CHUNG Ka Young, an alumnus of SNU's College of Pharmacy, and currently a post-doctoral researcher at Stanford University, has published two papers simultaneously in the world-renowned journal Nature. One of them is a cover paper.

In particular, the profession is paying attention to her as she is the first Korean scholar to publish two papers in the same issue of Nature. She is the first author of one of the two papers, and is a coauthor of the other.

Dr. Chung revealed the structure and working mechanism of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR). Around 800 GPCRs exist in cell membranes, and are known to be related to cranial nerve disease, heart disease, and cancer. The importance of GPCRs can be seen in the fact that more than 40% of new medicines that manufacturers in the world are developing are related to GPCRs.

Dr. Chung also discovered how receptors receive signals emitted from outside cells, and how they are transformed. The profession expects that her research will contribute to more precise demonstration of the structural mechanism of GPCRs, thereby generating more effective new drugs without any side effects.

Moreover, she also published a paper in PNAS as a coauthor. It is extremely rare to publish three papers in one day all in well-known science journals.

Chung received her BA (2001) and MA from SNU (College of Pharmacy), and then completed her PhD at Wisconsin University in 2008.

[Three papers that Dr. Chung had published on September 29 (US time) ]

1. Crystal structure of the β(2) adrenergic receptor-Gs protein complex (Nature cover paper, authored)
2. Conformational changes in the G protein Gs induced (Nature, first author)
3. Structural flexibility of the Gαs α-helical domain in the β2-adrenoceptor Gs complex (PNAS, coauthor)

Written by PARK Ziho, SNU English Editor  ?
Proofread by Brett Johnson, SNU English Editor, morningcalm2@gmail.com