Sin-hyeog Im MSc, PhD

Dr. Sin-Hyeog Im completed his Ph.D. degree at the department of immunology, Weizmann Institute of Science by studying the development of antigen-specific immunotherapy to treat autoimmunity using experimental myasthenia gravis as a model. He then completed post-doctoral training at the Harvard Medical School where his work focused on the epigenetic regulation of cytokine gene regulation in the CD4 T. Dr. Im is currently a Professor in the Division of Integrative Biosciences and Biotechnology, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) and a Group leader, Academy of Immunology and Microbiology (AIM), Institute for Basic Science (IBS), KOREA, where he is applying this training to understanding how our immune system maintains immune homeostasis by balancing between the immunity and tolerance. His research provides a close link between basic research and a translational approach to treating hyper-immune disorders such as autoimmunity and allergic disorders.

Dr. Sin-Hyeog Im's laboratory has five main areas of interest: 1) Role of transcription factors (Ets1 and NFAT1) in immune regulation and Tolerance 2) Molecular mechanism of IL-10 gene regulation in lymphocytes and antigen presenting cells (DCs and macrophages). 3) Elucidation of the signaling pathways and underlying mechanism for IL-10 generation by probiotics. 4). Characterization of regulatory DCs and iTreg cells induced by probiotics. 5) Development of antigen-specific immunotherapy for autoimmune disorders (Myasthenia gravis and rheumatoid arthritis)