Faculty

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY, SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY.

Associate Professor

Song, Woon Ju

Bioinorganic chemistry laboratory
LAB Website
OFFICE 503-224 / +82-2-880-4374
LAB 503-203,232 / +82-2-880-6636

Research Topic

Our research lies in the interdisciplinary studies of inorganic chemistry, biochemistry, protein engineering that we employ spectroscopic, kinetic, thermodynamic, and biochemical techniques/analysis to understand orchestrated chemical reactions of metalloproteins and metalloenzymes. We aim to design and synthesize metal/protein-based biocatalysts and biomaterials that can be further adapted for targeting structures and/or functionalities. Additionally, we are interested in the creation of bioinorganic tools to regulate biological systems such as antibiotic resistance, bacterial communications, and carbon and nitrogen fixation pathways.

Education

  • Ph.D. Inorganic Chemistry, MIT, USA, 2011 (Prof. Stephen J. Lippard)
  • M.S. Chemistry, Ewha Womans University, Republic of Korea, 2005 (Prof. Wonwoo Nam)
  • B.S. Science/Chemistry Education, Ewha Womans University, Republic of Korea, 2003

Career

  • Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea, 2016-Present
  • Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, USA, 2011-2015 (Prof. F. Akif Tezcan)

Papers

  1. "Proteins as Diverse, Efficient, and Evolvable Scaffolds for Artificial Metalloenzymes" Chem. Commun., 2020. 56, 9586-9599
  2. “Discovery of Novel Gene Functions by Chemistry-Guided Targeted Sequence Analysis” Biochemistry, 2020, 59, 10-11
  3. "Diverse protein assembly driven by metal and chelating amino acids with selectivity and tunability" Nat. Commun., 2019, 10, 5545
  4. "Emergence of Metal Selectivity and Promiscuity in Metalloenzymes" J. Biol. Inorg. Chem., 2019, 24, 517-531
  5. “Integrative Metagenomic and Biochemical Studies on Rifamycin ADP-ribosyltransferases Discovered in the Sediment Microbiome" Sci. Rep. 2018, 8, 12143
  6. “Importance of Scaffold Flexibility/Rigidity in the Design and Directed Evolution of Artificial Metallo-β-lactamases" J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 16772

Search Papers

Woo Jae Jeong, Jaehee Lee, Hyunuk Eom, Woon Ju Song
Accounts of Chemical Research, 2023, 56, 18, (2023-09-19) Link
Hyunuk Eom, Yuanxin Cao, Hyunsoo Kim, Sam P. de Visser, Woon Ju Song
Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2023, 140, 10, (2023-02-28) Link
Jaehee Lee, Woon Ju Song
Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2023, 145, 9, (2023-02-24) Link
Jaehee Lee, Minwoo Yang, Woon Ju Song
Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society, 2023, 44, 1, (2023-01-01) Link
Hwanjin Joo, Hyunuk Eom, Youna Cho, Mina Rho, Woon Ju Song
Microbiology Spectrum, 2023, 11, 1, (20023-01-05) Link
Woo Jae Jeong, Woon Ju Song
Nature Communications , 2022, 13, 6844, (2022-11-11) Link
Minwoo Yang, Woon Ju Song
Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2022, 10, 34, (2022-08-08) Link
Se-Min Jung, Minwoo Yang, Woon Ju Song
Inorganic Chemistry, 2022, 61, 31, (2022-08-08) Link
Se-Min Jung, Jaehee Lee, Woon Ju Song
Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, 2021, 226, (2021-10) Link
Inseok Song, Younghyeon Kim, Jaeseung Yu, Su Yong Go, Hong Geun Lee, Woon Ju Song, Seokhee Kim
Nature Chemical Biology, 2021, 17, (2021-09-02) Link