Associate Professor

Dr. Taewan Kim earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Cancer Biology and Genetics at the Ohio State University. During his doctoral studies, Dr. Carlo M. Croce was his mentor. Dr. Kim did his postdoctoral training at the Ohio State University Medical Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Prior to his doctoral degree, he obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Kyungpook National University and Gwangju Institute of Science & Technology, respectively. Before he joined Shenzhen University International Cancer Center, Dr. Kim worked at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center as Research Scientist (w/ PI status).

Since Dr. Kim started his cancer research focused on non-coding RNAs including microRNAs and long non-coding RNAs for his doctoral studies, he has found novel non-coding RNAs and their new roles in cancer. His doctoral and recent studies revealed the role of microRNAs in cancer (Kim T, et al., J. Exp. Med. 2011; Kim T, et al., Nat. Commun. 2018). He also discovered and named multiple novel long non-coding RNAs including CARLo family (Kim T, et al., P.N.A.S. 2014), CCAT family and MYCLo family (Kim T, et al., J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 2015). He continues his discoveries of novel non-coding RNAs and their functional/regulatory mechanisms in cancer. His research works have published in peer-reviewed journals including Cancer Cell, Journal of National Cancer Institute (JNCI), Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), Nature Communications, PNAS, Clinical Cancer Research and Oncogene.

He has collaborated with multiple research groups in the USA (Ohio State University, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Stanford University), France (Institut Pasteur), Hungary (Semmelweis University), Italy (University of Ferrara), South Korea and China.

Research Interests:

Dr. Kim’s research is centered on the non-coding RNAs in cancer. By combining RNA biology, epigenetics and cancer biology, his research goal is to develop biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and therapy.

Research Projects:

- Identification of novel non-coding RNAs as diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets of cancer

- Characterization of functional and regulatory mechanisms of non-coding RNAs in cancer

- Investigation of RNA-binding proteins and their functions with non-coding RNAs in cancer

- Discovery of new types of non-coding RNAs such as tRFs and circRNAs.

Selected Peer-reviewed Publications:

1. Kim T, Veronese A, Pichiorri F, Lee TJ, Jeon Y-J, Volinia S, Pineau P, Marchio A, Palatini J, Suh SS, Alder H, Liu CG, Dejean A, Croce CM. p53 regulates epithelial-mesenchymal transition through microRNAs targeting ZEB1 and ZEB2. J. Exp. Med.2011 May 9;208(5):875-83.

2. Kim T, Cui R, Jeon Y-J, Lee J-H, Lee JH, Sim H, Park JK, Fadda P, Tili E, Nakanishi H, Huh M-I, Kim S-H, Cho JH, Sung BH, Peng Y, Lee TJ, Luo Z, Sun H-L, Wei H, Alder H, Oh JS, Shim KS, Ko S-B and Croce CM. Long-range interaction and correlation between MYC enhancer and oncogenic long noncoding RNA CARLo-5. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 2014 Mar 111 (11), 4173-4178.

3. Kim T, Jeon Y-J, Cui R, Lee J-H, Peng Y, Kim S-H, Tili E, Alder H and Croce CM. Role of MYC-Regulated Long Noncoding RNAs in Cell Cycle Regulation and Tumorigenesis. J. Natl. Cancer Inst.2015 Apr 6;107(4). pii: dju505.

4. Kim T*, Croce CM*. Long noncoding RNAs: Undeciphered cellular codes encrypting keys of colorectal cancer pathogenesis.Cancer Letters. 2018 Mar 417:89-95.

5. Kim T*, Jeon Y*, Park D, Nuovo GJ, Rhee S, Joshi P, Lee B, Jeong J, Suh SS, Grotzke JE, Kim S, Song J, Sim H, Kim Y,  Peng Y, Jeong Y, Garofalo M, Zanesi N, Kim J, Liang G, Nakano I, Cresswell P, Nana-Sinkam P, Cui R, Croce CM. miRNA-mediated TUSC3 deficiency enhances UPR and ERAD to promote metastatic potential of NSCLC. Nat. Commun.2018 Nov 9:5110.