AP, Cheon J, Gartner ZJ, Jun YW. A Mechanogenetic Toolkit for Interrogating Cell Signaling in Space and Time. Cell. 2016 Jun 02; 165(6):1507-1518.  View on PubMed
  15. Daeha Seo, Hyunjung Lee, Jung-uk Lee, Thomas Haas, Young-wook Jun. Monovalent plasmonic nanoparticles for biological applications. Proceedings of SPIE--the International Society for Optical Engineering. 2016; 9722:972201.  View on PubMed
  16. Mabray MC, Lillaney P, Sze CH, Losey AD, Yang J, Kondapavulur S, Liu D, Saeed M, Patel A, Cooke D, Jun YW, El-Sayed I, Wilson M, Hetts SW. In Vitro Capture of Small Ferrous Particles with a Magnetic Filtration Device Designed for Intravascular Use with Intraarterial Chemotherapy: Proof-of-Concept Study. J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2016 Mar; 27(3):426-32.e1.  View on PubMed
  17. Seo D, Farlow J, Southard K, Jun YW, Gartner ZJ. Production and targeting of monovalent quantum dots. J Vis Exp. 2014 Oct 23; (92):e52198.  View on PubMed
  18. Tajon CA, Seo D, Asmussen J, Shah N, Jun YW, Craik CS. Sensitive and selective plasmon ruler nanosensors for monitoring the apoptotic drug response in leukemia. ACS Nano. 2014 Sep 23; 8(9):9199-208.  View on PubMed
  19. Tajon C, Jun YW, Craik CS. Single-molecule sensing of caspase activation in live cells via plasmon coupling nanotechnology. Methods Enzymol. 2014; 544:271-97.  View on PubMed
  20. Asmussen J, Lasater EA, Tajon C, Oses-Prieto J, Jun YW, Taylor BS, Burlingame A, Craik CS, Shah NP. MEK-dependent negative feedback underlies BCR-ABL-mediated oncogene addiction. Cancer Discov. 2014 Feb; 4(2):200-15.  View on PubMed

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