Sung-Wook Ji
Korea University · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
About the Lab
Professor Sung-Wook Ji's research lab specializes in molecular biology and RNA therapeutics, focusing on the rational design of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) to achieve precise gene silencing with minimal off-target effects. The lab investigates the mechanisms of RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) activity and develops chemical strategies to enhance target specificity by leveraging the 'transitional nucleation' model, which emphasizes seed region pairing (positions 2–6) for selective gene regulation. Their work aims to overcome a major limitation in RNAi therapeutics—off-target repression—by engineering siRNAs that mimic endogenous microRNAs while maintaining high specificity. The lab also explores the structural and kinetic principles underlying RNA-RNA interactions to guide the development of next-generation gene-silencing tools.
Research Overview
Research Output Trend
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Selected Papers
2Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) have been developed to intentionally repress a specific gene expression by directing RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC), mimicking the endogenous gene silencer, microRNAs (miRNAs). Although siRNA is designed to be perfectly complementary to an intended target mRNA, it also suppresses hundreds of off-targets by the way that miRNAs recognize targets. Until now, there is no efficient way to avoid such off-target repression, although the mode of miRNA-like interacti
Research Areas
Dive deeper into Sung-Wook Ji's research on Nubint
Open this lab's papers in the app to read with AI, summarize, and cite in your writing.