Yoon-Kyoung Cho

Yoon-Kyoung Cho is currently a group leader in the Center for Soft and Living Matter at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) and a full professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in the Republic of Korea.

Her research interests range from basic sciences to translational research in microfluidics and nanomedicine. Current research topics include a lab-on-a-disc for the detection of rare cells and biomarkers, quantitative analysis of single cells, and system analysis of cellular communication.

She received her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1999, having obtained her M.S. and B.S. in Chemical Engineering from POSTECH in 1994 and 1992, respectively. She worked as a senior researcher (1999–2008) at Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), where she participated in the development of in vitro diagnostic devices for biomedical applications.

Since she joined UNIST in 2008, she has been the chair of the school of Nano-Bioscience and Chemical Engineering (2008–2014) and the school of Life Sciences (2014–2015) and the director of World Class University (2009–2013) and BK21 (2013–2015) programs.

Education

1994.08 - 1999.05.
Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering
Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), USA
Thesis: Structure and Dynamics of Confined Molecules
Advisor: Prof. Steve Granick

1992.03 - 1994.02.
M.S. in Chemical Engineering, POSTECH, Korea
Thesis: Development of Ceramic Membranes for CO2 Separation Using Sol-Gel Reaction
Advisor: Prof. Kunhong Lee

1988.03 - 1992.02.
B.S. in Chemical Engineering.

Professional experience

2016.09 –present
Group leader, IBS Center for Soft and Living Matter, UNIST, Korea
Professor, Biomedical Engineering, UNIST, Korea

2015.11 –2016.08
Group leader, IBS center for soft and Living Matter, UNIST, Korea
Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering, UNIST, Korea

2014.03 -2015.10
Associate Professor and Chair, School of Life Sciences, UNIST, Korea

2008.07 -2014.02
Assistant, Associate Professor, and Chair, School of Nano-Bioscience and Chemical Engineering, UNIST, Korea

1999.06 - 2008.07
Senior Researcher, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), Korea

Selected honors and awards

Elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering of Korea (NAEK) (2021)
BRIC Top 5 Research in 2020, Bioengineering, Korea (2020)
Board of directors, Chemical and Biological Microsystems Society, CBMS (2019)
National Top 100 R&D Performances, Ministry of Science and ICT, Korea (2019)
Ministry commendation, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Korea (2017)