Seungwon “Sebastian” Choi, Ph.D. Titles and Appointments Assistant Professor Endowed Title Virginia Murchison Linthicum Scholar in Medical Research Schools Medical School | Graduate School Departments Psychiatry | Anesthesiology & Pain Management | Neuroscience Graduate Programs Genetics, Development and Disease, Neuroscience Biography Dr. Choi was born and raised in South Korea and received his B.S. and M.S. from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), where he studied molecular mechanisms underlying dendritic spine formation. He obtained his Ph.D. at Harvard University, where he studied behavioral arousal and quiescence in C. elegans. As a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Choi studied ascending spinal pathways that convey touch and pain signals to the brain. Dr. Choi joined the Department of Psychiatry in July 2022. Education Undergraduate Korea Adv Inst of Sci & Tech (2004), Biological Sciences Graduate School Korea Adv Inst of Sci & Tech (2006), Biological Sciences Graduate School Harvard University (2013), Genetics Research Interest Ascending social touch circuits Development of ascending somatosensory circuitry Dysfunction of ascending somatosensory circuitry: Cancer-pain crosstalk Functional organization of ascending somatosensory circuitry Publications Featured Publications Parallel ascending spinal pathways for affective touch and pain. Choi S, Hachisuka J, Brett MA, Magee AR, Omori Y, Iqbal NU, Zhang D, DeLisle MM, Wolfson RL, Bai L, Santiago C, Gong S, Goulding M, Heintz N, Koerber HR, Ross SE, Ginty DD, Nature 2020 11 587 7833 258-263 A hypothalamic circuit underlying the dynamic control of social homeostasis. Liu D, Rahman M, Johnson A, Amo R, Tsutsui-Kimura I, Sullivan ZA, Pena N, Talay M, Logeman BL, Finkbeiner S, Qian L, Choi S, Capo-Battaglia A, Abdus-Saboor I, Ginty DD, Uchida N, Watabe-Uchida M, Dulac C, Nature 2025 Feb C-LTMRs evoke wet dog shakes via the spinoparabrachial pathway. Zhang D, Turecek J, Choi S, Delisle M, Pamplona CL, Meltzer S, Ginty DD, Science 2024 Nov 386 6722 686-692 Generation of rat forebrain tissues in mice. Huang J, He B, Yang X, Long X, Wei Y, Li L, Tang M, Gao Y, Fang Y, Ying W, Wang Z, Li C, Zhou Y, Li S, Shi L, Choi S, Zhou H, Guo F, Yang H, Wu J, Cell 2024 Apr 187 9 2129-2142.e17 DRG afferents that mediate physiologic and pathologic mechanosensation from the distal colon. Wolfson RL, Abdelaziz A, Rankin G, Kushner S, Qi L, Mazor O, Choi S, Sharma N, Ginty DD, Cell 2023 Aug 186 16 3368-3385.e18 Cell type-specific manipulation with GFP-dependent Cre recombinase. Tang JC, Rudolph S, Dhande OS, Abraira VE, Choi S, Lapan SW, Drew IR, Drokhlyansky E, Huberman AD, Regehr WG, Cepko CL, Nat Neurosci 2015 Sep 18 9 1334-41 Sensory Neurons Arouse C. elegans Locomotion via Both Glutamate and Neuropeptide Release. Choi S, Taylor KP, Chatzigeorgiou M, Hu Z, Schafer WR, Kaplan JM PLoS Genet. 2015 Jul 11 7 e1005359 The adhesion protein IgSF9b is coupled to neuroligin 2 via S-SCAM to promote inhibitory synapse development. Woo J, Kwon SK, Nam J, Choi S, Takahashi H, Krueger D, Park J, Lee Y, Bae JY, Lee D, Ko J, Kim H, Kim MH, Bae YC, Chang S, Craig AM, Kim E J. Cell Biol. 2013 Jun 201 6 929-44 Analysis of NPR-1 reveals a circuit mechanism for behavioral quiescence in C. elegans. Choi S, Chatzigeorgiou M, Taylor KP, Schafer WR, Kaplan JM, Neuron 2013 Jun 78 5 869-80 Neurexin and neuroligin mediate retrograde synaptic inhibition in C. elegans. Hu Z, Hom S, Kudze T, Tong XJ, Choi S, Aramuni G, Zhang W, Kaplan JM Science 2012 Aug 337 6097 980-4 Results 1-10 of 12 1 2 Next Last Honors & Awards Klingenstein Fellowship Awards in Neuroscience (2025) NINDS (R01NS136363) (2025) ACNP Travel Award (2024) NARSAD Young Investigator Grant (2024) Early-Career American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant (2023) Kavli Fellow (2023) Rita Allen Foundation Award in Pain Scholar (2023) Whitehall Foundation Grant (2023) CPRIT Recruitment of First-Time, Tenure-Track Faculty Members Awards (2022) Neuron-Anuradha Rao Memorial Award (2021) The AKN (Association of Korean Neuroscientists) Postdoctoral Award (2019) The Alice and Joseph Brooks Fund Postdoctoral Fellowship (2016) The Kwanjeong Educational Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship (2007) The Kim Bo Jeong Masters degree Fellowship (2004)
