Laboratory of Chemical Biology

Department of Pharmacy, Yonsei University

We've designed this site to provide outsiders a basic introduction to our research. We especially hope that prospective graduate students and research associates might have a glimpse of the types of research projects that are being pursued in our laboratory.

Prof. YoungSoo Kim’s group focuses on interpretation of Alzheimer disease (AD) via chemical biology as research tools. Such research interests led us to develop and commercialize blood tests and multiple drug candidates for AD.

AD is the most common and fatal neurodegenerative disorder with catastrophic effects on the elderly population. Typical symptoms of AD are progressive memory loss, cognitive impairment, and behavior disorders to death. The cause of AD is not clearly understood yet due to insufficient information about the etiology and pathogenesis of selective neuronal cell death.

In our lab, we study the disease cascade and biomarkers to look for AD therapeutics and diagnosis probes via customized peptide synthesis, protein-based in vitro assays, HTS drug screening and in vivo animal studies. There is no single test that can show whether a person has AD. While physicians can almost always determine if a person has dementia, it may be difficult to determine the exact cause. Diagnosing Alzheimer's requires careful medical evaluation such as Brain Imaging and Blood Test. However, current early diagnosis of AD only depends on MMSE (mini-mental state examination), which lacks accuracy and only determines level of dementia, not AD.