About Ariel

Ph.D. student, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), MIT

Fellow, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), Harvard University

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Fellow

[Research Interest]

• Asking & answering new biological questions by developing new physical tools

• Bioelectronics, biophotonics, biomedical tool development

CV (Last updated: 2023.05.)

Google Scholar (Ariel J. Lee)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA                                                                                                               Sep. 2021 – Present

Ph.D. student, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, S. Korea                                                                                  Mar. 2016 – Aug. 2021

B.S. in the Department of Physics, Individually Designed Major, Magna Cum Laude, Valedictorian

Ulsan Science High School (USHS), Ulsan, S. Korea                                                                                                                                          Mar. 2014 – Feb. 2016

Lab of Bioelectronics, Harvard SEAS, Cambridge, MA, USA                                                                                 (Aug. 2021 – Present)

Graduate student, PI: Prof. Jia Liu

Wang Lab, Broad Institute / MIT Chemistry, Cambridge, MA, USA                                                                       (Aug. 2021 – Present)

Graduate student, PI: Prof. Xiao Wang

Biomedical Optics Lab, Physics, KAIST, S. Korea                                                                                              (Dec. 2017 – Aug. 2021)

Undergraduate Researcher, PI: Prof. YongKeun Park

- Biological studies (Label-free quantifications of wound healing assay and cellular oxidative stress measurement, mesoscale imaging of expanded brain tissues, and renal cell carcinoma biopsy samples)

- Optical setup experience (3D refractive index tomography using incoherent illumination)

- 1 Publication (Biomedical Optics Express, 2020), 7 Conference presentations 

Tearney Lab, Wellman Center for Photomedicine, MGH, Boston, USA                                                              (Jun. 2018 – Aug. 2018)

Research Intern, PI: Prof. Guillermo J. Tearney 

- Intestinal potential difference measurement system development

- In-vivo test experiments on swine for the diagnosis of environmental enteric dysfunction

- 1 Publication, Yao Su Student Research Prize, 2 Conference presentations 

Translational Biophotonics Lab, Biomedical Engineering, UNIST, S. Korea                                                       (Jul. 2017 – Aug. 2017)

Undergraduate Researcher, PI: Prof. Woonggyu Jung, Collaboration with Dr. Yoonsung Lee (IBS center for Genome Integrity)

- Development of a high-throughput screening method of zebrafish embryo

- Fluidic chip design and optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging

- 1 Conference presentation 

Jun Lab, Physics, Univ. of California, San Diego, USA                                                                                       (Jan. 2017 – Feb. 2017)

Visiting student, PI: Prof. Suckjoon Jun

- Learned and assisted mother machine experiments (A high-throughput microfluidic bacterial culture device designed for continuous, quantitative bacterial cell growth analysis at balanced-growth conditions) 

Valedictorian, 2022 KAIST Commencement Ceremony                                                                                                                                                                  2022

Associate Member of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society                                                                                                                                    2021

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Fellow                                                                                                                                            2021 - 2026

Dean’s List, KAIST                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Aug. 2020

Top students with outstanding GPA (4.3/4.3) are selected each semester

Best Poster Award, Annual Biophotonics Conference (ABC) 2019                                                                                                                                    Nov. 2019

Department Honors Scholarship, Physics, KAIST                                                                                                                                                                   Sep. 2019

Salutatorian, Department of Physics

Grand Prix Prize in undergraduate research participation (URP) program, KAIST                                                                                                      Aug. 2019

Quantitative optical diffraction tomography imaging for three-dimensional investigation of wound healing model

Leadership Mileage Diamond Level, KAIST                                                                                                                                                                             Mar. 2019

An honor awarded for top 4% students with active participation in the leadership programs

2019 Global Leadership Award, KAIST                                                                                                                                                                                       Jan. 2019

Honorary recipient of the KAIST Presidential Global Leadership Award for ‘challenge’ category.

Yao Su Student Research Prize, Wellman Center for Photomedicine, MGH, Boston, USA                                                                                        Aug. 2018

Selected among >20 research projects conducted during the 2018 HST-Wellman Summer Institute for Biomedical Optics

National Scholarship, KAIST                                                                                                                                                                                                       2016-2021

Scholarship with full support for university admission, tuition, and student support fees 

The 15th Korean Young Physicists’ Tournament (KYPT), Silver medal, The Korean Society for The Gifted                                                                   2016

The 14th KYPT, Bronze medal, The Korean Physical Society                                                                                                                                                       2015

  Scientific debating tournament over a set of scientifically challenging physics problems after a months-long research investigation.

National Science Contest (Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, Korea)                                                                                                               2015

Developed a computer program to predict shape-dependent trajectory of flying objects. 

[7]   A. J. Lee†, W. Wang†, and J. Liu*, “Flexible and smart electronics for single-cell resolved brain-machine interfaces”, Applied Physics Reviews, 10, 011314 (2023) (†equal contribution)

[6]   J.Y. Park†, S.J. Shin†, J.W. Shin†, A. J. Lee, M.S. Lee, M.J. Lee, G. Kim, J.E. Heo, and Y.K. Park*, “Quantification of structural heterogeneity in H&E stained clear cell renal cell carcinoma using refractive index tomography”, Biomedical Optics Express, 14, 1071-1081 (2023) (†equal contribution)

[5]   A. J. Lee, Y.S. Kim, J.G. Kim, H. Hugonnet, M.S. Lee, T.Y. Ku, and Y.K. Park*, “Volumetric refractive index measurement and quantitative density analysis of mouse brain tissue with sub-micrometer spatial resolution”, bioRxiv, 2023.01.16.524195 (2023)

[4]   D. O. Otuya, E. Gavgiotaki, C. J. Carlson, S. Q. Shi, A. J. Lee, A. A. Krall, A. Chung, C. G. Grant, N. M. Bhat, P. Choy, S. L. Giddings, J. A. Gardecki, J. Thiagarajah, S. M. Rowe, and G. J. Tearney*, “Minimally invasive image-guided gut transport function measurement probe”, Frontiers in Physics, 9:735645 (2023)

[3]   A. J. Lee†, D.J. Yoon†, S.Y. Han†, H. Hugonnet, W.S. Park, J.K. Park, Y.K. Nam, and Y.K. Park*, “Label-free monitoring of 3D cortical neuronal growth in vitro using optical diffraction tomography”, Biomedical Optics Express, 12, 6928-6939 (2023) (†equal contribution)

[2]   A. J. Lee, H. Hugonnet, W.S. Park, and Y.K. Park*, “Three-dimensional label-free imaging and quantification of migrating cells during wound healing”, Biomedical Optics Express, 11, 6812-6824 (2020)

[1]   C.Y. Kim†, H.G. Bae†, Y.J. Lee†, J.Y. Lee†, “Morphology and directional control of fibroblast using TiO2 nanofibrous scaffold topography”, Journal of Youth Engineering, 2nd Edition, 39-54 (2015) (†equal contribution)

[11] H. Hugonnet, A. J. Lee, Y.W. Kim, M.S. Lee, S.W. Shin, R. H. Hruban, S.M. Hong, and Y.K. Park*, “Volumetric label-free histopathology using optical diffraction tomography”, OSA Optical Sensors and Sensing Congress 2021, 19-23 Jul. 2021, Washington, DC, US.

[10]  A. J. Lee, M.J. Lee, H.J. Kim, W.S. Park, and Y.K. Park*, “Label-free quantification of oxidative stress of HS68 cells using optical diffraction tomography”, SPIE Photonics West BiOS 2021, 6-11 Mar. 2021 (online conference due to COVID-19) (oral)

[9]   A. J. Lee, M.J. Lee, H.J. Kim, W. S. Park, and Y.K. Park*, “Quantification of the cellular oxidative stress without labeling using optical diffraction tomography”, Annual Biophotonics Conference (ABC) 2020, 6-7 Nov. 2020 (online conference due to COVID-19) (poster)

[8]   A. J. Lee, H. Hugonnet, W.S. Park, and Y.K. Park*, “Three-dimensional large-area label-free quantitative characterization of migrating cells revealed by optical diffraction tomography”, 2020 Optics and Photonics in Medicine and Biology Gordan Research Conference (GRC) / Seminar (GRS), 11-17 Jul. 2020, Bates College, ME, US (cancelled due to COVID-19) (poster)

[7]   A. J. Lee, H. Hugonnet, W.S. Park, and Y.K. Park*, “Three-dimensional large-area label-free examination of cell migration using optical diffraction tomography”, Korea Physics Society (KPS) Spring meeting 2020, 13-15 Jul. 2020 (online conference due to COVID-19) (oral)

[6]    D. O. Otuya, H. Farrokhi, J. Dong, S. Z. Shi, A. J. Lee, P. Choy, S. K. Zemlok, S. Giddings, J. A. Gardecki, J. R. Thiagarajah, C. Damman, G. J. Tearney*, “Transnasal probe for measuring gut transport function”, Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2020, 2-5 May 2020, Chicago, Il, US (oral), Gastroenterology 158 (6), S-559 (doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-5085(20)32100-4)

[5]   S. Z. Shi, D. O. Otuya, H. Farrokhi, A. J. Lee, J. Dong, S. L. Giddings, C. J. Damman, G. J. Tearney*, “Minimally invasive intestinal permeability assessment using an optical coherence tomography guided intestinal potential difference probe”, SPIE Photonics West BiOS 2020, 1-6 Feb. 2020, San Francisco, CA, US (oral)

[4]   A. J. Lee, H. Hugonnet, W.S. Park, and Y.K. Park*, “Three-dimensional quantitative characterization of migrating cells revealed by optical diffraction tomography”, Materials Research Society (MRS) Fall 2019, 1-6 Dec. 2019, Boston, MA, US (poster)

[3]   A. J. Lee, H. Hugonnet, W.S. Park, and Y.K. Park*, “Three-dimensional quantitative characterization of migrating cells revealed by optical diffraction tomography”, Annual Biophotonics Conference (ABC) 2019, 1-2 Nov. 2019, SKKU, S. Korea (poster), Best Poster Award

[2]   A. J. Lee, H. Hugonnet, W.S. Park, and Y.K. Park*, “Quantitative three-dimensional analysis of wound healing model using optical diffraction tomography”, Microscience Microscopy Congress (MMC) 2019, 1-4 Jul. 2019, Manchester, UK (poster)

[1]   A. J. Lee, H.G. Kim, J.K. Bae, Y.S. Lee, and W.G. Jung*, “High-through-put zebrafish mutant screening using optical coherence tomography”, SPIE Photonics West BiOS 2018, 27 Jan.-1 Feb. 2018, San Francisco, CA, US (oral)

Programming   MATLAB, Python (Pandas, Matplotlib, Jupyter, MySQL), Kotlin

Tools                   ImageJ, Origin, Inventor, Solidworks, Imaris, Amira, ZEN, PIMikroMove, Spinnaker, LATEX

Language           Korean (Native), English (Very fluent)

                             TOEFL iBT score (Oct. 2020): 112

                             GRE General score (Mar. 2020): Verbal 162, Quantitative 170, Writing 4.0

Microscopy       Bright field microscope, Fluorescence microscopy, Scanning electron microscopy, Airyscan, Multiphoton confocal, Light sheet,

                             Optical coherence microscopy, Optical diffraction tomography

Techniques      Nanofabrication, Stereotaxic brain surgery, Cell culture and imaging, Optics setup (optics alignment), Zebrafish set up (embryo

                            preparation), Image processing, Electrospinning

President of KAIST Alumni Association in Boston/Cambridge                                                                                                                                                     Jun. 2022 – Present

GW6 Officer, MIT EECS                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Dec. 2021 – Nov. 2022

  Graduate Women in Course 6

Model of KAIST (MOKA), KAIST                                                                                                                                                                                                            Mar. 2018 – Jul. 2019

Vice president in 2018 Fall, president in 2019 Spring

Student professor of Leadership III class, KAIST                                                                                                                                                                           Mar. 2018 – Jul. 2019

Harvard-MIT MGH Wellman Center for Photomedicine Internship Presentation                                                                                                                                  Nov. 2018

Buddy program for exchange students, KAIST                                                                                                                                                                                                   Fall, 2017

Department of Physics Student Council, KAIST                                                                                                                                                                           Mar. 2017 – Dec. 2018

KAIST Undergraduates Tennis Club (Stroke), KAIST                                                                                                                                                                   Mar. 2016 – Dec. 2019

Vice president for the year, 2017.

KAIST International Students Organization (ISO), KAIST                                                                                                                                                          Mar. 2016 – Dec. 2017

A member of executives for 1 year.