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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Mycotoxin Prevention and Applied Microbiology Research » People » Hye-Seon Kim

Hye-Seon Kim

Computational Biologist

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Phone: (309) 681-6243
Fax: (309) 681-6672
Room 1137B

USDA ARS NCAUR
1815 N University St.
Peoria IL 61604

Hye-Seon Kim has worked as computational biologist at NCAUR since May 2020. She received her B.S. in Applied Biology and Microbiology from Chungnam National University in South Korea, her M.S. in Biotechnology from Seoul National University, and her Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from the Pennsylvania State University. During her graduate research, she developed PCR-based molecular markers to identity two groups of the fungus Fusarium that differ in mycotoxin production phenotypes, elucidated a key molecular cellular mechanism in plant-pathogen interactions, and found the loss of a cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase reduced growth, virulence, and root pathogenesis in Fusarium. In her postgraduate research, she used molecular genetic tools and advanced microscopy imaging techniques to demonstrate how some calcium signaling proteins affect growth, pathogenesis, and mycotoxin production in Fusarium. In 2016, she began a post doc at NCAUR and studied the distribution and identification of genes responsible for biosynthesis of mycotoxins and other secondary metabolites in the genus Fusarium. Currently, she works on multi-omics studies to develop novel solution to Fusarium mycotoxin contamination problems. The goals of her are to determine the genetic and metabolic diversity of mycotoxigenic fungi and to elucidate critical components of the molecular interaction between the fungi and their plant hosts. She uses computational biology, bioinformatics, comparative genomics, and molecular biology approaches to achieve these objectives.

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