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 The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST; ) is a multi-disciplinary research institute located in Seoul, South Korea. Founded in 1966, it was the first multi-disciplinary scientific research institute in Korea and has contributed si ...

. In July 2010, under President

Lee Myung-bak Lee Myung-bak (; born 19 December 1941), often referred to by his initials MB, is a South Korean businessman and politician who served as the tenth president of South Korea from 2008 to 2013. Before his presidency, he was the CEO of Hyundai Engi ...

, 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 Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

. 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 public university, public research university in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the SKY (universities), SKY universities and a part of the Flagship Korean National Universities. The university's main c ...

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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

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

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(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 un ...

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 residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

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 (A1P ...

, which is a

serpin Serpins are a superfamily of proteins with similar structures that were first identified for their protease inhibition activity and are found in all kingdoms of life. The acronym serpin was originally coined because the first serpins to be ...

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 over 500 amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the 22 α-amino acids incorporated into proteins. Only these 22 a ...

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, ...

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 is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

'', '' 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 Scie ...

'', 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 by Academic Press in London. It is currently published by Elsevier. The editor-in-chief was P ...

'', 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 i ...

'', 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, a ...

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 Augustinians, Augustinian ...

molecular biology Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

immunology Immunology is a branch of biology and medicine that covers the study of Immune system, immune systems in all Organism, organisms. Immunology charts, measures, and contextualizes the Physiology, physiological functioning of the immune system in ...

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) is an economy which absorbs as much greenhouse gas as it emits. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to human activity are the dominant cause of observed climate change since the mid-20th century. There are many proven ...

and

green technologies Environmental technology (or envirotech) is the use of engineering and technological approaches to understand and address issues that affect the environment with the aim of fostering environmental improvement. It involves the application of scien ...

. She also served as the president of the Korean Biophysical Society from 2009 to 2010, and the president of the Korea Genome Organization 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 Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

(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 biologists South Korean biologists 21st-century South Korean women scientists