Young-Wook Jun

Young-Wook Jun, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and Director of the Nano-Probing Single Biomolecule Dynamics Laboratory within the Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery (OHNS). His research focuses on nanoprobing systems to study single molecule dynamics in cellular processes like gene regulation, cell-to-cell communication, and neuron circuit formation.

• Education: PhD in Materials Chemistry (KAIST, 2005), Postdoc at Yonsei University (2007) and UC Berkeley (2010).

Dr. Jun's work explores nanocrystal-molecules as probes for mechanobiology, integrating fabrication, surface chemistry, and magnetic/plasmonic coupling principles. His funding from the NIH spans projects such as spatiotemporal mechanobiology interrogation (R35GM134948) and Notch signaling analysis (R01GM112081).

His publications (over 40) and book chapters (5) include breakthroughs in magnetic nanotools, plasmon rulers, and quantum dots for live-cell mechanogenetics. Awards include the Sandler Foundation New Innovator Award (2010), IUPAC Prize (2005), and recognition as a Highly Cited Researcher (2014).