YoungSoo Kim

Kim completed his B.A. degree in Biochemistry from New York University in 2001, with Professor Young-Tae Chang as an undergraduate research advisor. He then studied Bioorganic Chemistry under the supervision of Professor Kim D. Janda at The Scripps Research Institute and obtained his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry in 2006.

In 2006, Kim joined Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) as a Research Scientist. In 2010, after his military service duty, he became a Principal Investigator of Brain Science Institute at KIST and Associate Professor of Biological Chemistry at Korea University of Science and Technology (UST). In 2017, he moved to Yonsei University as an Assistant Professor of Bio-Convergence (ISED) and Pharmacy. His laboratory is located at Yonsei University International Campus in Songdo International Business District. Kim is an Editorial Board Member of Scientific Reports since 2015.

Kim's work focuses on pathology, therapeutics, and diagnostics of Alzheimer disease by using Chemical Biology as a research tool. A significant effort of the Kim laboratory in recent years has been to identify small molecules that control protein misfolding and cognitive impairments of Alzheimer's disease. Such research achievements in taurine derivatives reversing Alzheimer pathology and Alzheimer blood tests detecting plasma amyloid-beta contributed to rank Korea Institute of Science and Technology #6 among The World’s Most Innovative Research Institutions, selected by Reuters, in 2016 and 2017. Examples of such molecules discovered include:

• EPPS, a small molecule disaggregating amyloid-beta oligomers and plaques
• Taurine, a food supplement recovering learning and memory
• Necrostatin-1, an anti-necroptotic molecule regulating both amyloid-beta misfolding and tau hyperphosphorylation