Min Jee Jang

Min Jee Jang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), affiliated with the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology and the Neuroscience Program. She holds a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Bio and Brain Engineering from KAIST (2009–2015). Her research focuses on developing advanced gene delivery technologies for studying and treating neurological disorders, leveraging viral vector engineering and spatial transcriptomics. Jang is also the Chief Science Officer at Genixcure (South Korea) and actively contributes to professional societies like the Biomedical Engineering Society and Society for Neuroscience.

Her research interests include targeted genetic access to brain cells, overcoming limitations in cell-type specificity and temporal resolution. Her lab integrates viral vector design, spatial omics, and computational methods to understand brain cell dynamics and develop programmable gene delivery systems. Key achievements include pioneering systemic AAV vectors for primate brain gene transfer and spatial transcriptomics profiling of viral tropism.

Notable awards include the NARSAD Young Investigator Award (2021–2023) and Caltech Postdoctoral Fellowship (2018–2020). Jang has presented widely, including seminars at Seoul National University, Stanford, and Brown. Her lab at UIUC, established in 2024, recruits students/postdocs passionate about translational neuroengineering and genetic medicine.