Metabolic Engineering

Systems biology/biotechnology

Synthetic biology

Biochemical engineering

Nanobiotechnology

Industrial biotechnology

1986 (B.S.) Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Seoul National University,Seoul, Korea

1987 (M.S.) Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL, U.S.A

1991 (Ph.D.) Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL, U.S.A.

1994-1996, Assistant Professor, Dept. Chemical Engineering, KAIST

1997-2002, Associate Professor, Dept. Chemical Engineering, KAIST

2000-present, Director, BioProcess Engineering Research Center, KAIST

2002-present, Professor, Dept. Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, KAIST

2003-2024.6, Director, BioInformatics Research Center, KAIST

2003-2013, Adjunct Professor, Dept. Bio and Brain Engineering, KAIST

2004-2012, LG Chem Chair Professor

2004-present, Honorary Professor of University of Queensland

2005-present, Adjunct Professor, Australian Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotehnology

2005-2012, Special Advisor, Bioprocessing Technology Institute, Biopolis, Singapore

2006-2012, Co-director, KI for the BioCentury, KAIST

2007-present, KAIST Distinguished Professor

2007-present, Director, Center for Systems and Synthetic Biotechnology, KAIST

2008-2013, Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Biological Sciences, KAIST

2008-2013, Dean (Founding Dean), College of Life Science and Bioengineering, KAIST

2012-present, Honorary Professor, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

2013-2015, Dean, KAIST Institutes, KAIST

2013-present, Adjunct Professor, Technical University of Denmark

2013-present, Scientific Director, New Bioactive Compounds Section, Novo Nordisk Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark

2013-present, Advisory Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), China

2013-present, Professor, Moon Soul Graduate School of Future Strategy, KAIST

2014.9-present, Honorary Professor, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

2014.9-present, Honorary Professor, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan, China

2014.10-present, Honorary Professor, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China

2017.3-2021.2, Dean, KAIST Institutes, KAIST

2017.3-present, Director, KI-Space, KAIST

2017.7-2021, Director, the Fourth Industrial Revolution Intelligence Center, KAIST

2017.10-present, Honorary Professor, Jiangnan University, China

2017.10-present, Honorary Professor, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

2019.3-present, Honorary Professor, Ocean University of China, China

2019-2020, Honorary Chair Professor, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan

2019-present, Director, Korea Policy Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, KAIST

2020, Vice President, Korean Society for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Korea

2021.3-present, Senior Vice President for Research, KAIST, Korea

2023, President, Korean Society for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Korea

2023.4-2025.2, Chairman, Board of Trustees, KAIST MG Community Credit Cooperatives, Korea

2023.11-present, Honorary Professor, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China

2024.4-present, Director, Center for Synthetic Biology, KAIST

2024.7-present, Director, KAIST-MERCK Research Center, KAIST

2005 Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, USA

2007 Fellow of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology, Korea

2007 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, USA

2010 Fellow of the Society for Industrial Microbiology, USA

2010 International Member of the National Academy of Engineering, USA

2011 Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering Korea, Korea

2012 Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, USA

2013 Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, USA

2013 Fellow of the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), Italy

2017 International Member of the National Academy of Sciences, USA

2017 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, USA

2021 Foreign Member of the Royal Society, UK

2023 Fellow of the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (AAIA)

2023 Foreign Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, China

The First China-Korea Young Researcher's Award-Engineering Division, Chinese Ministry of Education, Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Korea-China Cultural Foundation, Korea (1996. 12. 26.)

Excellent Academic Award, KAIST, Korea (1997. 2. 14.)

The First Young Scientist's Award (Engineering), The President of the Republic of Korea, Korea (1998. 2. 12.)

Selected as one of the 50 people (one of three in science and technology) who will lead Korea next century, Korea Daily Newspaper, Korea (1998. 8. 14.)

New Academic Research Award, Korean Society for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Korea (1998. 10. 16.)

New Knowledge Leader in Science and Technology, The Ministry of Science and Technology, Korea (1999. 6. 7.)

Top Two Author of the Most Cited SCI Journal Paper, The Ministry of Science and Technology, Korea (1999, 2000)

Selected as a Key Person in the 21st Century, Sisa Journal, Korea (2000. 2. 10.)

The First Elmer-Gaden Award, Biotechnology and Bioengineering (John Wiley & Sons, USA) - American Chemical Society (San Francisco National Meeting), USA (2000. 3. 27.)

Citation Classic Award, ISI, USA (2000. 11. 2.)

The Scientist of the Month Award, Ministry of Science and Technology, Korea (2001. 3. 12.)

SeJongDaeWang Award - The Best Patent Award, Korean Intellectual Property office, Korea (2001. 4. 6.)

National Science and Technology Medal, President of Korea, Korea (2001. 4. 21.)

British Chevening Scholarship Award, British Government (2001. 6.)

Author of the Two Papers That are Cited Most Times in Korea, Ministry of Science and Technology, Korea (2001)

Junior Member, The Korean Academy of Science and Technology, Korea (2002 - 2006)

Excellent Research Award, The 31st Ceremony of KAIST, Korea (2002. 2. 18.)

Asian Young Leader/Asian Technology Pioneer, World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland (2002. 8. 23.)

Excellent Patent Award (Patent #313134-Succinic Acid Production), Technology Transfer Center, KAIST, Korea (2002. 9.)

IBM SUR Award, IBM, USA (2002. 11. 12.) – winning 7.5 million US$ Supercomputer together with Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, KAIST

Professor of the Year Award, KAIST, Korea (2003. 1. 2.)

New Leaders of Science and Technology 2003, Hankook Kyungjae Newspaper, Korea (2003. 1. 16.)

Representative of New Asian Leaders, The Blue House (Meeting with President Roh Moo Hyun), Korea (2003. 6. 19.)

"Scientist to Become" Award, Ministry of Science & Technology, Korea (2003. 7. 29.)

The Best Research Award, KAIST, Korea (2004. 2. 16.)

LG Chemicals Chair Professor, LG Chem. & KAIST, Korea (2004. 4. 12.)

Honorary Professor, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia (2004. 6. 29.-present)

Scientists of the Year 2004, JoongAng Daily Newspaper, Korea (2004. 12. 17.)

The Best Paper Award, The 3rd Asia Pacific Bioinformatics conference, Singapore (2005. 1. 17.-21.)

The 9th Young Engineer Award (2004), National Academy of Engineering Korea, Korea (2005. 3. 10.)

"World Top Technology on Bacterial Factory", Hankook Kyeongje, Korea (2005. 4. 15.)

Best Paper Award, Federation of Korean Microbiological Societies, Korea (2005. 10. 14.)

2005 Best Research 50 Award of Ministry of Science and Technology, Korea Science and Engineering Foundation, Korea (2005. 10. 28.)

The Best 5 Research of Ministry of Science and Technology in 2004, Ministry of Science and Technology, Korea (2005)

Junior Fellow, National Academy of Engineering Korea, Korea (2005-2010)

Special Advisor, Bioprocessing Technology Institute, Biopolis, Singapore (2005-present)

Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology, USA (2005-present)

Medal for Distinguished Services, Korean Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Korea (2006. 5. 25.)

Excellent Paper Award, Korean Biochip Society, Korea (2006. 6. 23)

Scientist of the Year Award, Korean Science Reporters Association (KOSRA) , Korea (2006. 11. 30)

2003-2005 The 100 Best National R&D, "The genome sequence of the capnophilic rumen bacterium Mannheimia succiniciproducens, Nature Biotechnology" (pdf)

Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, USA (2007 2. 17.)

33 Leaders who will lead the Korea, Munhwa Daily Newspaper, Korea (2007. 2. 28)

Distinguished Professor, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Korea (2007. 3. 8)

Best Paper Award, Asia Pacific Biochemical Engineering Conference 2007, Taiwan (2007.11.7)

Fellow, Korean Academy of Science and Technology, Korea (2007.11.16)

Succinic Acid Technology Selected as One of the "2006 Five Best Achievements in Science and Industrial Technology", The National Academy of Engineering of Korea, Korea (2007)

Merck Award for Metabolic Engineering, Metabolic Engineering VII, Puerto Vallata, Mexico, by Merck, USA (2008.09.16)

The Top 10 Registered Patents Award, Korean Intellectual Property Office, Korea (2009. 11. 13.)

Foreign Associate, National Academy of Engineering, USA (2010. 2)

Selected as "100 people who will lead Korea in 10 years", DongA Ilbo, Korea (2010.5.10.)

2010 Fellow Award, Society for Industrial Microbiology, San Francisco, USA (2010.8.)

The Best Research Award, KAIST, Korea (2011.2.16)

Fellow, National Academy of Engineering Korea, Korea (2011-present)

POSCO TJ Park Science Prize, POSCO TJ Park Foundation, Korea (2011.03.22)

2011 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award, United States Environmental Protection Agency, USA (2011.6.20)

Amgen Keynote Lectureship Award, Annual Meeting of the Society for Industrial Microbiology, New Orleans, USA (2011.7.24)

Pirkey Lectureship, “Systems metabolic engineering of microorganisms for chemicals, fuels and materials”, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas Austin, Austin, TX, USA (2012.1.31)

Paul C. Wilber Lectureship, “Systems metabolic engineering: strategies and practical applications”, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA (2012.2.1)

Walter L. Robb Lectureship, “Systems metabolic engineering”, Department of Chemical Engineering, Penn State University, University Park, PA, USA (2012.2.6)

2012 KAIST Top 10 R&D Achievements, KAIST, Korea (2012.2.16)

Marvin J. Johnson Award, American Chemical Society, USA (2012. 3. 27)

Charles Thom Award, Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology, Washington, DC, USA (2012.8.16)

Fellow, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, USA (2012-present)

Outstanding Contribution Award (on biotechnology), Minister for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (at the International Biotechnology Symposium, Daegu), Korea (2012.9.21)

The Fifth Environmental Microbiology Lectureship Award, “Systems Metabolic Engineering for a Green Chemical Industry”, Society for Applied Microbiology-Wiley, Royal Society of Medicine, London, UK (2012.10.8)

Orsted Lectureship, “Key enabling technologies for bio-based sustainable production of chemicals, fuels and materials”, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark (2012.10.12)

Fellow, American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, USA (2013-present)

Shanghai Jia Tong University Master Forum Lecture, "Sustainable Bio-based Production of Chemicals and Materials”, Shanghai Jia Tong University, Shanghai, China (2013.6.14)

Amgen Biochemical Engineering Award, Beijing, China (2013.6.19)

The 1st Jacobus van’t Hoff Lectureship Award, “Systems metabolic engineering of microorganisms for natural and non-natural chemicals”, Technical University of Delft, Delft, Netherlands (2013.11.13)

The Best Scientist Award of the Year, Korea Science Journalist Association, Korea (2013.11.29)

2013 The 100 Best National R&D, "Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli using synthetic small regulatory RNAs, Nature Biotechnology" (pdf)

Grand Prize for Academic Excellence, KAIST, Korea (2014.02.14)

2013 KAIST Top 10 R&D Achievements, KAIST, Korea (2014.02.14)

The Ho-Am Prize in Engineering, Ho-Am Foundation, Korea (2014.05.30)

The Best National R&D Achievement in 2014, Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, Korea (2014.7.24)

Institute for Genomic Biology Pioneers Lecture, “From metabolic engineering to systems metabolic engineering”, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA (2014.8.5)

Inspiring Wisdom Distinguished Lecture, "Microbial metabolic engineering for chemicals and materials", Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China (2014.9.18)

Luojia Lecture, "Metabolic engineering for bio-based sustainable chemical industry", Wuhan University, Wuhan, China (2014. 9. 23)

2014 The 100 Best National R&D, "Microbial production of shortchain alkanes, Nature" (pdf)

National Order of Merit- Red Stripes from President of Korea, The 50th Invention Day Ceremony, Korea (2015.5.19)

Guest Lecture, "Systems metabolic engineering for the bio-based production of engineering plastics monomers", University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria (2015.7.28)

Nature Biotechnology's Top 20 Translational Researchers of 2014 (2015.8.27)

Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability Best Innovation Award 2015, Denmark (2015.8.31)

Tiangong Distinguished Lecture, "Systems metabolic engineering for the bio-based production of chemicals and materials", Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Tianjin, China (2015.12.3)

Sydney Brenner Distinguished Lecture, "Bio-based production of chemicals and materials from renewable resources", School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore (2016.1.4)

Grand Prize in International Cooperation, Commemoration of the 45th Anniversary of Founding of KAIST, Korea (2016.02.17)

CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) Lecture, “Systems metabolic engineering of microorganisms for realizing bio-based sustainable chemical industry”, CSIC, Madrid, Spain (2016.9.23)

Achievement Award, 2016 Korean Society for Biotechnology and Bioengineering Fall Meeting and International Symposium, Gwangju, Korea, (2016.10.13)

Tsinghua Forum Lecture, “The fourth industrial revolution and biotechnology”, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China (2016.10.31)

2016 James E. Bailey Award, Hilton Hotel Union Square, San Francisco, USA (2016.11.15)

2016 The 100 Best National R&D, "Systems strategies for developing industrial microbial strains, Nature Biotechnology" (pdf)

Grand Prize in Overall Accomplishments, Commemoration of the 46th Anniversary of Founding of KAIST, Korea (2017.02.16)

Foreign Associate, National Academy of Sciences, USA (2017-present)

KAIST Excellent Research Award, Korea (2017.5.23)

2017 Korea Best Scientist and Technologist Award, President of Korea (2017.07.07)

Chinese Academy of Sciences Distinguished Professor International Fellow (2017)

BIOINN Lectureship, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2017.10.24)

2017 Highly Cited Researcher, Clarivate (Thomson-Reuters ISI) (2017)

2017 The 100 Best National R&D, "One-step fermentative production of poly(lactate-coglycolate) from carbohydrates in Escherichia coli, Nature Biotechnology" (pdf)

Sydney Brenner Distinguished Lecture, "Biotechnology to help achieve UN's sustainable development goals", Dept of Biochemistry, National University of Singapore, Singapore (2018.1.15)

College of Engineering Distinguished Speaker Lecture Series, "Bio-based production of chemicals and materials", Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (2018.1.16)

S-Oil, Grand Prize Advisor Award, S-Oil Excellent PhD Competition, Korea (2018.2.6)

The Inaugural Chair’s Distinguished Lecture, "Systems metabolic engineering for the production of chemicals and materials", University of Washington, Department of Chemical Engineering, Seattle, WA, USA (2018.5.30)

George Washington Carver Award, BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology, USA (2018.7.18)

Eni Award 2018 (Advanced Environmental Solutions), Palazzo del Quirinale, President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, Rome, Italy (2018.10.22)

2018 P.V. Danckwerts Memorial Lectureship, American Institute of Chemical Engineers-Chemical Engineering Science (Elsevier), “Biotechnology to help achieve the UN’s sustainable development goals”, 2018 AIChE Annual Meeting, Pittsburg, USA (2018.10.29)

2018 Highly Cited Researcher, Clarivate (Thomson-Reuters ISI) (2018.11.27)

The NAEK Award (2018), The National Academy of Engineering of Korea, Korea (2019.3.19)

2019 SAMSON ‐ Israel Prime Minister's Prize for Innovation in Alternative Fuels and Smart Mobility, Tel Aviv, Israel (2019.10.28)

2019 Highly Cited Researcher, Clarivate (Thomson-Reuters ISI) (2019.12.3)

CHC Award, Korean Society for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Korea (2020.10.22)

2020 Highly Cited Researcher, Clarivate (Thomson-Reuters ISI) (2020.11.19)

Charles D. Scott Award, Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology, USA (2021.4.26)

Innovation Award, Pony Chung Foundation, Korea (2021.8.18)

Member, SigmaXi, USA (2021-present)

2021 Highly Cited Researcher, Clarivate (Thomson-Reuters ISI) (2021.11.17)

Honorary Doctor, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark (2022.4.29)

The National Academy of Sciences Award, The National Academy of Sciences, Korea (2022.9.16)

俊棠论坛 Juntang Forum Lecture, “Systems metabolic engineering of microorganisms”, Shanghai JiaoTong University and East China University of Science and Technology, online (2022.11.1)

2022 Highly Cited Researcher, Clarivate (Thomson-Reuters ISI) (2022.11.15)

2022 KAIST Impact Award (2022.12)

The 2022 Top 10 Best KAIST Research. The work on “lutein production through metabolic engineering with electron channeling” selected as one of the 2022Top 10 Best KAIST Research (2023.5.16)

Novozymes Award, Excellence in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Denmark (2023.6.2)

Tiangong Forum Distinguished Lecture, "Metabolic engineering of bacteria for chemicals and natural products", Tiangong Forum, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Tianjin, China (2023.10.19)

Inspiring Wisdom Distinguished Lecture, "Systems metabolic engineering for sustainability and health", Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China (2023.11.6)

Named lecture, 俊棠论坛 Jun Tang Lecture, “Systems metabolic engineering of bacteria for chemicals and natural products”, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China (2023.11.8)

2023 Highly Cited Researcher, Clarivate (Thomson-Reuters ISI) (2023.11.15)

2023 KAIST Impact Award (Type I) - Achievement (2023.12.18)

2023 KAIST Impact Award (Type II) - Achievement (2023.12.18)

KAIST Development Contribution Award (2023.12.20)

SynBioBeta Pioneer Award, SynBioBeta 2024, USA (2024.5.8)

2024 KAIST Major Research Achievements in 14 Future Technology Areas (2024.5.21)

Master Forum Lecture, “Systems Metabolic Engineering of Microorganisms”, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China (2024.6.24)

Bai Chuan Jiang Tang Commemorative Lecture, "Systems Metabolic Engineering of Microorganisms", Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China (2024.6.27)

2024 Highly Cited Researcher, Clarivate (Thomson-Reuters ISI) (2024.11.20)

Impact Research Award, KAIST (2024.12.11)

Journal paper : 763 papers published

Proceedings paper : 156 papers published

Conference presentations/Abstracts : 2992 papers

Patents : 841 including 573 international patents

Books/Books Edited : 92 books

Essays and Editorials : 195 essays

Plenary/Keynote/Invited Lectures/Seminars : 663 presentations

Newspaper/TV/Scientific News/Magazine : 6056 times