Collaborative work between faculty at Weill Cornell Medical College and Cornell University in Ithaca has been highlighted in an article on the Web site of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. To read the article, visit www.nibib.nih.gov/Training/TherapeuticUltrasound.
Dr. Yoon-Seong Kim, an assistant professor in neuroscience, has been chosen as one of 10 award recipients from the Michael J. Fox Foundation. The grants, totaling approximately $2.1 million to 10 research teams at institutions in the U.S. and Europe, will fund studies to validate therapeutic targets for Parkinson's disease.
Target validation is a critical step in the drug-discovery process, as it determines whether a molecule or mechanism of interest is a true drug target. In recent years, scientists have continued to identify novel targets through genetic, biochemical and epidemiological studies, but a lack of funding for validation studies has long been a major roadblock to the efficient translation of these discoveries into practical therapies that benefit people living with the disease.
Dr. Kim's studies are directed at investigating the role of Nox1/Rac1 in oxidative damage in dopaminergic neurons by employing viral vector-mediated gene targeting and over-expression.
Dr. Kim earned his medical degree from Kyung Hee University Medical College in Seoul, Korea, in 1993. In 1997, after a three-year military duty as a physician, he joined the lab of Dr. Tong H. Joh at Weill Cornell Medical College as a research scientist. He received his Ph.D. in neuroscience from Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Science in 2003 and subsequently joined Dr. M. Flint Beal's lab as a postdoctoral fellow. Dr. Kim joined the research faculty as an instructor in 2006 and became an assistant professor in 2009.
August 3, 2009
