Professor

Biography

Prof. Sang Jun Lee is a Full Professor in the Department of Systems Biotechnology and Director of the Institute of Microbiomics at Chung-Ang University, Korea. His research focuses on the development of CRISPR–Cas–based microbial genome editing tools, synthetic bacteriophage platforms, and systems metabolic biotechnology for precision microbiome and microbial engineering applications.
With a multidisciplinary background spanning biological sciences, chemical and biomolecular engineering, and microbial genetics, Prof. Lee integrates diverse approaches to engineer microorganisms and advance microbial biotechnology.

Before joining Chung-Ang University in 2017, he served as a Principal Research Scientist at the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), where he led research programs in microbial systems biology and synthetic biology. From 2004 to 2010, he conducted a six-year postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, under the mentorship of Dr. Sankar Adhya, where he investigated microbial genetics. Prior to that, he carried out postdoctoral research in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at KAIST, working with Prof. Sang Yup Lee on metabolic engineering of industrial microorganisms. He also worked with Prof. Jung-Kee Lee on the degradation of quorum-sensing signal molecules. 

Prof. Lee received his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from KAIST (2000, advised by Prof. Si Myung Byun). His research continues to advance the development of precision genome editing and synthetic biology tools for biotechnology.