Member Spotlight: Sun Kim

Name:

Title:

PhD Candidate, Gelfand laboratory

Year joined Northwestern:

2014 as a tech in the Mitchell lab and 2021 as a DGP student

Can you say a few words about yourself and your work at Northwestern?

I’m a die-hard cell and molecular biologist (though once I had a love for chemistry!). My dissertation research focuses on understanding how a gene, called Ataxin-2 regulates microtubules in the nervous system, and how mutations in Ataxin-2 lead to microtubule dysregulation that contributes to neurodegeneration—particularly ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). In the Gelfand lab, we use Drosophila (fruit fly) as a model system to study these mechanisms.

Describe the impact your work or research project has on the broader community at Northwestern.

Through my research, I hope to highlight the importance of basic science in understanding human diseases. I believe that basic research—especially in cell biology (I may be a bit biased)—helps us understand the fundamental mechanisms of how the human body works and provides a strong foundation for translational research and therapeutic development for human diseases. A second impact I hope to make is simply to show people how cool microtubules are! 😊

Describe something you wish you knew when you moved to Chicago.

About 13 years ago, I moved to Chicago from Greensboro, a small town in North Carolina—where you can pretty much park anywhere you want. I still remember that after a 13-hour drive, I walked into a Starbucks in Chicago and came out to find a parking ticket. That latte ended up costing me $55. Later on, I got more tickets for things like street cleaning and parking too close to a fire hydrant. I learned the very expensive way that parking is definitely not free in Chicago!

What is your favorite summer activity?

Not just in the summer, but my favorite activity is running with my two furry babies (well….to be clear, they are the ones running, not me!). One of my dogs, Kimchi, is getting older, so I recently got a new big stroller for him. I can’t wait to head out and enjoy runs along the lake with them this summer!

If you could collaborate with (or meet) any scientist, living or deceased, who would it be and why?

I would love to meet John Gurdon, the Nobel Prize winner who demonstrated nuclear reprogramming using Xenopus. He took a nucleus from a gut cell and transferred it into an enucleated egg, which then developed into an adult frog. I’m still fascinated by how he even came up with that idea in the first place! I don’t yet know what experiments I’d do with him—but I’m sure I’d figure it out after talking to him. 😄