Myeonghwan Kim

Myeonghwan Kim is a postdoctoral fellow who studies how cells handle RNA, both their own and that of invaders. Myeonghwan led a 2025 Science study on exogenous RNA surveillance by TRIM25, a protein that senses protons, revealing a way for cells to recognize foreign RNA, and was a co-first author of a study showing that the LARP1–PABP complex protects short poly(A) tails from deadenylation, a critical determinant of mRNA decay (Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, 2023).

Myeonghwan has also contributed to work on the long non-coding RNAs of human cytomegalovirus (Scientific Reports, 2022) and on innate immune responses to mRNA vaccines (Nature Communications, 2024).

His current research focuses on uncovering new mechanisms of mRNA regulation and translating these insights into mRNA medicines.

Education

• 2019–2025 Ph.D. in Biological Sciences, Seoul National University
• 2015–2019 B.S. in Biological Sciences, Seoul National University

Publications with our lab

• Exogenous RNA surveillance by proton-sensing TRIM25
  M. Kim, Y. Pyo, S.-I. Hyun, M. Jeong, Y. Choi, and V. N. Kim^{✉︎ (corresponding author)}
  Science (2025), 388(6742):eads4539
• Innate immune responses against mRNA vaccine promote cellular immunity through IFN-β at the injection site
  S. Kim¹, J. H. Jeon¹, M. Kim, Y. Lee, Y.-H. Hwang, M. Park, C. H. Li, T. Lee, J.-A. Lee, Y.-M. Kim, D. Kim, H. Lee, Y.-J. Kim, V. N. Kim, J.-E. Park^{✉︎ (corresponding author)}, and J. Yeo^{✉︎ (corresponding author)}
  Nature Communications (2024), 15(1):7226
• Short poly(A) tails are protected from deadenylation by the LARP1-PABP complex
  J. Park¹, M. Kim¹, H. Yi¹, K. Baeg¹, Y. Choi, Y. Lee, J. Lim, and V. N. Kim^{✉︎ (corresponding author)}
  Nature Structural & Molecular Biology (2023), 30(3):330-338
• Functional and molecular dissection of HCMV long non-coding RNAs
  S. Lee¹, H. Kim¹, A. Hong¹, J. Song¹, S. Lee, M. Kim, S. Hwang, D. Jeong, J. Kim, A. Son, Y. Lee, V. N. Kim, J.-S. Kim, H. Chang^{✉︎ (corresponding author)}, and K. Ahn^{✉︎ (corresponding author)}
  Scientific Reports (2022), 12(1):19303