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.

• 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

• 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)

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