Underwood International College

Associate Professor of Pharmacy

• Ph.D. in Chemistry, Scripps Research Institute
• B.A. in Biochemistry, New York University

Web: http://chembio.yonsei.ac.kr

Profile

Dr. YoungSoo Kim joined UIC in 2017, with a ten-year principal investigator background at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). Dr. Kim’s research has focused on the development of drug candidates and diagnostic tools for Alzheimer’s disease by elucidating the pathological mechanisms of neurodegeneration. Dr. Kim’s ultimate research goal is to provide practical benefits to patients who are suffering from this fatal neurological disorder by developing innovative therapeutics and diagnostics.

Dr. Kim has equipped and trained his lab to perform Alzheimer’s disease research from A to Z. As drug discovery often requires interdisciplinary investigations, his team is fully functional in bioorganic protein chemistry, high-throughput drug screening, learning and memory behavioral studies, and neuropathological investigations based on chemical neurobiology. So far, Dr. Kim has succeeded five licensing-out deals, including Alzheimer blood test and Alzheimer drug candidate.

Dr. Kim’s lab welcomes undergraduate students by offering research environments where students can conduct novel research, learn scientific writing skills, and discuss professional development.

Education

Ph.D. in Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, 2006
B.A. in Biochemistry, New York University, 2001

Courses and Current Research Areas

Courses 

Chemical Biology
Neurodegenerative Disorders
Industrial Bioconvergence

Current Research Areas

Therapeutics, Diagnostics and Pathological Mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease

Selected Publications

Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 2023;62(7):e202210209. Amyloid Against Amyloid: Dimeric Amyloid Fragment Ameliorates Cognitive Impairments by Direct Clearance of Oligomers and Plaques. Lee HY, Baek S, Cha M, Yang S-H, Cho I, Shin H, LEe S, Kim HY, Lee S, Shin J, Lee D, Kim K, Park I, Yoon S, Kim J, Park S, Kim SM, Kim KE, Kim HJ, Oh M-S, Lee G-H, Yu B-Y, Kanna P, Park K, Kim Y*.

Advanced Materials. 2023;35(3):2207719. A Therapeutic Nanovaccine that Generates Anti-amyloid Antibodies and Amyloid-specific Regulatory T cells for Alzheimer's Disease. Jung M, Lee S, Park S. Hong J, Kim C, Cho I, Sohn HS, Kim K, Park IW, Yoon S, Kwon S, Shin J, Lee D, Kang M, Go S, Moon S, Chung Y, Kim Y*, Kim B-S*.

Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy. 2022;14:177. Aryloxypropanolamine targets amyloid aggregates and reverses Alzheimer-like phenotypes in Alzheimer mouse models. Lee HY, Yoon S, Lee JH, Park K, Jung Y, Cho I, Lee D, Shin J, Kim K, Kim S, Kim J, Kim K, Han SH, Kim SM, Kim HJ, Kim HY, Kim I*, Kim Y*.

Advanced Science. 2022;9(12):e2104542. Chemical-driven outflow of dissociated amyloid burden from brain to blood. Lee D, Kim HV, Kim HY*, Kim Y*.

Nature Neuroscience. 2020;23:1555. Severe reactive astrocytes precipitate pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease via H2O2 - production. Chun H, Im H, Kang YJ, Kim Y, Shin YK, Won W, Lim J, Ju Y, Park YM, Kim S, Lee SE, Lee J, Woo J, Hwang Y, Cho H, Jo S, Park J-H, Kim D, Kim DY, Seo J-S, Gwag BJ, Kim YS, Park KD, Kaang B-K, Cho H, Ryu H, Lee CJ*.

Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 2020;59(51):22994. Rhizolutin, a novel 7/10/6?tricyclic dilactone, dissociates misfolded protein aggregates and reduces apoptosis/inflammation associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Kwon Y, Shin J, Nam K, An JS, Yang S-H, Hong S-H, Bae M, Moon K, Cho Y, Woo J, Park K, Kim K, Shin J, Kim B-Y, Kim Y*, Oh D-C*.

Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 2020;59(28):11491. Discovery of chemicals to either clear or indicate amyloid aggregates by targeting memory?impairing anti?parallel Aβ dimers. Lee JC, Kim HY, Lee S, Shin J, Kim HV, Kim K, Baek S, Lee D, Jeon H, Kim D, Yang S-H, Han G, Park K, Choi J, Park J, Moss JA, Janda KD, Kim Y*.

Experimental & Molecular Medicine. 2019;51:53. Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease utilizing amyloid and tau as fluid biomarkers. Lee JC, Kim SJ, Hong S, Kim Y*.

Science Advances. 2019;5(4):eaav1388. Comparative analyses of plasma amyloid-β levels in heterogeneous and monomerized states by interdigitated microelectrode sensor system. Kim Y*, Yoo YK, Kim HY, Roh JH, Kim J, Baek S, Lee JC, Kim HJ, Chae M-S, Jeong D, Park D, Lee S, Jang H, Kim K, Lee JH, Byun BH, Park SY, Ha JH, Lee KC, Cho WW, Kim J-S, Koh J-Y, Kim SM, Hwang KS.

ACS Central Science. 2019;5(2):209. Frontiers in probing Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers with fluorescent small molecules. Jun YW, Cho SW, Jung J, Huh Y, Kim Y*, Kim D*, Ahn KH*.

EMBO Molecular Medicine. 2017;9:61. Nec-1 alleviates cognitive impairment with reduction of Aβ and tau abnormalities in APP/PS1 mice. Yang S-H, Lee DK, Shin J, Lee S, Baek S, Kim J, Jung H, Hah J-M, Kim Y*.

Nature Communications. 2015;6:8997. EPPS rescues hippocampus-dependent cognitive deficits in APP/PS1 mice by disaggregation of amyloid-β oligomers and plaques. Kim HY, Kim HV, Jo S, Choi SY, Lee CJ, Park JK, Kim DJ*, Kim Y*.