KMap
Dr. Kim is an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Arizona from fall 2016. He earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Kyung Hee University in February 2004. During his undergraduate study, he was recognized with a silver award (2nd prize) at the 14th National Undergraduate Student Competition in Transport Phenomena held by the Korean Institute of Chemical Engineers and graduated with a Dean’s award for his academic achievements. Dr. Kim moved to the U.S. for his graduate work, where he earned an M.S. in Biomedical Engineering in December 2006 and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science in May 2011 at Duke University. He was a recipient of fellowships from the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation, Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University and Medtronic Foundation. Under the guidance of Prof. Marszalek, his research focused on biopolymer (proteins, DNA) design, synthesis, mechanics and self-assembly for nanostructured molecular materials. He discovered a unified structure-mechanical property relationship that elucidates the spring-like behavior found in most α-helical spiral-shaped proteins at the nanoscale level. He also developed a potential fabrication method to hierarchically self-assemble these mechanical proteins into supramolecular structures. His research was recognized with several awards from Duke University, including the Student Research Achievement Award at the Biophysical Society annual meeting in 2010. After finishing his doctoral studies, Dr. Kim started his postdoctoral research with Prof. Olsen at MIT. His research focused on the development of biopolymer-based functional materials for defense applications. He developed a formulation where self-associated polymeric nanomaterials effectively detoxify chemical warfare nerve agents for environmental decontamination. He also designed the first synthetic selective filtering biopolymer hydrogel inspired by the nuclear membrane for the development of novel selective filtering materials to detect and remove biological warfare agents, such as SEB, anthrax and botulinum. Dr. Kim’s research interests are broadly clustered in the areas of bioinspired/biomimetic materials, biomolecular engineering, soft condensed matter physics and nanoscale biophysics. He is currently interested in how bioinspired design and biosynthesis can be used for the preparation of novel functional materials, how the nanomechanics of folded biopolymers and artificially engineered hyperbranched biopolymer structures can be translated into the mechanics of macromolecular materials that provide new insight into polymer physics, and how protein sequences can control parameters that regulate the functional properties of polymeric materials. The developed materials will target applications in biotechnology for improving healthcare and national defense.

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Courses
  • BSM
    Biological and Synthetic Materials

  • BTI
    Biomaterial-Tissue Interactions

Grants
  • Funding agency logo
    CAREER: A New Science for Biomimetic Microparticles in Drug Delivery Systems: Integrating Protein Polymer Science into Materials Science and Engineering

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2022

    $234.2K
    Active
  • Funding agency logo
    Bioinspired Green Glycolipids As Fugitive Dust Mitigation Agents

    Co-Investigator (COI)

    2022

    $56.7K
    Active
  • Funding agency logo
    A Biomimetic Coating to Enhance Cell Adhesion at the Skin-Implant Interface of Percutaneous Osseo-integrated Prosthetic (POP) Devices

    Co-Investigator (COI)

    2020

    $749.8K
    Active
  • Funding agency logo
    Green Bioinspired Glycolipids as Multi-Purpose Agrichemicals

    Co-Investigator (COI)

    2023

    $649.7K
  • Funding agency logo
    A Molecular and Nanostructural Approach to Development of Ultrablack Coatings and Materials

    Co-Investigator (COI)

    2021

    $200.0K
  • Funding agency logo
    Microgravity Crop Production: Meeting the Challenges of Water/Nutrient Delivery, Volume Management, and Providing Diet Diversity for the International Space Station

    Co-Investigator (COI)

    2020

    $224.8K
Technologies / Patents
      News
      • Lunar Lasers and Cosmic Crops: NASA Funds UArizona Space Exploration Missions

        2020

      • UA Sets Record With 284 Inventions Disclosed in FY 2019

        2019

      • Startup Seeks to Control Dust in a Dry World

        2019

      Publications (41)
      Recent
      • Tailoring the Formation and Stability of Self-Assembled Structures from Precisely Engineered Intrinsically Disordered Protein Polymers: A Comprehensive Review

        2023

      • Systems And Methods For Dust Control Using A Liquid Polymer

        2022

      • Environmentally Friendly Methylcellulose Blend Binder for Hydrophobic Dust Control

        2022

      • Layered supramolecular hydrogels from thioglycosides

        2022

      • Non-Covalently Associated Streptavidin Multi-Arm Nanohubs Exhibit Mechanical and Thermal Stability in Cross-Linked Protein-Network Materials

        2022

      • Environmentally-friendly dust suppressant polymer blend

        2022

      • Antimicrobial biopolymer compositions, methods of synthesis, and applications of use

        2021

      • Antimicrobial Peptide-Membrane Interactions: Insights from Molecular Simulations

        2021

      • Alteration of fibrin hydrogel gelation and degradation kinetics through addition of azo dyes

        2021

      • Cytoskeleton-Inspired Artificial Protein Design to Enhance Polymer Network Elasticity

        2020

      • Environmentally Friendly Methylcellulose-Based Binders for Active and Passive Dust Control

        2020

      • Antimicrobial Peptide Functionalized Biomaterials Investigated by Molecular Dynamics Simulations

        2020

      • Non-cytotoxic Dityrosine Photocrosslinked Polymeric Materials With Targeted Elastic Moduli

        2020

      • Liquid amphiphilic polymer for enhanced airborne dust suppression

        2019

      • Effect of Biopolymer Tethers on Antimicrobial Peptide Activity in Biomembranes

        2019

      • Tailings storage facilities (TSFs) dust control using biocompatible polymers

        2019

      • Liquid amphiphilic polymer for effective airborne dust suppression

        2019

      • Selective Biomolecular Separation System Inspired by the Nuclear Pore Complex and Nuclear Transport

        2017

      • Nucleoporin-like proteins as catch-trap systems for protein separation

        2017

      • Classical Challenges in the Physical Chemistry of Polymer Networks and the Design of New Materials

        2016

      • Artificially Engineered Protein Hydrogels Adapted from the Nucleoporin Nsp1 for Selective Biomolecular Transport

        2015

      • Artificially Engineered Protein Hydrogels Adapted from the Nuclear Pore System for Selective Molecular Transport

        2015

      • Controlling microphase separation in globular protein polymer diblock copolymers

        2015

      • Hydrogels: artificially engineered protein hydrogels adapted from the nucleoporin Nsp1 for selective biomolecular transport (Adv. Mater. 28/2015)

        2015

      • Design of Self-Assembling Protein-Polymer Conjugates

        2015

      • The Nature of Protein Interactions Governing Globular Protein–Polymer Block Copolymer Self-Assembly

        2014

      • The nature of protein interactions governing globular protein-polymer block copolymer self-assembly

        2014

      • Effect of Protein Surface Potential on Globular Protein-Polymer Block Copolymer Self-Assembly

        2014

      • Enhanced activity and stability of organophosphorus hydrolase via interaction with an amphiphilic polymer

        2014

      • Reduction of Iron Center Enhances the Mechanical Stability of Cytochrome B562

        2013

      • Physics of Engineered Protein Hydrogels

        2013

      • A nanoscale force probe for gauging intermolecular interactions

        2012

      • Triple Stimulus-Responsive Polypeptide Nanoparticles That Enhance Intratumoral Spatial Distribution

        2012

      • Nanomechanics of streptavidin hubs for molecular materials

        2011

      • Design and Characterization of Protein-Based Building Blocks for Self-Assembled Nano-Structured Biomaterials

        2011

      • Probing the Strength of a Bio-Nano Hub by Single-Molecule Force Spectroscopy

        2011

      • Fast and forceful refolding of stretched alpha-helical solenoid proteins

        2010

      • Single-Molecule Atomic-Force Spectroscopy Captures a Novel Class of Molecular Nanosprings with Robust Stepwise Refolding Properties

        2010

      • Detecting solvent-driven transitions of poly(A) to double-stranded conformations by atomic force microscopy

        2009

      • UVA generates pyrimidine dimers in DNA directly

        2009

      • Response of monocytes exposed to phagocytosable particles and discs of comparable surface roughness

        2007

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