ICKSMCB 2015 / International Conference of the Korean Society for Molecular and Cellular Biology / Oct.9 (Wed) ~ 11 (Fri), 2013 / COEX, Gangnam, Seoul, Korea

Award Lecture

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Macrogen Scientist Award Lecture

September 12 (Tue), 16:10-16:40, Rm. 401

Intercellular Communication in Vertebrate Neural Tissues: When, Where, and with Whom?

Jin Woo Kim, Ph.D.
Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Korea

Dr. Jin Woo Kim obtained his Ph.D. from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in 1999. After finishing his postdoctoral training at Korea University and The Salk Institute of Biological Studies (La Jolla, USA), he joined KAIST as an assistant professor in 2006. Dr. Kim is one of the leading scientists in the field of vertebrate retinal development. He has published remarkable research papers in internationally leading journals, including Cell Reports, eLife, EMBO Journal, and Genes & Development as a corresponding author.

Dr. Kim's research group explores the intercellular communication mechanisms that regulate the specification, growth, differentiation, and maintenance of mouse retina. One important contribution is related with integrative signaling pathways that establish the borders between adjacent neural tissues in the eyes. They identified Shh signaling pathway outlining the border between the retina and optic stalk, and
Wnt-ß-catenin and Nf2-hippo pathways determining the border between the retina and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). They also found autonomous activation of PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway accelerates mouse retinal development and degeneration, while non-autonomous activation of Notch by adjacent RPE delays retinal neurogenesis.

Most of all, Dr. Kim's research is recognized by the discovery of conventional and non-conventional functions of transcription factors, which contain a DNA binding domain named as the homeodomain, in mouse retinal development and maintenance. Dr. Kim's group have not only identified important functions of homeodomain transcription factors for specification of neural compartments in early mouse embryo and/or fate determination of retinal neurons in the developing mouse retina, but they also found various HPs that are secreted to the extracellular space and then penetrate neighboring cells to regulate mRNA translation and mitochondrial
homeostasis in mature mouse brain and retina. These unconventional functions of HPs are important for the growth and connection of retinal axons to the brain, the maturation of mammalian vision, and maintenance and regeneration of retinal neurons. This expanded our insights how neural networks are constructed and maintained in vertebrate retina.