Kim Sung-hoon

Dr. Kim Sunghoon is a South Korean biologist. Education 1981 B.S. Seoul National University 1983 M.S. Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology 1991 Ph.D. Brown University, U.S. Work Dr. Sunghoon Kim has been studying novel functions of human aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases(ARSs) and searching for their pathophysiological connections to human diseases(PNAS 105:11043, 2008; Nat Rev Cancer 11:708, 2011). He has identified potent novel tumor suppressors such as AIMP2/p38(Nat Genet 34:330, 2003), AIMP3/p18(Cell, 120:209, 2005). Besides, he has also investigated novel extracellular activities of ARSs and associated factors such as lysyl-tRNA synthetase(KRS)(PNAS 102, 6356, 2005), tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase(WRS)(Nat Struct Mol Biol 11:149, 2004) and AIMP1/p43(PNAS 103:14913, 2006). He also discovered the oncogenic variant of AIMP2, designated AIMP2-DX2, as one of the critical factors that determines the survival of lung cancer patients(Plos Genet 7:e1001351, 2011). More recently, he found that leucyl-tRNA synthetase(LRS) serves as an amino acid sensor for mTOR signal pathway(Cell 149:410, 2012).