About Professor Yangmee Kim

  Dr. Yangmee Kim is a Professor at the Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Korea. She received a BS in Chemistry in 1984 from Yonsei University, MS in Physical Chemistry in 1986 from Yonsei University. She obtained her Ph.D in Biophysical Chemistry under the guidance of Professor James H. Prestegard at Yale university in 1990. Following this, she conducted postdoctoral research on NMR spectroscopy at Yale University until 1991. In 1992, she joined Konkuk University as an Assistant Professor. Her research focuses on the structure and dynamics of proteins in fatty acid synthase and aryl polyene biosynthesis in multidrug-resistant pathogens. She is developing antibiotics that target MDR FAS using NMR spectroscopy and molecular modeling. Based on structure-activity relationships, Dr. Kim is also developing potent antimicrobial peptides that could serve as new types of antibiotics to combat infectious diseases, with one of these candidates currently in Phase I clinical trials for sepsis.

 Education :

1990 Ph.D. Department of Chemistry, Yale University, USA
1986 MS. Department of Chemistry, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea
1984 B.Sc. Department of Chemistry, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea

 Professional Experience :

 Awards:

2022 Anigen Academic Award, Korean Peptide and Protein Society
2019 Park Inwon Academic Award, Korean Chemical Society
2016 Lee Jowoong Academic Award, Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
2014 Women Chemist Award, Korean Chemical Society
2009 Award for the Advancement of Science, Korean Chemical Society
2005 Best Teacher Award, Konkuk University
2001 Academic Excellence Prize, KonkuK University

 Invited talk:

• Pleanary speaker, 2025 Asia-Pacific NMR Symposium, June. 25-09, 2025 in Pune, India

• 7th Asian Chemical Biology Conference, January 10 -12, 2025 in Hongkong

• 21th KIAS Conference on Protein Structure and Function, Oct12-14, 2023 in Seoul, Korea

• Pleanary speaker, 2023 Asia-Pacific NMR Symposium, Sep. 05-09, 2023 in Taipai

• 36th Euroean Peptide Symposium & 12th international Peptide Symposium, Aug.28-Sep2, 2022 in Sitges, Barcelona

• 20th KIAS Conference on Protein Structure and Function, Sep. 13-17, 2022 in Seoul, Korea

• Conference of the Federation of Korean Societies for Biomolecular Science, Nov.3-4. 2022 in Jeju

• Pacifichem Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics: Recent Advances in NMR Dec.16-21 2021 in Honolulu, Hawaii

• Pacifichem Antimicrobial peptides at the interaction of chemistry, biology & technology. Dec.16-21 2021 in Honolulu, Hawaii

• 8th Asia-Pacific NMR Symposium, July 3-6, 2019 in Singapore

• 10th International Peptide Symposium, Dec. 3-8, 2018 in Kyoto, Japan

• 5th Asia pacific Protein Association Conference July 11-14, 2017 in Bangsaen, Thailand

• 7th Asia-Pacific NMR Symposium, Feb. 15-18, 2017 in Bangalore, India

• 17th KIAS Conference on Protein Structure and Function, Sep. 22-25, 2017 in Seoul, Korea

• 27th ICMRBS, Aug. 21-26, 2016 in Kyoto, Japan

• 6th Asia-pacific NMR Symposium, Aug. 13-16, 2015 in Hong Kong

• 19th ISMAR, Aug. 16-21, 2015 in Shanghai, China

• 15th KIAS Conference on Protein Structure and Function, Sep. 17-19, 2015 in Seoul, Korea

• 26th ICMRBS, Aug. 24-29, 2014 in Dallas, USA

• Biophysical Society thematic meeting on membrane protein folding, May 19-22, 2013 in Seoul, Korea

• 23rd American Peptide Symposium, June 22-27, 2013 in Hawaii, USA

• Pleanary speaker, 5th Asia-pacific NMR Symposium, Oct. 27-30, 2013 in Brisbane, Austrailia

• 4th Asia-pacific NMR Symposium, Oct. 16-19, 2011 Beijing, China

• 11th KIAS Conference on Protein Structure and Function, Cct. 6-8, 2011 in Seoul, Korea

• 3rd Asia-pacific International Peptide Symposium, Nov. 8-11, 2009 in Jeju, Korea

• 43rd Japanese Peptide Symposium & 4th Peptide Engineering Meeting, Nov. 5-8, 2006 in Yokohama, Japan

 Representative papers:

1. Molecular mechanism underlying the TLR4 antagonistic and antiseptic activities of papiliocin, an insect innate immune response molecule. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 119(10):e2115669119 (2022) 

2. Development of Novel Peptides for the Antimicrobial Combination Therapy Against Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Infection. Pharmaceutics 13, 1800 (2021) 

3. Antiseptic 9-Meric Peptide with Potency against Carbapenem-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Infection. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 22(22): 12520 (2021) 

4. Structural basis of the complementary activity of two ketosynthases in aryl polyene biosynthesis. Scientific Reports 11(1):16340 (2021) 

5. Structural Characterization of an ACP From Thermotoga maritima: Insights Into Hyperthermal Adaptation. Int J Mol Sci. 21(7), 2600 (2020).  22, 3317 2021

6. Development of a novel short 12-meric papiliocin-derived peptide that is effective against Gram-negative sepsis. Scientific Reports 9(1):3817 (2019) 

7. Structure and substrate specificity of β-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein synthase III from Acinetobacter baumannii. Mol Microbiol. 108(5):567-577 (2018) 

8. Tyr51: Key Determinant of the Low Thermostability of Colwellia psychrerythraea Cold Shock Protein. Biochemistry 57(26):3625-3640 (2018) 

9. Novel Structural Components Contribute to the High Thermal Stability of Acyl Carrier Protein from Enterococcus faecalis. J. Biol. Chem. 291(4): 1692 (2016) 

10. Structure and Backbone Dynamics of vanadate-bound PRL-3: Comparison of 15N NMR Relaxation Profiles of free and vanadate-bound PRL-3. Biochemistry 53: 4814 (2014) 

11. Tyrosine-mediated two-dimensional peptide assembly and its role as a bio-inspired catalytic scaffold. Nature communications 5: 3665 (2014) 

12. Discovery of Novel Selective Inhibitors of Staphylococcus aureus β-Ketoacyl Acyl Carrier Protein Synthase III. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 47(1): 261 (2012) 

13. Structure and function of papiliocin with antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities isolated from the swallowtail butterfly, Papilio xuthus. J. Biol. Chem 286 (48): 41296 (2011)