Eunkyung Lee이은경

Postdoctoral Researcher박사후연구원

Eunkyung is interested in how genetic variation shapes autism, and she approaches this question through whole-genome sequencing of families. Much of her current work involves long-read sequencing of Korean autism families, where she looks for de novo and inherited variants that short-read data tend to miss, particularly tandem repeats and structural variants. In parallel, she is extending de novo variant analysis to the X and Y chromosomes in Korean and international cohorts, asking whether variation on the sex chromosomes helps explain why autism presents differently in males and females.은경은 유전변이가 자폐에 어떻게 기여하는지에 관심을 두고, 자폐 가족의 전장유전체 시퀀싱을 통해 이 질문에 접근하고 있습니다. 현재는 주로 한국 자폐 가족의 롱리드 시퀀싱 데이터를 다루며, 숏리드 데이터에서 놓치기 쉬운 반복서열과 구조변이를 중심으로 신생변이(de novo variant) 및 유전성 변이를 찾고 있습니다. 아울러 신생변이 분석을 X/Y 성염색체로 확장하여, 한국인 및 국제 코호트에서 성염색체 변이가 자폐의 남녀 차이를 설명하는 데 도움이 되는지 살펴보고 있습니다.

Her background is in experimental neuroscience. During her Ph.D. she worked on the molecular mechanisms of neurodegenerative disease. In a Parkinson's disease mouse model she showed that blocking de novo ceramide synthesis reduces α-synuclein pathology, and as a co-first author she found that a metabolite produced by gut microbes lowers amyloid burden. Toward the end of her Ph.D. she moved into transcriptomics, combining single-nucleus and spatial RNA sequencing to map dopaminergic neuron subtypes and glial responses in a Parkinson's disease model, and she continued this line of work as a postdoctoral researcher before joining the AN Lab in 2026.은경의 배경은 실험 신경과학입니다. 박사과정에서는 신경퇴행성 질환의 분자 기전을 연구하였습니다. 파킨슨병 마우스 모델에서 세라마이드 신생 합성을 억제하면 알파-시누클레인 병리가 줄어든다는 것을 보였고, 공동 제1저자로서 장내 미생물이 만드는 대사체가 아밀로이드 병리를 낮춘다는 것을 확인하였습니다. 박사과정 후반부터는 전사체 분석으로 영역을 넓혀, 파킨슨병 모델에서 단일핵 RNA 시퀀싱과 공간 전사체를 함께 분석하여 도파민 신경세포 아형과 교세포 반응을 정리하였으며, 박사후연구원으로 이 연구를 이어가다 2026년 AN Lab에 합류하였습니다.

Having worked on both bench neurobiology and single-cell data, she is now interested in reading rare variants through the lens of brain cell types and developmental timing. Her goal is to help turn family-based sequencing data into genetic risk factors that are useful for diagnosing and treating autism and other brain disorders.실험 신경생물학과 단일세포 데이터를 모두 다뤄 본 경험을 바탕으로, 지금은 희귀변이를 뇌 세포 유형과 발달 시기의 관점에서 읽어내는 데 관심이 있습니다. 가족 기반 시퀀싱 데이터를 자폐와 다른 뇌 질환의 진단과 치료에 실제로 쓸 수 있는 유전적 위험 인자로 연결하는 것이 목표입니다.

Education & Training학력 및 경력

2026.09-present Postdoctoral Researcher, Korea University (Prof. Joon-Yong An's lab)2026.09-현재 박사후연구원, 고려대학교 (안준용 교수 연구실)
2025.09-2026.08 Postdoctoral Researcher, Brain Science Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST)2025.09-2026.08 박사후연구원, 한국과학기술연구원(KIST) 뇌과학연구소
2020-2025 Ph.D., Department of Biomedical Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST)2020-2025 박사, 광주과학기술원 의생명공학과
2018-2020 M.S., Department of Biomedical Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST)2018-2020 석사, 광주과학기술원 의생명공학과
2013-2018 B.S., Department of Biological Sciences, Jeonbuk National University2013-2018 학사, 전북대학교 생명과학과

Publications논문

Hyeon SJ∗, Kim SC∗, Chu J∗, Kim Y∗, Kim C, Park U, Tufail Z, Nguyen PTT, Eom A, Kim S, Kim Y, Lee EK, Kim S, Lee SE, Woo J, Lee JA, Lee KE, Stein TD, Lee H†, Lee J†, Ryu H†, Targeting the microglial phosphatidylethanolamine synthesis pathway promotes GABARAP-associated phagocytosis and Aβ clearance in Alzheimer's disease, Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, 2026
Lee EK∗, Park MY, Park M, Kim NY, Wei S, Hwang N, Ryu D, Ryu H, Park D, Lee GK†, Oh CM†, Inhibition of de novo ceramide synthesis mitigates alpha-synuclein pathology in a Parkinson's disease mouse model, npj Parkinson's Disease, 2026
Kim H∗, Lee EK∗, Min K, Kang YJ, Kim JH, Ahn H, Lee E, Kim S, Kim YJ, Diep YN, Jung JH, Byun MS, Joo Y, Jeong C, Lee DY, Cho H, Kim T†, Park HS†, Microbiome-derived indole-3-lactic acid reduces amyloidopathy through aryl-hydrocarbon receptor activation, Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 2024
Jang HJ∗, Lee EK, Cho YJ, Lee SH, Subtype-based microbial analysis in non-small cell lung cancer, Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases, 2023
Kang J∗, Park M, Lee EK, Jung J, Kim T†, The role of vitamin D in Alzheimer's disease: a transcriptional regulator of amyloidopathy and gliopathy, Biomedicines, 2022
Yu S∗, Park M, Kang J, Lee EK, Jung J, Kim T†, Aberrant gamma-band oscillations in mice with vitamin D deficiency: implications on schizophrenia and its cognitive symptoms, Journal of Personalized Medicine, 2022
Park M∗, Hoang GM∗, Nguyen T, Lee EK, Jung HJ, Choe Y, Lee MH, Hwang JY, Kim JG†, Kim T†, Effects of transcranial ultrasound stimulation pulsed at 40 Hz on Aβ plaques and brain rhythms in 5×FAD mice, Translational Neurodegeneration, 2021

∗ First or co-first author; † Corresponding author∗ 제1저자 또는 공동 제1저자; † 교신저자

Manuscripts under Review심사 중인 원고

Lee EK∗, Kim Y, Kim Y, Kim JW, Fang S†, Oh CM†, Multimodal transcriptomic profiling of 6-OHDA-induced dopaminergic neurodegeneration identifies candidate neuronal states and intercellular signaling changes, under review

Awards수상

2026 Outstanding Poster Award, 29th Annual Meeting of the Korean Society for Brain and Neural Sciences (K-Brain 2026)2026 우수포스터상, 한국뇌신경과학회 제29차 연례학술대회 (K-Brain 2026)
2025 Postdoctoral Fellowship, National Research Foundation of Korea (2025-2026)2025 박사후국내연수(학문후속세대지원사업), 한국연구재단 (2025-2026)