Sunyoung Kim conducted her PhD work at the University of Michigan and the University of Padova (Italy) and her postdoctoral studies at the University of Minnesota. She is a member of the Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium and founder of a spin-out company to personalize medicine with protein and structural biomarkers. She leads a collaborative, multilab nanomotor research program. An editorial board member of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, she has published more than 28 papers. In addition, she has performed a variety of administrative roles at the departmental, institutional, and state levels, as well as held elected positions for national scientific societies.

Research Interests

Motor proteins

anticancer therapies
screening for candidate drugs for infectious diseases
design principles of kinesin nanomotors
ATP hydrolysis

Gastrointestinal disease in pre-term infants

Selected Publications

A SATe-generated phylogenetic tree of 726 kinesin sequences. Generated from Interactive Tree of Life and downloadable from http://itol.embl.de/shared/SunyoungKimLab, this file allows the reader to enlarge individual clades or branches of interest and examine the individual sequence annotations.

J Richard, ED Kim, H Nyugen, CD Kim, and S Kim. Allostery wiring diagram for kinesin energy transduction and its evolution. Journal of Biological Chemistry 291, 20932-20945

WC Van Voorhis et al. Open-source drug discovery with the Malaria Box compound collection for neglected diseases and beyond. PLoS Pathogen 12: e1005763 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005763

L Liu, J Richard, S Kim, and EJ Wojcik. Small-molecule screen for candidate antimalarials targeting Plasmodium Kinesin-5. Journal of Biological Chemistry 289, 16601-16614

EJ Wojcik, R Buckley, J Richard, TM Huckaba, and S Kim. Kinesin-5: cross-bridging mechanism to targeted clinical therapy. Gene 531, 133-149 (invited review by the journal editorial board)

L Liu, S Parameswaran, J Liu, S Kim, and EJ Wojcik. Loop 5-directed compounds inhibit chimeric Kinesin-5 motors: implications for conserved allosteric mechanisms. Journal of Biological Chemistry 286, 6201-6210

ED Kim, RS Buckley, SS Learman, J Richard, C Parke, DK Worthylake, EJ Wojcik, R Walker, and S Kim. Allosteric drug discrimination is coupled to mechanochemical changes in the Kinesin-5 motor core. Journal of Biological Chemistry 285, 18650-18661

B Jun and S Kim. Real-time conformational transitions are coupled to chemical steps in ATP hydrolysis by human Kinesin-5. Journal of Biological Chemistry 285, 11073-11077

C Parke, EJ Wojcik, S Kim, and DK Worthylake. ATP hydrolysis in Eg5 kinesin involves a catalytic two-water mechanism. Journal of Biological Chemistry 285, 5859-5867 [JBC paper of the week, citation by Faculty of 1000 Biology as a ‘must read’ paper]

SS Learman, CD Kim, N Stevens, S Kim, EJ Wojcik, R Walker. NSC 622124 inhibits human Eg5 and other kinesins via binding to the conserved microtubule-binding site. Biochemistry 48, 1754-1762

EJ Wojcik, NA Dalrymple, SA Alford, R Walker, and S Kim. Disparity in allosteric interactions of monastrol with Eg5 in the presence of ADP and ATP: a FT-IR investigation. Biochemistry 43, 9939-9949

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