Minkyu Kim
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Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
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Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Minkyu Kim is an assistant professor in the department of materials science and engineering and the department of biomedical engineering. He is a faculty member in the BIO5 Institute. Kim earned his BS degree in mechanical engineering from Kyung Hee University (Korea). He moved to the U.S. for his graduate work and received an MS in biomedical engineering and a PhD in mechanical engineering and materials science at Duke University, where he primarily worked on biopolymer mechanics at single-molecule level. He was a postdoc in the bioinspired and bio-functional polymers group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked on the development of biopolymer materials for defense applications.
The goal of the Kim Research Group is to develop novel naturally-derived and biologically-derived biopolymers to construct diverse functional soft materials, such as cell mechanics-mimetic materials, filtering materials, antimicrobial materials, and hypo-immunogenic coatings, to mitigates issues in healthcare, environmental safety and national defense.
Degrees
- PhD: mechanical engineering and materials science, Duke University, 2011
- MS: biomedical engineering, Duke University, 2006
- BS: mechanical engineering, Kyung Hee University, Suwon, Korea, 2006
Work Experience
- 2016—present: Assistant Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Arizona
- 2016—present: Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Arizona
- 2012—2016: Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Interests
Research Interests
Artificial protein design and synthesis, macromolecular self-assembly, soft condensed matter, bioinspired and biomimetic materials, soft-hard interface design, antimicrobials, and dust control.
Teaching Interests
Synthetic and biological materials, biomaterials and tissue interactions.
Scholarship
20 refereed publications, 10 patents and patent applications
Awards
- 2017, 2018: Awards for Excellence at the Student Interface, Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Arizona
- 2010: Student Research Achievement Award, 54th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society
- 2009: Medtronic Pre-doctoral Fellowship, Medtronic Foundation
- 2008: Sigma Xi
- 2004—2006: Graduate Study Abroad Fellowship, Korea Science and Engineering Foundation