Research Focus
Tons of damages from various sources hampering DNA every day and therefore repairing DNA damages is the fundamental mechanism for the adequate maintenance of genome stability. We are interested in understanding the DNA repair mechanism in the germline. We have focused on investigating the epigenetic regulation of DNA damage response and repair. This includes the role of conserved Epigenetic regulators in DNA damage repair and the role of novel genes of DNA repair and damage response. Students interested in working in Genetics or Molecular biology in my lab, send an E-mail to me.
Publications
Xiaojing Ren, Zifei Liu, Anna Hu, and Hyun-Min Kim*, Role of PARP-2 in the DNA repair pathway and its interaction with other DNA damage response pathways, PLOS Genetics, 2026 under revision (*Correspondence).
Paclitaxel-Induced Germline DNA-Damage Signatures Independent of Mismatch Repair in C. elegans, Yebin Hong, Zifei Liu, and Hyun-Min Kim*, Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2026, Accepted (*Correspondence).
Anna Hu,†, Qinghao Meng,†, Zifei Liu, Yuxuan Wu, Robert P. Borris and Hyun-Min Kim*, ROS-Mediated Nematocidal Activity and Reproductive Toxicity of Herbal Extracts in Caenorhabditis elegans, Nutrients, 2025 Oct († Co-first authors, *Correspondence), https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41228410/.
Anna Hu#, Qinghao Meng#, Robert P. Borris, Hyun-Min Kim*, Herbal Extract-Induced DNA Damage, Apoptosis, and Antioxidant Effects in C. elegans: A Comparative Study of M. longifolia, S. orientalis, and E. biebersteinii, (#Co-first author), Pharmaceuticals (impact factor 4.9), 2025, 11 July. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40732318/.
Qinghao Meng, Anna Hu, Weiyu Xiao, Robert P. Borris, Hyun-Min Kim*, Therapeutic potential of Lappula patula extracts on germline development and DNA damage responses in C. elegans, Pharmaceuticals (impact factor 4.9), 2025, 18, 89. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39861152/.
Qinghao Meng, Robert P. Borris and Hyun-Min Kim*, “Torenia sp. extracts contain multiple potent antitumor compounds with nematocidal activity, triggering an activated DNA damage checkpoint and defective meiotic progression”, Pharmaceuticals (impact factor 4.9), 2024, 17(5), 611;https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11124231/.
Kim, Hyun-Min*, and Zifei Liu. 2024. “LSD2 Is an Epigenetic Player in Multiple Types of Cancer and Beyond”, Biomolecules (Impact factor 5.8), 2024, no. 5: 553. 14 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38785960/, 2024 May.
Qinghao Meng, Nishit Pathak, Ren Xiaojing and Robert P. Borris and Hyun-Min Kim*. Unlocking the Health Potential of Onobrychis cornuta and Veratrum lobelianum Extracts: Insights into MAPK Modulation, Germline Development, and Antitumor Properties in C. elegans, Nutrients (Impact factor 6.6), https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38201838/, 2023 Dec 19.
Hyun-Min Kim*, Xiaoyu Zheng and Ethan Lee. “Experimental Insights into the Interplay between Histone Modifiers and p53 in Regulating Gene Expression”,Int. J. Mol. Sci.(impact factor 6.2) 3 July 2023. (*Correspondence) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10342072/
Hyun-Min Kim*, Yebin Hong and Jiani Chen. “A Decade of CRISPR-Cas Gnome Editing in C. elegans”, Int. J. Mol. Sci. (impact factor 6.2) 23, no. 24: 15863. Dec 14, 2022. (*Correspondence). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36555505/
Xiaojing Ren, Sisi Tian, Qinghao Meng, Hyun-Min Kim*. Histone demethylase AMX-1 regulates fertility in a p53/CEP-1 dependent manner, Frontiers in Genetics (impact factor 4.772). 2022 June 30. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35846143/
Xiaojuan Zhang, Sisi Tian, Sara E. Beese-Sims, Jingjie Chen, Nara Shin, Monica P. Colaiácovo and Hyun-Min Kim*. Histone demethylase AMX-1 is necessary for intercrosslink repair. PLOS Genetics, July 2021. (*Correspondence). https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1009715.
Hyun-Min Kim* and Xiaojuan Zhang. Design of repair templates for CRISPR-Cas9-triggered homologous recombination in Caenorhabditis elegans. CRISPR-Cas methods, Springer Nature. volume2, July 2021. Editors: M. Tofazzal Islam and Kutubuddin A Molla,(*Correspondence). https://experiments.springernature.com/articles/10.1007/978-1-0716-1657-4_24.
Kim*, H., Tian, S. & Wang, S. An affordable plasmid miniprep suitable for proficient microinjection in Caenorhabditis elegans.3 Biotech 2020 Aug;10(8):350. doi: 10.1007/s13205-020-02346-7. Epub 2020 Jul 22. (*Correspondence).
Kim*, H.-M., & Colaiácovo*, M. P. (2019). CRISPR-Cas9-guided genome engineering in caenorhabditis elegans. Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, 2019 Sept 24 129, e106. doi: 10.1002/cpmb.106 (*Co-Correspondence).
Hyun-Min Kim, Sara Beese-Sims and Monica Colaiácovo: Fanconi Anemia FANCM/FNCM-1 and FANCD2/FCD-2 are required for maintaining histone methylation levels and interact with the histone demethylase LSD1/SPR-5 in C. elegans. GENETICS/2018/300823R1. 2018 Highlighted and displayed in the carousal.
Nuria Ferrandiz, Consuelo Barroso, Oana Telecan, Hyun-Min Kim, Sarah Testori, Peter Faull, Pedro Cutillas, Bram Snijders, Monica P. Colaiacovo and Enrique Martinez-Perez: Spatiotemporal regulation of Aurora B recruitment ensures two-step release of cohesion during meiosis. Nature Communications. 2018 Feb 26;9(1):834. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03229-5.
Nottke, A, Kim H.M. and Colaiacovo, M.P.: Wrestling with chromosomes: The roles of SUMO during meiosis. In SUMO regulation of cellular processes (ed, V.G Wilson). Adv Exp Med Biol. 15 February 2017;v963:185-196. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-50044-7_11. Springer Publishing.
Gao J, Barroso C, Zhang P, Kim HM, Li S, Labrador L, Lightfoot J, Gerashchenko MV, Labunskyy VM, Dong MQ, Martinez-Perez E, Colaiácovo MP.: N-terminal acetylation promotes synaptonemal complex assembly in C. Elegans. Genes and Development 30(21):2404-2416 · November 2016.
Kim HM and Colaiácovo MP. CRISPR-Cas9-guided Genome Engineering in C. elegans. 2016. Current Protocols in Molecular Biology. Wiley Online Library.
Norris AD*, Kim HM*, Colaiácovo MP# and Calarco JA#. Efficient Genome Editing in Caenorhabditis elegans with a Toolkit of Dual Marker Selection Cassettes. 2015 Aug GENETICS. (*Co-first author, #Co-correspondence).
Kim HM* and Colaiácovo MP*. DNA damage sensitivity assays in Caenorhabditis elegans. Bio-protocol(ISSN: 2331-8325), 2015 Mar. (*Co-correspondence).
Kim HM and Colaiácovo MP. New Insights into the Post-Translational Regulation of DNA Damage Response and Double-Strand Break Repair in Caenorhabditis elegans. GENETICS. 2015 Jun;200(2):495-504.
Gao J, Kim HM, Elia AE, Elledge SJ, Colaiácovo MP. NatB domain-containing CRA-1 antagonizes hydrolase ACER-1 linking Acetyl-CoA metabolism to the initiation of recombination during C. elegans meiosis. PLOS Genetics, 2015 Mar 11(3):e1005029.
Kim HM and Colaiácovo MP. ZTF-8 interacts with the 9-1-1 complex and is required for DNA damage response and double-strand break repair in the C. elegans germline. PLOS Genetics,2014 Oct 10(10): e1004723.
Lu T, Aron L, Zullo J, Pan Y, Kim H, Chen Y, Yang TH, Kim HM, Drake D, Liu XS, Bennett DA, Colaiácovo MP, Yankner BA. ‘REST and stress resistance in ageing and Alzheimer’s disease’, Nature, 2014 Mar 27;507(7493):448-54.
Saito TT, Lui DY, Kim HM, Meyer K, Colaiácovo MP. ‘Interplay between Structure-Specific Endonucleases for Crossover Control during Caenorhabditis elegans Meiosis’, PLOS Genetics, 2013 Jul;9(7):e1003586.
Sengupta MS, Low WY, Patterson JR, Kim HM, Traven A, Beilharz TH, Colaiacovo MP, Schisa JA and Boag PR, ‘ifet-1 is a broad scale translational repressor required for normal P granule formation in C. elegans’, J Cell Sci,2013 Feb 1;126(Pt 3):850-9.
Waisertreiger IS, Liston VG, Menezes MR, Kim HM, Lobachev KS, Stepchenkova EI, Tahirov TH, Rogozin IB and Pavlov YI, ‘Modulation of mutagenesis in eukaryotes by DNA replication fork dynamics and quality of nucleotide pools’, Environ Mol Mutagen, Oct 2012, vol.53, pp.699-724.
Tang W, Dominska M, Greenwell PW, Harvanek Z, Lobachev KS, Kim HM, Narayanan V, Mirkin SM and Petes TD, ‘Friedreich’s ataxia (GAA)n(TTC)n repeats strongly stimulate mitotic crossovers in Saccharomyces cerevisae’, PLOS Genetics, Jan 2011, vol.7, pp.e1001270.
Kim HM, Narayanan V, Mieczkowski PA, Petes TD, Krasilnikova MM, Mirkin SM and Lobachev KS, ‘Chromosome fragility at GAA tracts in yeast depends on repeat orientation and requires mismatch repair’, EMBO Journal, Nov 2008, vol.27, pp.2896-906
Narayanan V, Mieczkowski PA, Kim HM, Petes TD and Lobachev KS, ‘The pattern of gene amplification is determined by the chromosomal location of hairpin-capped breaks’, Cell, Jun 2006, vol.125, pp.1283-96.
Kim HM, Ohn TB, Min BR and Choi YK, ‘Sequence analysis and insertional inactivation of a gene encoding Moraxella sp. CK-1 cell wall hydrolase’, Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek, June 2001, vol.79, pp.163-71.
People in the lab
Hyun Min Kim,
Duke University – Associate Professor of the Practice Duke University, Durham, USA (2024-)
Duke Kunshan University – Associate Professor of Biology, Kunshan China (2022-)
Tianjin University – Associate Professor of School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology (2016-2021)
Harvard Medical School, USA – Postdoc Research Fellow
Georgia Tech – Ph.D
Yuxuan Wu, Undergraduate Duke Kunshan University, Signature work (Capstone, 2025), Duke Kunshan University.
Weiyu Xiao, Summer Research undergraduate student (2024 May-Aug), Duke Kunshan University.
Anna Hu, Research assistant (2024 May), Bioengineering from Northeastern University.
Zifei Liu, Research assistant (2023 Oct), Hebei Agricultural University (Bohai Campus)
Zishan Huang, Summer research undergraduate student (2024 May-Aug), Duke Kunshan University.
Xiaoyu Zheng, Research Assistant (2023-2024), Shantou University Guangdong
Yuhan Lin, Undergraduate research student, (2024 May-Aug), Duke Kunshan University
Qinghao Meng, Ph.D student at Tianjin University (2021)
Wang Mingyao, Research assistant (2023 Aug-Oct), Jimei University MS degree
Agnes Yebin Hong, Undergraduate Duke Kunshan University, Signature Work, Class of 2024. Current, Ph.D student at Univ. of Toronto
Ren Xiaojing, Master student at Tianjin University (2020-2023)
Chutian Chen, undergraduate Duke Kunshan University, Summer Research Student (2023)
Ethan Lee, Undergraduate Duke Kunshan University, Signature Work, Class of 2023.
Semin Kim, Undergraduate Research, SELF at Tianjin University (2021) and Duke Kunshan University (2022)
Jiani Chen, Undergraduate Duke Kunshan University, Signature Work, Class of 2023. Current: Ph.D student at Westlake University
Xinyue Liu, undergraduate, Duke Kunshan University
Don Yunyi, Undergraduate, Tianjin University (2018-2019)
Xiaojuan Zhang, Master student 2018, Tianjin University
Wang Shouyue, Tianjin University master student 2018- 2019, Binzhou Medical University 滨州医学院
Tian Sisi, Tianjin University master student 2017, BS degree at Southwest University
Inessa Arif, Exchange student for Summer 2019, University of Queensland, Australia
Yang Xinyi, Undergraduate student 2019,Tianjin University degree at Southwest University
Cui Qingmei, Undergraduate student 2019, Tianjin University
Pei Rui, Tianjin University Undergraduate student 2019, Current: Zhejiang University
Chen Jingjie, Tianjin University Undergraduate student 2019
Nishit Pathak, Tianjin University Post-doc Aug 2018 – Feb 2019
Hoo Jingyi, Tianjin University Undergraduate assistant student 2018
Cao Hang, Tianjin University Undergraduate student 2018, Assistant student 2017-18
Pei Rui, Tianjin University Undergraduate student 2019, Current: Zhejiang University
Contacts/Links
Lab Resources
Organizations
Monica lab (Harvard Medical School)
Summer Research
Kim lab supports Summer research students. Students who want to work in the lab are encouraged to contact me.
Summer Journal Club
We organizes Summer Journal clubs for the students. Due to the pandemic spread, we currently operate online presentations only. Journal clubs start at 8:30 PM to include students located in foreign countries. Please find the presentation materials at either the links site or MS-teams.
Weekly Presentation: Thursday 8:30-9:30pm. Shanghai time
Join Zoom Meeting https://duke.zoom.us/j/6866647729?pwd=T0dSanhFTXV0V2FJMTE0SDNPZTZLUT09
PDF resources https://people.dukekunshan.edu.cn/~hk284/Papers
Bioscience Data Club
Kim lab organizes Bioscience Data Club since 2018. This is a monthly meeting aimed for the departmental seminar among Bioscience oriented laboratories. Presenters will discuss their research to assist any scientific issue. All students and faculties are welcome. For more information, contact me or my students on the ‘people’ link. Free snacks and beverages served.
Contact me at - vurk @ n a v e r. c o m