Dr. Kim’s lab studies the biology of brain cells that rely on the brain chemical dopamine to communicate. Major brain disorders such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), ADHD, and schizophrenia are related to abnormalities affecting these cells. Dr. Kim and his group work to identify the defective components from these cells—like the orphan nuclear receptor Nurr1, which is critical for dopamine neurons and inflammation—in order to understand and reverse the damage. Nurr1 represents a potential drug target for associated human disorders, so the lab is exploring promising drug candidates targeting Nurr1 that could potentially slow down PD progression in a mechanism-based and neuroprotective manner. Although Nurr1 is known to be a ligand-independent nuclear receptor, Dr. Kim hypothesizes that Nurr1 may have endogenous ligand(s) and is pursuing to identify and characterize potential Nurr1’s endogenous ligand(s), which can also pave a new way for drug development. Since Nurr1 is a key modulator of (neuro)inflammation functioning as a transcriptional repressor for neurotoxic cytokine production, the lab’s approach holds great promise for potential treatment of (neuro)inflammation-related human diseases both in and outside the central nervous system.

In addition, Dr. Kim’s lab pioneered the development of safe, patient-specific stem cells using a new technique—a highly promising breakthrough for treating and studying human diseases. Cell replacement therapies require clinically safe stem cells that can be used to generate many (possibly all) types of cells. Most iPS cells have been derived through the use of viral vectors and are not ideal for the study and potential treatment of human diseases. The lab pioneered the generation of safe human iPS cells via the direct delivery of reprogramming proteins. More recently, Dr. Kim’s lab identified novel mechanisms underlying the reprogramming process through metabolic control, which allowed him to devise more efficient and safer reprogramming methods. The new iPS cells generated using novel methods may represent biomedically- and clinically-ideal cells, providing potential platforms for studying human disease mechanisms and achieving the long-term goal of personalized cell-replacement therapy.