Synthetic biology aims to provide a principled approach towards building biological entities with complex and novel functionality using modular and programmable parts. Precise and programmable control of gene expression is becoming a basic requirement for many biological and biotechnological research applications. To date, synthetic biology approaches yielded novel and sophisticated gene circuitry including molecular counters, synchronized oscillators, logic gates, memory devices, and analog signal processors. Due to its simple base-pairing rules and well-characterized thermodynamic parameters, RNA molecules can form the basis of de-novo-designed synthetic regulators of gene expression. Recent advances in RNA nanotechnology, to which I have contributed with my postdoctoral work, will enable RNA components to sense and regulate gene expression with high sensitivity and fast dynamics and serve as a broadly enabling platform for many areas with biomedical applications. For instance, the ability to detect the dynamics of antibiotic resistance in bacterial populations and biofilms can serve as one of the first steps for developing anticipatory medical and cellular devices. Further, we expect that the technology developed for prokaryotic riboregulators can be adapted to eukaryotic systems in the future.

• ㆍSynthetic biological circuits
• ㆍSmart probiotics
• ㆍNucleic acid engineering
• ㆍMolecular computation

• ㆍKim J, Simmel FC, (2022) Scaling up genelet circuits. Nature Chemistry 14, 1210-1211
• ㆍKim J, et al., (2019) De novo-designed translation-repressing riboregulators for multi-input cellular logic. Nature Chemical Biology 15, 1173-1182
• ㆍGreen AA*, Kim J*, et al., (2017) Complex cellular logic computation using ribocomputing devices. Nature 548, 117-121
• ㆍKim J, et al., (2014) Synthetic circuit for exact adaptation and fold-change detection. Nucleic Acids Research 42, 6078-6089
• ㆍWeitz M, Kim J, et al., (2014) Diversity in the dynamical behaviour of a compartmentalized programmable biochemical oscillator. Nature Chemistry 6, 295-302
• ㆍKim J, et al., (2011) Synthetic in vitro transcriptional oscillators. Molecular Systems Biology 7, 465
• ㆍKwon JH*, Kim J*, et al., (2010) Overexpression of high-mobility group box 2 is associated with tumor aggressiveness and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma. Clinical Cancer Research 16, 5511-5521
• ㆍKim J, et al., (2010) Epithelial-mesenchymal transition gene signature to predict clinical outcome of hepatocellular carcinoma. Cancer Science 101, 1521-1528
• ㆍKim J, et al., (2006) Construction of an in vitro bistable circuit from synthetic transcriptional switches. Molecular Systems Biology 2, 68

• ㆍB.S., POSTECH, Korea (2000)
• ㆍPh.D., California Institute of Technology, USA (2007)

• ㆍ2007-2010: Senior Researcher, CbsBioscience Inc.
• ㆍ2010-2014: Postdoctoral Scholar, California Institute of Technology
• ㆍ2014-2018: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Wyss Institute, Harvard University
• ㆍ2018: Senior Scientist, NuProbe USA Inc.
• ㆍ2018-Present: Assistant Professor, Dept. of Life Sciences, POSTECH