Jihyun Kim received her BSc and MSc in chemistry from Sookmyung Women’s University, South Korea, and her PhD from Texas A&M University (College Station, USA), under the supervision of Prof. Christian Hilty. Her doctoral research focused on developing methods for characterizing protein dynamics and structural changes by using water-assisted hyperpolarized NMR spectroscopy.

 

Jihyun’s research interest is in using NMR spectroscopy to understand the structural changes undergone by proteins during the folding processes, and the dynamics involved in these changes. During her doctoral research, she developed the method of using hyperpolarized water. Applying it to a model protein, she demonstrated that multi-dimensional NMR spectra can be obtained during the protein folding, which is not easily accomplished using conventional NMR due to its limited time-resolution.

 

Jihyun will start her postdoctoral research in the group of Prof. Lucio Frydman at the Weizmann Institute of Science in September 2020. Her postdoctoral research will focus on the applications of this method on a more advanced level, to discover the folding and unfolding stages of biomolecules and reveal their local structures and dynamics, with the goal of developing a better understanding of protein-folding mechanisms.