Hee-Sup Shin

Hee-sup Shin was born in South Korea, in 1950. He is director of the Center for Cognition and Sociality.

• 1950 Born in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, Korea
• 1974 M.D., College of Medicine, Seoul National University
• 1983 Ph.D. in genetics and cell biology, Cornell University
• 1985 - 1991 Assistant professor, MIT, MA, associate member, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, MA
• 1991 - 2001 Professor, Pohang University of Science and Technology
• 2001–present Principal research scientist, Korea Institute of Science and Technology

Shin work is aimed at understanding how changes in calcium dynamics in nerve cells regulate brain functions. He has been defining the physiological roles that a group of genes play in vivo, whose functions are known to be critical for regulation of intracellular calcium dynamics.

Shin first generates a transgenic mouse for a given gene, and then analyzes the mouse at the molecular, cellular, physiological, and behavioral levels. Shin has been particularly interested in defining the functions of voltage gated calcium channels in normal as well as pathological states of the brain.

In particular, his work on the mutant mouse for a1G T-type calcium channels has provided conclusive evidence that T-type channels in the thalamus of the brain function to block sensory information derived from the body to be delivered to the cerebral cortex. The thalamus is the gateway through which all the somatic sensory information from the periphery must pass through to reach the cerebral cortex, where perception is achieved. Thus, the T-type channel mutant mouse lacking this block showed an enhanced response to visceral pain.

Shin has also shown that the same mutant mouse was resistant to absence epilepsy, a disease characterized by a brief loss of consciousness accompanied by abnormal EEG findings. Together, these results indicate that the thalamus is the brain center, controlling the state of consciousness by gating the sensory information from the outside world to reach the cortex, and that T-type calcium channels are the key element in this gating function

• 1983 Frank Lappin Horsfall, Jr. Award, Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Science
• 1994 Korean Academy of Science and Technology, Member
• 1997 Kumho Science Award, Kumho Foundation
• 1997 Hantan Life Science Award, Hantan Foundation
• 1998 Award for Excellent Research Paper in Science & Technology, MOST
• 2000 Hamchun Medical Science Award, Hamchun Foundation
• 2003 Person of the Month, KIST
• 2004 Scientist-of-the-month Award, MOST
• 2004 Dupont Prize, Dupont Foundation
• 2004 Grand Prize, KIST
• 2004 Ho-Am Prize, Hoam Foundation
• 2004 Order of Civil Merit, President of Korea
• 2004 AHF Lectureship Award, Calgary University, Canada
• 2005 Best Scientist Award, MOST
• 2005 President, International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society
• 2006 National Honor Scientist, MOST
• 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award, Cornell University
• 2009 National Academy of Sciences of the United States, Foreign Associate
• 2010 The National Academy of Sciences, Republic of Korea (NAS)