Jiha Kim

What are your primary research and scholarly interests?

I am primarily interested in how things/different cells communicate or work together inside the body. It still gives me goosebumps whenever I think about how everything that happens in the body is carefully designed, precisely executed, and regulated. I witnessed a power of a master regulator (transcription factor) in the development of the eyes and brain during my Ph.D. and what happens if this master regulator can’t regulate things. It was a breath-taking experience to learn a pair of molecules (ligand-receptor) can guide the development of the most complicated body systems, vascular systems, and nervous systems during Postdoc. Then I realized that all the knowledge I gained from this training could be utilized to understand the tumor and unwanted additional tissue growth. Just like any other organs in our body, tumors also develop as a complex mass composed of several different cell types that communicate with each other. As I continue my scientific journey at NDSU, our team is focused on understanding the complexity of the tumors.

How does this tie into the work you are doing with ND-ACES?

My team is part of a cellular pillar in ND-ACES and focuses on establishing a multi-cellular 3D bone metastatic tumor microenvironment using patient-derived cancer cell lines. It requires a deep understanding of cell-cell communication and molecular network to re-create the in vivo environment. Therefore, my research interest is perfectly aligned with the goal of the ND-ACES project, and we are very excited to be able to contribute to it.

Where are you from, and where did you pursue your education?

I am from South Korea, where I received B.S. and M.S. degrees in molecular biology. Then I moved to Georgia, U.S.A, and studied cellular biology at the University of Georgia for my Ph.D. My research was focused on the developmental regulation of the central nervous system, which led me to join the Neuroscience program at Harvard Medical School for my Postdoc, where I studied how the nervous system and vascular systems are co-develop by the common guidance molecules. Then I worked as an instructor at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Texas, to put everything together to understand cancer.

What excites you about ND-ACES?

The opportunities and potentials. There are many opportunities for collaboration, participation, education, and learning across the entire state and multiple disciplines. These are very rare opportunities for students and faculty to learn and think outside the box.  It has the potential to invent something that can help cancer patients and cultivate the nextgeneration workforce and working environment for many different areas.

What motivates you?

A little success, especially the one that was the least expected!

If you could have coffee / tea with anyone, who would it be?

With myself. I would like to sit down and quietly think about myself.

What was your first job?

I worked at a restaurant making/serving chicken dishes (Ginseng chicken soup (Samgyetang)). This is a traditional Korean chicken soup that is boiling hot and served in a hot stone bowl, and you are supposed to eat this on the hottest day of the year!

What does your very best day include?

On a day with nothing to worry about urgently and no emails to reply to (probably impossible!), I get my workout done and then eat good foods/drinks with friends. Sorry! No kids allowed in this dream day!

What’s your favorite quote?

If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.” ~Fred DeVito