New faculty spotlight: Hyung Joon Kim, Ph.D.,

Hyung Joon Kim, Ph.D.

Hyung Joon Kim, Ph.D., is a new faculty member at UNMC.

  • Name: Hyung Joon Kim (Joon), Ph.D.
  • Hometown: Busan, South Korea
  • Title and department at UNMC: Assistant professor, UNMC Department of Psychiatry and the Holland Regenerative Medicine Program

Research/professional interests:

  • The anatomical and functional integrity of the nervous system.
  • To understand the human brain diseases using stem cell biology and engineering principles.
  • Mitochondria transport, guidance, and myelination in axons.
  • Migration and differentiation of neural stem cells.
  • Key tools: Microfluidics, functional materials, and neural stem cell biology.

How I fell in love with neurobiology:

The morphological similarity of dendrites in non-living materials and living neurons has inspired me to learn more about the neurobiology.

Degrees:

  • Postdoctoral training: Rusty Gage, Ph.D.’s lab at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, Calif.
  • Ph.D., materials science and engineering, University of California, Irvine.
  • B.S. and M.S., materials science and engineering, POSTECH, South Korea

Memberships:

  • Biomedical Engineering Society
  • Society for Neuroscience
  • International Society for Stem Cell Research
  • Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association

Three things people may not know about me:

  • I am the best chef for my daughter. I prepare her breakfast and pack her lunch every morning.
  • I am a big fan of old school cars such as Integrale Evoluzione II, W124.036, and CTR Yellowbird.
  • I had studied phenomenological thermodynamic theory, ferroelectricity and semiconductor processing.