ChiHye received her B.S. in Biological Sciences and her B.A. in Korean Language and Literature from Seoul National University. Trained in both science and literature, she approaches neuroscience with the belief that understanding the brain requires not only technical rigor but also openness to interpretation, context, and narrative. Her early fascination with biology stemmed from its unique balance between unpredictability and logic—a balance she had previously encountered in literature. Influenced by writers such as Edward O. Wilson, Jane Goodall, Jonathan Weiner, Matt Ridley, Richard Dawkins, and Lynn Margulis, she came to view scientific inquiry as a disciplined yet imaginative pursuit.
She completed her Ph.D. at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas (2004–2009), under the mentorship of Dr. Ege T. Kavalali. There, supported by abundant coffee and constant encouragement, she investigated the principles governing synaptic vesicle recycling and the coupling of exocytosis and endocytosis at central synapses. During this period, she received rigorous training as an electrophysiologist and developed a deep commitment to scientific integrity.
From 2009 to 2011, she joined the laboratory of Dr. Roberto Malinow at the University of California, San Diego, where she expanded her focus from synapses to neural circuits. Working with colleagues, she contributed to the discovery that brain regions associated with disappointment are abnormally potentiated in animal models of depression.
In September 2011, she returned to Seoul to establish her laboratory at Konkuk University. In her research, ChiHye seeks to understand how moods and emotions are modulated by diverse external inputs at the synaptic level. She believes that scientific progress is driven not only by careful experimentation, but also by the psychological excitement described by Richard Feynman—the moment of considering a “crazy possibility” that no one may have examined before.
Beyond the laboratory, she relies on a steady supply of good coffee—and occasionally wine—while writing manuscripts, grant proposals, and reports. Outside of work, she enjoys reading, traveling, running, and engaging with the arts, particularly film. She is also the parent of two children, whom she describes as “two small but complete universes,” and continues to explore how to balance life in the lab with life beyond it.
