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[2] and a principle researcher at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology. In July 2010, under President Lee Myung-bak, she was appointed as an inaugural Chief Secretary to the Future Strategy Planning Office, and served until February 2013.[3][4][5][6]
Yu Myeong-Hee | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | South Korean |
Alma mater | Seoul National University University of California, Berkeley |
Occupation | Microbiologist |
Korean name | |
Hangul | 유명희 |
Hanja | |
Revised Romanization | Yu Myeonghui |
McCune–Reischauer | Yu Myŏnghŭi |
Early life and education
Yu was born in Seoul.[7] She realized that she was interested in science and technology when she was in middle school.[8] Yu earned her Bachelor of Science degree in microbiology from Seoul National University in 1977 and her doctorate in microbiology from University of California, Berkeley in 1982.[6][7] She later worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1985.[7]
Career
Scientific research
After moving back to Korea, Yu worked at Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology until 2000.[7] After that, she has been working at Korea Institute of Science and Technology, holding a position of a principle research scientist.[7] Much of Yu's work has focused on unlocking the structure and folding of the protein alpha-1 antitrypsin, which is a serpin protein.[9] Yu and her research team have worked to discover what amino acids can suppress certain types of mutations, such as the tsf mutation which is a protein folding error.[10] She has also patented the alpha-1 antitrypsin mutein with a disulfide bond and the method for preparing it along with her research group.[11]
Her work has appeared in Nature,[12] The Journal of Proteome Research,[13] the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,[14] the Journal of Molecular Biology,[15] the Journal of Biological Chemistry,[16] the BMB Reports,[17] and others. Her work is highly cited in the fields of biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, immunology and microbiology.[18]
Public work
Yu served as the Director of the Functional Proteomics Center, a part of the 21st Century Frontier R&D Program, at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology from July 2002 to July 2010.[6][7][19] In 2010, she was appointed to a new post in the South Korean government: senior officer for national future.[19] Her responsibilities included overseeing government communications regarding science and technology and to help promote low-carbon and green technologies.[20] 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.[21][22]