Mee Whi Kim, Ph.D.

My graduate training was in the solid state physics, working in KAIST University in South Korea and in University of Nijmegen in Netherlands.  I investigated phase transition of small molecules at surface compared them to bulk transition. I observed liquid crystal order-disorder transition at different surface under influence of electric or magnetic field.  After Ph.D I was trained in protein crystallography as a postdoctoral fellow in the Dept of Biochemistry at the UT Southwestern Medical Center  with Dr. Johann Deisenhofer, a Nobel laureate.  After transition to medical science I have focused on biophysical and crystallographic studies of proteins involved in neurodegeneration.  In particular, I have focused on studies of polyglutamine expansion proteins. Started my laboratory, I continue to work on understanding of Pathogenic mechanism of polyQ diseases by using Structural studies of PolyQ expansion proteins, Bioinformatics analysis of polyglutamine proteins as major focus of my laboratory.