Yu Myeong-Hee (born 5 September 1954) is a South Korean microbiologist, currently serving as the president of Korea Federation of Women's Science & Technology Associations and a principle researcher at the

Korea Institute of Science and Technology Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic of ...

. In July 2010, under President

Lee Myung-bak Lee Myung-bak (; ; ; born 19 December 1941) is a South Korean businessman and politician who served as the 10th president of South Korea from 2008 to 2013. Before his presidency, he was the CEO of Hyundai Engineering and Construction, and the ma ...

, she was appointed as an inaugural Chief Secretary to the Future Strategy Planning Office, and served until February 2013.

Early life and education

Yu was born in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

. She realized that she was interested in science and technology when she was in middle school. Yu earned her Bachelor of Science degree in microbiology from

Seoul National University Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a national public research university located in Seoul, South Korea. Founded in 1946, Seoul National University is largely considered the most prestigious university in South Korea; it is one of the three "S ...

in 1977 and her doctorate in microbiology from

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1982. She later worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT) in 1985.

Career

Scientific research

After moving back to Korea, Yu worked at

Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB) is a government research institute in Daejeon, South Korea. It is dedicated to biotechnology research across a broad span of expertise, from basic studies for the fundamental unde ...

until 2000. After that, she has been working at Korea Institute of Science and Technology, holding a position of a principle research scientist. Much of Yu's work has focused on unlocking the structure and folding of the

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...

alpha-1 antitrypsin Alpha-1 antitrypsin or α1-antitrypsin (A1AT, α1AT, A1A, or AAT) is a protein belonging to the serpin superfamily. It is encoded in humans by the ''SERPINA1'' gene. A protease inhibitor, it is also known as alpha1–proteinase inhibitor (A1PI) ...

, which is a

serpin Serpins are a Protein superfamily, superfamily of proteins with similar structures that were first identified for their Protease inhibitor (biology), protease inhibition activity and are found in all kingdom (biology), kingdoms of life. The acr ...

protein. Yu and her research team have worked to discover what

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha am ...

s can suppress certain types of

mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, mi ...

s, such as the '' tsf'' mutation which is a protein folding error. She has also patented the

mutein with a disulfide bond and the method for preparing it along with her research group. Her work has appeared in ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

'', '' The Journal of Proteome Research'', the ''

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of Scien ...

'', the ''

Journal of Molecular Biology The ''Journal of Molecular Biology'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of molecular biology. It was established in 1959 and is published by Elsevier. The editor-in-chief is Peter Wright ( The Scripps Research In ...

'', the ''

Journal of Biological Chemistry The ''Journal of Biological Chemistry'' (''JBC'') is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that was established in 1905., jbc.org Since 1925, it is published by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. It covers research in ...

'', the ''BMB Reports'', and others. Her work is highly cited in the fields of

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

molecular biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

immunology Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see there ...

and microbiology.

Public work

Yu served as the Director of the Functional Proteomics Center, a part of the 21st Century Frontier R&D Program, at the

from July 2002 to July 2010. In 2010, she was appointed to a new post in the South Korean government: senior officer for national future. Her responsibilities included overseeing government communications regarding science and technology and to help promote

low-carbon A low-carbon economy (LCE) or decarbonised economy is an economy based on energy sources that produce low levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. GHG emissions due to human activity are the dominant cause of observed climate change since the mi ...

and

green technologies Environmental technology (envirotech) or green technology (greentech), also known as '' clean technology'' (''cleantech''), is the application of one or more of environmental science, green chemistry, environmental monitoring and electronic devi ...

. She also served as the president of the

Korean Biophysical Society Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine Korean cuisine has evolved through centuries of social and political change. Originating from ancient agricultural a ...

from 2009 to 2010, and the president of the

Korea Genome Organization Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and Sout ...

in 2010.

Awards and recognition

* Mock-Am Award from the Korean Society of Molecular Biology (1996) * L'Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science (1998) * The Seoul City Cultural Award (2001) * The Order of Science and Technology and the Ungbi Medal, from the Korean Government (2004)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yu, Myeong-Hee 1954 births Living people Seoul National University alumni UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni 21st-century women scientists South Korean microbiologists L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science laureates South Korean women scientists South Korean biologists