Sun Hur is a South Korean-born scientist. She is an Oscar M. Schloss Professor at
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
and
Boston Children's Hospital
Boston Children's Hospital formerly known as Children's Hospital Boston until 2012 is a nationally ranked, freestanding acute care children's hospital located in Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent both to its teaching affiliate, Harvard Medical Scho ...
and an investigator in the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American business magnate, investor, record-setting pilot, engineer, fil ...
.
Early life and education
Hur was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea to an engineering father and chemist-trained mother. She was admitted to Seoul National University and Ewha Womans University at the same time, but chose Ewha Womans University due to the passionate recruitment offer. She completed her
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
degree from
Ewha Womans University
Ewha Womans University () is a private women's university in Seoul founded in 1886 by Mary F. Scranton under Emperor Gojong. It was the first university founded in South Korea. Currently, Ewha is one of the world's largest female educational ins ...
before moving to the United States in 2000 to conduct research at the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering.
Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...
and participate in an exchange program at the
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...
.
Hur completed her PhD in physical chemistry in 2003 under the guidance of
Thomas Bruice and then obtained post-doctoral training in X-ray crystallography at the
University of California, San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It cond ...
with
Robert M. Stroud.
While conducting her post-doctoral fellowship in experimental enzymology, Hur contributed to research on the mechanism by which a protein-synthesizing enzyme catalyzes reactions.
Career
Following her post-doctoral training, Hur joined the faculty at
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
(HMS) in 2008 as an
assistant professor
Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada.
Overview
This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree and general ...
and
Boston Children's Hospital
Boston Children's Hospital formerly known as Children's Hospital Boston until 2012 is a nationally ranked, freestanding acute care children's hospital located in Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent both to its teaching affiliate, Harvard Medical Scho ...
in 2010.
As an assistant professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology, Hur focused her research on how the immune system detects viruses, specifically
RNAs
The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...
.
In her own laboratory, Hur's research on a family of viral RNA receptors led to the discovery of key mechanistic principles of foreign nucleic acid sensing.
In 2010, she was one of three HMS professors named Pew Scholars in the biomedical sciences by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Using funds from the Pew Scholarship, Hur and a post-doctoral fellow showed that ubiquitin helps the protein RIG-I gather into stable rings. This provided a structural rationale for how ubiquitin is vital for RIG-I and how that might help keep the immune system stable.
In 2015, Hur received the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science as a young foreign-born biomedical scientist who has demonstrated significant early achievement in basic, applied or translational biomedical science. She was specifically recognized for her research into the immune system, particularly "disease-causing viruses that generate a double-stranded RNA during replication." Hur stated that she planned on using the funding from the prize to "develop medicines to prevent miscommunication in the immune system as well as strategies to use the immune system to combat certain cancers." As a result of her biomedical research, Hur received one of the
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
's 2019 Director's Pioneer Award. In the same year, she was also promoted to the rank of
Full professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...
in Harvard's Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology. The following year, Hur was named a 2020
Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists
Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists was established in 2007 through a partnership between the Blavatnik Family Foundation, headed by Leonard Blavatnik (Russian: Леонид Валентинович Блаватник), chairman of Access Indust ...
in Life Sciences finalist. She was also appointed to sit on the scientific advisory board for Silicon Therapeutics.
Prior to the start of the 2021–22 academic year, Hur was one of four HMS faculty members appointed
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American business magnate, investor, record-setting pilot, engineer, fil ...
Investigators. In November 2021, Hur was one of the three inaugural winners of the Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research as a scientist under the age of 50 who is "making significant contributions to the understanding of cancer or are improving the treatment of the disease through basic or clinical research." She was also the 2022 recipient of the Protein Society Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Award, which recognizes scientists who were influential in expanding societies understanding of proteins.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hur, Sun
Living people
Date of birth missing (living people)
Scientists from Seoul
21st-century South Korean women scientists
21st-century South Korean scientists
Ewha Womans University alumni
Harvard Medical School faculty
University of California, Santa Barbara alumni
21st-century American women scientists
Year of birth missing (living people)
21st-century American scientists