V. Narry Kim
V.Narry, Kim V.Narry, Kim_1 | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1969 (age 54–55) |
| Nationality | Korean |
| Alma mater | Oxford University |
| Known for | MicroRNA |
| Awards | Ho-Am Prize in Medicine(2009) L'Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science Award(2008) Woman Scientist of the Year(2007) Thomson Scientific Citation Laureate Award(2007) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Biochemistry, Molecular Biology |
| Institutions | Seoul National University |
| Doctoral advisor | Alan J. Kingsman |
Education
1994 - 1998 Ph. D., Biochemistry, Oxford University (with Alan J. Kingsman)
1992 - 1994 M. S., Microbiology, Seoul National University (with Sa-Ouk Kang)
1988 - 1992 B. A., Microbiology, Seoul National University
Work
Professional Experience:
2010 - SNU Distinguished Fellow, Seoul National University
2008 - Associate Professor, Seoul National University
2004 - 2008 Assistant Professor, Seoul National University
2001 - 2004 Research Assistant Professor, Seoul National University
1999 - 2001 Postdoctoral fellow, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
, University of Pennsylvania (with Gideon Dreyfuss)
Professional Services:
2011 Co-organizer, ISSCR-Cold Spring Harbor Asia Joint Meeting, Suzhou China
2011 - Editorial Board, EMBOJournal
2011 Co-organizer, Keystone Symposia (RNA Silencing), Monterey, USA
2010 - Editorial Board, Cell
2010 - Member, Human Frontier Science Program Fellowship Review Committee
2010 - Director, The RNA Society
2009 - Editorial Board, CellResearch
2009 Organizer, The 14th Annual Meeting of the RNA Society Meeting, Madison, USA
2008 Organizer, Seoul RNA Symposium, Seoul, Korea
2007 Session Organizer and Publication Committee Member, FAOMB, Seoul, Korea
2006-2008 Council Member, Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology, Korea
Awards
2010 National Honor Scientist (Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Korea)
2010 Amore Pacific the Grand Prize (Amore Pacific, KOFWST, Korea)
2009 Ho-Am Prize in medicine
2008 L’Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science Award
2007 Woman Scientist of the Year (Ministry of Science and Technology, Korea)
2007 Young Scientist Award (Ministry of Science and Technology, Korea)
2007 Thomson Scientific Citation Award
2006 Research Award (Seoul National University)
See also
Dr. V. Narry Kim is best known for her work on microRNA biogenesis. Her pioneering studies have laid the groundwork for the biology of microRNA and contributed to the improvement of RNA interference technologies.
Dr. Kim received her doctoral degree from the University of Oxford where she studied the functions of retroviral proteins. After completing her postdoctoral research on mRNA surveillance in the laboratory of Gideon Dreyfuss at the University of Pennsylvania, she returned to Seoul National University in 2001 to set up her own lab. Since then, she has been tackling some of the most fundamental questions in the field of RNA biology; how microRNAs are made and regulated, and what microRNAs do to modulate cell signaling in cancer and embryonic stem cells. Dr. Kim’s first paper as PI was published in 2002 in “The EMBO Journal.” In this highly cited work, she defined two separate processing steps (primary microRNA (pri-miRNA) processing in the nucleus and pre-miRNA processing in the cytoplasm), and proposed a model of the microRNA biogenesis pathway for the first time. Based on this model, her research group discovered that most microRNA genes are transcribed by RNA polymerase II and that pri-miRNA processing is carried out by Drosha-DGCR8 complexes in the nucleus. Her research group further identified uridylation-meditated pre-miRNA degradation pathway by LIN28 and TUT4, contributing to a better understanding of how microRNA-mediated gene expression regulation is involved in embryonic stem cell maintenance and cancer cell development. She also discovered the molecular basis for pri-miRNA recognition and cleavage by the Drosha-DGCR8 complexes, and pre-miRNA processing by Dicer. These findings suggested several critical points to be considered for designing more efficient short-hairpin RNA (shRNA) vectors and also contributed to the improvement of RNA interference technologies.
In recognition of her contribution, Dr. V. Narry Kim received L’Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science (2008) and the Ho-Am Prize in medicine (2009). She is an active member of the RNA Society and the International Society of Stem Cell Research(ISSCR).