Yim Lab at KAIST

Synthetic Biology ∩ Microbiome ∩ Evolution


Welcome to the Yim Lab in the Graduate School of Engineering Biology at KAIST.

We study microbes and microbial communities that shape human health, food production, and industrial biotechnology. Our research aims to understand the genetic and ecological factors that govern how microbiomes function, and to use that understanding to engineer microorganisms as living sensors, therapeutics, and manufacturing platforms.

To this end, we develop engineering design principles for a broad range of microbes and microbial communities. Our work combines systems and synthetic biology with high-throughput DNA synthesis and sequencing, multiplex phenotyping, animal models, and bioinformatics.

news

Oct 02, 2026 Seongwon wins the Best Poster Award at the KSBB Meeting. Congrats!
Oct 01, 2026 Sung gives a talk at the Korean Society for Biotechnology and Bioengineering Meeting.
Aug 31, 2026 Seolji Kim joins our lab as a graduate student. Welcome!
Aug 24, 2026 Sung gives a talk at the Korean Society for Plant Pathology Symposium.
Aug 11, 2026 We’re excited to announce that our lab is relocating to a new space!

selected publications

  1. Exploiting interbacterial antagonism for microbiome engineering
    Yim SS ,  and  Wang HH
    Current Opinion in Biomedical Engineering, 2021
    PDF
  2. Robust direct digital-to-biological data storage in living cells
    Yim SS ,  McBee RM ,  Song AM ,  Huang Y ,  Sheth RU ,  and  Wang HH
    Nature Chemical Biology, 2021
    PDF Supp
  3. Multiplex transcriptional characterizations across diverse bacterial species using cell-free systems
    Yim SS+ ,  Johns NI+ ,  Park J ,  Gomes ALC ,  McBee RM ,  Richardson M ,  Ronda C ,  Chen SP ,  Garenne D ,  Noireaux V ,  and  Wang HH
    Molecular Systems Biology, 2019
    PDF Supp