V. Narry Kim is an SNU Distinguished Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at Seoul National University and the Director of the Center for RNA Research at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS). She studies RNA-mediated gene regulation: how regulatory RNAs and the proteins that act on them control gene expression, and how that knowledge can be put to work in RNA-based therapeutics.
Her group worked out how microRNAs are made, identifying core factors of microRNA biogenesis such as DROSHA, DGCR8, LIN28 and the TUTases, and determining their structures. Building on its discovery of 3′ uridylation and adenylation in microRNAs, the group developed TAIL-seq to profile mRNA tails across the genome and uncovered noncanonical tailing such as uridylation and mixed tailing. More recently it has mapped the SARS-CoV-2 transcriptome and screened thousands of viral genomes for RNA elements that control translation and RNA stability, work that now feeds into the design of mRNA therapeutics.
She studied Microbiology at Seoul National University and received her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Oxford in 1998. After postdoctoral training as a fellow of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, she returned to Seoul National University in 2001 and has led her laboratory there since.
She is a Foreign Member of the Royal Society, a Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences and of EMBO, and a member of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology. Her honors include the L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Award (2008), the Ho-Am Prize in Medicine (2009), the HUGO Chen Award (2017), the Asan Award in Medicine (2019), the Lim Sung Ki Researcher Award (2024), the Changjo Medal of the Order of Science and Technology Merit (2026), and the Human Frontier Science Program Nakasone Award (2027). She serves on the Board of Reviewing Editors of Science and on the editorial boards of Cell, Molecular Cell, Genes & Development and The EMBO Journal.
Education
- 1994–1998 Ph.D. in Biochemistry, University of Oxford, UK
- 1992–1994 M.S. in Microbiology, Seoul National University
- 1988–1992 B.A. in Microbiology, Seoul National University
Positions
- 2017–present SNU Distinguished Professor, Seoul National University
- 2013–present Professor, School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University
- 2012–present Director, Center for RNA Research, Institute for Basic Science
- 2010–2016 SNU Distinguished Fellow, Seoul National University
- 2008–2013 Associate Professor, School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University
- 2004–2008 Assistant Professor, School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University
- 2001–2004 Research Associate Professor, Advanced Training Program for Biological Sciences, Seoul National University
- 1999–2001 Postdoctoral Fellow, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Pennsylvania
Memberships
- 2021–present Foreign Member, The Royal Society, UK
- 2014–present Foreign Associate, National Academy of Sciences, USA
- 2014–present Member, The Korean Academy of Science and Technology
- 2013–present Foreign Associate, European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
Awards
- 2027 HFSP Nakasone Award, Human Frontier Science Program (selected in 2026)
- 2026 Changjo Medal (First Class), Order of Science and Technology Merit, Government of the Republic of Korea
- 2025 KSMCB Life Science Award, Korean Society for Molecular and Cellular Biology
- 2024 Lim Sung Ki Researcher Award, The LIM Foundation
- 2021 Lina 50+ Award Grand Prize, LINA Foundation
- 2019 Asan Award in Medicine, Asan Foundation
- 2017 Chen Award, Human Genome Organisation
- 2016 KSMCB Award for Women in Life Science, Korean Society for Molecular and Cellular Biology
- 2013 S-Oil Leading Scientist, S-Oil Science Prodigy and Culture Foundation
- 2013 Korea Science and Technology Award, The Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies
- 2013 Gwanak Grand Prize, Honor Sector, Seoul National University
- 2010 National Honor Scientist, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology
- 2010 Amore Pacific Grand Prize, Amore Pacific and KOFWST
- 2009 Ho-Am Prize in Medicine, Ho-Am Foundation
- 2008 L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Award, L’Oréal and UNESCO
- 2007 Woman Scientist of the Year, Ministry of Science and Technology
- 2007 Young Scientist Award, Ministry of Science and Technology
- 2007 Thomson Scientific Citation Award, Thomson Corporation
Editorial boards
- 2015–present Board of Reviewing Editors, Science
- 2014–present Editorial Board, Molecular Cell
- 2012–present Editorial Board, Genes & Development
- 2011–present Editorial Board, The EMBO Journal
- 2010–present Editorial Board, Cell
Committees
- 2024–2027 Committee Member, Presidential Bio Committee, Republic of Korea
- 2013–2014 Council Member, Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology
- 2013–2014 Meetings Committee, The RNA Society
- 2011–2012 Director, The RNA Society
- 2006–2008 Council Member, Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology
Meetings organized
- 2027 Organizer, Keystone Symposium on RNA: Regulatory RNAs, Non-Coding RNAs, RNA Modifications, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- 2027 Organizer, EMBL Conference: RNA-binding proteins, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
- 2025 Organizer, Asia RNA Club Symposium, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- 2025 Scientific Organizer, EMBL Conference: The expanding world of RBPs: from posttranscriptional control to riboregulation, Heidelberg, Germany
- 2024 Co-Chair, AACR Special Conference in Cancer Research: RNAs as Drivers, Targets, and Therapeutics in Cancer, Bellevue, Washington, USA
- 2022–present Organizer, Asia RNA Club meeting, virtual
- 2022 Scientific Organizer, EMBO Workshop: The Epitranscriptome, virtual
- 2021 Scientific Organizer, EMBO | EMBL Symposium: The Non-Coding Genome, virtual
- 2021 Organizer, IBS-SNU Mini-Symposia on RNA Biology & Therapeutics, virtual
- 2021 Organizer, The 26th Annual Meeting of the RNA Society, virtual
- 2021 Organizer, International Conference of the Korean Society for Molecular and Cellular Biology, Jeju, Republic of Korea
- 2020 Organizer, CSHA COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Research Reports, virtual
- 2019 Scientific Organizer, EMBO | EMBL Symposium: The Non-Coding Genome, Heidelberg, Germany
- 2019 Organizer, Keystone Symposia, Whistler, British Columbia, Canada
- 2014 Co-Organizer, Keystone Symposia
- 2011 Co-Organizer, Keystone Symposia
- 2011 Co-Organizer, Cold Spring Harbor Asia–ISSCR
- 2009 Co-Organizer, The RNA Society