Our lab is recruiting passionate Master/PhD students who are interested in studying fungal plant pathology.

If you are interested, please contact PI through email: wonyongkim@jnu.ac.kr or apbiomol@gmail.com

Current Members

Principal Investigator

Wonyong Kim (PhD)

Wonyong earned his BS in Agronomy (2007) and MS in Plant Biotechnology (2009) from Chonnam National University. Then, he earned PhD (2015) in Plant Pathology from Washington State University. After PhD, he worked as a postdoc at Michigan State University under the supervision of Dr. Frances Trail for 3 years, studying fungal sexual reproduction. In September 2018, he joined the Korean Lichen Research Institute in South Korea, performing a research on lichen secondary metabolism. He started his lab at Chonnam National University in September 2025. Outside of research, he enjoys playing guitar and working out with exercises like deadlifts and pull-ups.

Graudate student

Undergrads

Hyungjoon Kim

Joint Bachelor's and Master's Degree Course Student
Research Interests: Biological control, Genome Mining, Genetic Engineering, BGC Identification, Transcriptomics
Extracurricular Activities: Running, weight training, photography and video production, and traveling abroad to explore new cultures

Co-advised Students at SCNU

PhD student

Cada Mary Christine

Master (earned in 2017 at University of Santo Tomas, Phillippines)
Doctoral Course Student (2023. 09, sponsored by the GKS scholarship)
Research interest: Fungal endophytes, fungal enzymes, transcriptomics, bioremediation, biodegradation .
Extracurricular Activities: Reading about current affairs and non-fiction books, traveling to local places, and trying their local cuisines, as well as playing sports.

PhD student

Saba Ashraf

Master (earned in 2022 at The Government Sadiq College Women University, Pakistan)
Doctoral Course Student (2025. 09, sponsored by the GKS scholarship)
Research interest: Synthetic biology and metabolic engineering, with interest in microbial metabolism and pathway control to enhance biosynthetic performance.
Extracurricular Activities: Article and blog writing, with an interest in digital content creation and effective knowledge sharing.

Master student

Tien Quang Truong

Master Course Student (2025. 09, sponsored by the GKS scholarship)
Research Interests: Fungal genetics, transformation techniques, and genome exploitation
Extracurricular Activities:

Master student

Thoa Thi Kim Nguyen

Master Course Student (2025. 09, sponsored by the GKS scholarship)
Research Interests: Biotechnology, Agricultural Microbiology, Secondary metabolites, Genome Mining.
Extracurricular Activities:

Alumni