Suckjoon Jun

Dr. Suckjoon Jun is a Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of California, San Diego. He holds a PhD from Simon Fraser University (2004) and leads a research program focused on fundamental questions in biological physics, particularly chromosome segregation, bacterial cell cycle regulation, and cell size control. His lab combines theoretical and experimental approaches to investigate physical principles governing biological systems.

Key research areas include the thermodynamic basis of chromosome segregation in bacteria, quantitative relationships between cell growth and division, and mechanical determinants of cell morphology. His group develops novel tools like the 'mother machine' for single-cell analysis and applies concepts from polymer physics to understand chromosome organization. Recent work has established fundamental principles of bacterial cell size homeostasis.

Dr. Jun's honors include the NSF CAREER Award and Pew Scholarship. His research has revealed how physical constraints like cell boundary confinement influence chromosome positioning and led to mechanistic models of cell size control validated across bacterial species.