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Adjunct Professor

Chung, Won-suk

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Biosketch

  • Dr. Won-Suk Chung is an associate professor at Department of Biological Sciences at KAIST in South Korea. Dr. Chung earned his B.S degree at Seoul National University in South Korea and received his Ph.D. in developmental genetics in 2009 at University of California, San Francisco. After completing his Ph.D., he worked as a postdoctoral researcher with Dr. Ben Barres at Stanford University. In his lab at KAIST, he has been discovered that astrocytes, the most abundant cell type in the central nervous system, actively contribute to the activity-dependent synapse elimination that refines neural circuits during developmental as well as adult stages. He is also continuously working on molecular mechanisms and physiological impacts of glial-mediated phagocytosis in the healthy and diseased brains.
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Key Papers

  • Choi JB, Seol DW, Do HS, Yang HY, Kim TM, Byun YG, Park JM, Choi J, Hong SP, Chung WS, Suh JM, Koh GY, Lee BH, Wee G, Han YM. Fasudil alleviates the vascular endothelial dysfunction and several phenotypes of Fabry disease. Mol Ther. 2023 Feb 8:S1525 0016(23)00066-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2023.02.003.Online ahead of print.
  • Shen H, Shi XJ, Qi L, Wang C, Mamtilahun M, Zhang ZJ, Chung WS, Yang GY, Tang YH. Microglia and astrocytes mediate synapse engulfment in a MER tyrosine kinase-dependent manner after traumatic brain injury. Neural Regen Res. 2023 Aug;18(8):1770-1776. doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.363187.
  • Kim NS, Chung WS. Astrocytes Regulate Neuronal Network Activity by Mediating Synapse Remodeling. Neurosci Res. 10.1016/j.neures.2022.09.007. Kim H, 2022 Sep 25:S0168-0102(22)00252-8. doi:
  • Kim S, Oh H, Choi SH, Yoo YE, Noh YW, Cho Y, Im GH, Lee C, Oh Y, Yang E, Kim G, Chung WS, Kang H, Bae Y, Kim SG, E. Postnatal age-differential ASD-like transcriptomic, synaptic, and behavioral deficits in Myt1l mutant mice. Cell Rep. 2022 Sep 20;40(12):111398. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111398. Kim
  • Jung H*, Lee SY*, Lim S, Choi HR, Choi Y, Kim M, Kim S, Lee Y, Han KH, Chung WS+, Kim CH + . Anti-inflammatory clearance of amyloid beta by a chimeric Gas6 fusion protein. Nature Medici ne,2022 August, (*Equally contributed, +Co-corresponding authors) Highlighted in Research Briefing (Toward inflammation-free therapeutics in Alzheimer’s diseas e. Nat Med 28, 1765–1766 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01972-3)
  • Lee E*, Jung YJ*, Park YR, Lim S, Choi YJ, Lee SY, Kim CH, Mun JY, Chung WS. A distinct ast rocyte subtype in the aging mouse brain characterized by impaired protein homeostasis. Nature 2 Aging, 2022 August, (*Equally contributed) Highlighted in News & Views (Baumert, R., Brose, N. & Eroglu, C. Astrocytic traffic jams in the aging brain. Nat Aging 2, 681–683 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-022-00270 4)
  • Lee B, Park SJ, Lee S, Lee J, Lee E, Yoo ES, Chung WS, Sohn JW, Oh BC, Kim S. Lomitapide, a cholesterol-lowering drug, is an anticancer agent that induces autophagic cell death via inhibiting mTOR. Cell Death Dis. 2022 Jul 12;13(7):603. doi: 10.1038/s41419-022-05039-6.
  • Shi X*, Luo L*, Wang J*, Shen H, Li Y, Mamtilahun M, Liu C, Shi R, Lee JH, Tian H, Zhang Z, Wang Y, Chung WS+, Tang Y+, Yang GY+. Stroke subtype-dependent synapse elimination by reactive gliosis in mice. Nat Commun. 2021 Nov 26;12(1):6943. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021 27248-x. (*Equally contributed,+Co-corresponding authors)
  • Lee YB, Min JK, Kim JG, Cap KC, Islam R, Hossain AJ, Dogsom O, Hamza A, Mahmud S, Choi DR, Kim YS, Koh YH, Kim HA, Chung WS, Suh SW, Park JB. Multiple functions of pyruvate kinase M2 in various cell types. J Cell Physiol. 2021 Jul 26. doi: 10.1002/jcp.30536. Online ahead of print.
  • Park J, Choi Y, Jung E, Lee SH, Sohn JW, Chung WS. Microglial MERTK eliminates phosphatidylserine-displaying inhibitory post-synapses. EMBO J. 2021 May 19:e107121. doi: 10.15252/embj.2020107121. Online ahead of print.PMID: 34013588
  • Kweon H, Jung WB, Im GH, Ryoo J, Lee JH, Do H, Choi Y, Song YH, Jung H, Park H, Qiu LR, Ellegood J, Shim HJ, Yang E, Kim H, Lerch JP, Lee SH, Chung WS, Kim D, Kim SG, Kim E. Excitatory neuronal CHD8 in the regulation of neocortical development and sensory-motor behaviors. Cell Rep. 2021 Feb 23;34(8):108780. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.108780.
  • Lee SY, Chung WS. The roles of astrocytic phagocytosis in maintaining homeostasis of brains. J Pharmacol Sci. 2021 Mar;145(3):223-227. doi: 10.1016/j.jphs.2020.12.007. Epub 2020 Dec 29.
  • Lee JH*, Kim JY*, Noh S, Lee H, Lee SY, Mun JY, Park HJ+, Chung WS+. Astrocytes phagocytose adult hippocampal synapses for circuit homeostasis, Nature (Article), 2021 Feb;590(7847):612-617. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03060-3. Epub 2020 Dec 23. (* Equally contributed, +Co-corresponding authors)
  • Cap KC, Jung YJ, Choi BY, Hyeon SJ, Kim JG, Min JK, Islam R, Hossain AJ, Chung WS, Suh SW, Ryu H, Park JB. Distinct dual roles of p-Tyr42 RhoA GTPase in tau phosphorylation and ATP citrate lyase activation upon different Aβ concentrations. Redox Biol. 2020 Jan 31:101446. doi: 10.1016/j.redox.2020.101446. [Epub ahead of print], PMID:32046944
  • Jeon MT, Moon GJ, Kim S, Choi M, Oh YS, Kim DW, Kim HJ, Lee KJ, Choe Y, Ha CM, Jang IS, Nakamura M, McLean C, Chung WS, Shin WH, Lee SG, Kim SR. Neurotrophic interactions between neurons and astrocytes following AAV1-Rheb(S16H) transduction in the hippocampus in vivo. Br J Pharmacol. 2019 Oct 28. doi: 10.1111/bph.14882. [Epub ahead of print]
  • Mondragon AA, Yalonetskaya A, Ortega AJ, Zhang Y, Naranjo O, Elguero J, Chung WS, McCall K. Lysosomal Machinery Drives Extracellular Acidification to Direct Non-apoptotic Cell Death. Cell Rep. 2019 Apr 2;27(1):11-19.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.03.034.
  • Lee EB and Chung WS. Glial control of Synapse number is healthy and diseased brain. Front. Cell. Neurosci. 2019 Feb | https://doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2019.00042 3
  • Choi BY, Lee SH, Choi HC, Lee SK, Yoon HS, Park JB, Chung WS, Suh SW.Alcohol dependence treating agent, acamprosate, prevents traumatic brain injury-induced neuron death through vesicular zinc depletion. Transl Res. 2019 Jan 17. pii: S1931-5244(19)30014-3. doi: 10.1016/j.trsl.2019.01.002. [Epub ahead of print]
  • Byun YK and Chung WS. In Vitro Engulfment Assay to Measure Phagocytic Activity of Astrocytes Using Synaptosomes. Methods Mol Biol. 2019;1938:155-168. doi: 10.1007/978-1 4939-9068-9_11.
  • Islam R, Kim JG, Park Y, Cho JY, Cap KC, Kho AR, Chung WS, Suh SW, Park JB. Insulin induces phosphorylation of pyruvate dehydrogenase through RhoA activation pathway in HepG2 cells. FASEB J. 2018 Sep 18:fj201800917R. doi: 10.1096/fj.201800917R
  • Lee JH, Lee JE, Kahng JY, Kim SH, Park JS, Yoon SJ, Um JY, Kim WK, Lee JK, Park J, Kim EH, Lee JH, Lee JH, Chung WS, Ju YS, Park SH, Chang JH, Kang SG, Lee JH. Human glioblastoma arises from subventricular zone cells with low-level driver mutations. Nature. 2018 Aug 1. doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0389-3
  • Byun YK and Chung WS. A Novel In Vitro Live-imaging Assay of Astrocyte-mediated Phagocytosis Using pH Indicator-conjugated Synaptosomes. J Vis Exp. 2018 Feb 5;(132). doi: 10.3791/5664018 Feb 5;(132). doi: 10.3791/5664
  • Jung YJ, Chung WS. Phagocytic riles of glial cells in healthy and diseased brains. Biomol Ther, 2018 Jan 10. doi: 10.4062/biomolther.2017.133. [Epub ahead of print]
  • Lutz AB, Chung WS, Sloan SA, Carson GA, Zhou L, Lovelett E, Posada S, Zuchero JB, Barres BA. Schwann cells use TAM receptor-mediated phagocytosis in addition to autophagy to clear myelin in a mouse model of nerve injury. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, published ahead of print September 5, 2017, doi:10.1073/pnas.1710566114
  • Liddelow SA+, Guttenplan KA, Clarke LE, Bennett FC, Bohlen CJ, Schirmer L, Bennett ML, Münch AE, Chung WS, Peterson TC, Wilton DK, Frouin A, Napier BA, Panicker N, Kumar M, Buckwalter MS, Rowitch DH, Dawson VL, Dawson TM, Stevens B, Barres BA. Neurotoxic reactive astrocytes are induced by activated microglia. Nature (Article). 2017 Jan 26;541(7638):481-487. doi: 10.1038/nature21029. Epub 2017 Jan 18, (+Corresponding author)
  • Chung WS+, Verghese PB, Chakraborty C, Joung J, Hyman BT, Ulrich JD, Holtzman DM and Barres BA. (2016), A novel allele-dependent role for APOE in controlling the rate of synapse pruning by astrocytes, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Published online before print August 24, 2016, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1609896113, (+Corresponding author).
  • Reischauer S, Stone OA, Villasenor A, Chi N, Jin SW, Martin M, Lee MT, Fukuda N, Marass M, Witty A, Fiddes I, Kuo T, Chung WS, Salek S, Lerrigo R, Alsiö J, Luo S, Tworus D, Augustine SM, Mucenieks S, Nystedt B, Giraldez AJ, Schroth GP, Andersson O and Stainier DY (2016). Cloche is a bHLH-PAS transcription factor that drives haemato-vascular specification. Nature 535, 294–298, doi:10.1038/nature18614
  • Chung WS*, Welsh CA*, Barres BA and Stevens B. (2015). Do glia drive synaptic and cognitive impairment in disease? Nature Neurosci. Nov;18(11):1539-45. doi: 10.1038/nn.4142. Epub 2015 Oct 27 (* Equally contributed). Highlighted in Faculty of 1000. 4
  • Chung WS, Allen NJ and Eroglu C. (2015). Glia Monograph: Astrocytes Control Synapse Formation, Function, and Elimination. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. Feb 6;7(9). pii: a020370. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a020370.
  • Chung WS+, Clarke LE*, Wang GX*, Stafford BK, Sher A, Chakraborty C, Joung J, Foo LC, Thompson A, Chen C, Smith SJ and Barres BA. (2013). Astrocytes mediate synapse elimination through MEGF10 and MERTK pathways. Nature (Article). Dec 19;504(7480):394-400 (+Corresponding author, * Equally contributed). Highlighted in Faculty of 1000
  • Chung WS+ and Barres BA. (2012). The role of glial cells in synapse elimination. Curr Opin Neurobiol. Jun;22(3):438-45, (+Corresponding author)
  • Chung WS*, Andersson O*, Row R, Kimelman D and Stainier DY. (2010). Suppression of Alk8- mediated Bmp signaling cell-autonomously induces pancreatic β-cells. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA. Jan 19;107(3):1142-7. (* Equally contributed).
  • Chung WS+ and Barres BA. (2009). Selective Remodeling: Refining Neural Connectivity at the Neuromuscular Junction. PLoS Biology. August,7(8):e1000185 (+Corresponding author).
  • Chung WS*, Shin CH*, and Stainier DY. (2008). Bmp2 signaling regulates the hepatic vs pancreatic fate decision. Dev Cell. 15, 738-748 (* Equally contributed). Highlighted in Faculty of 1000
  • Foo LC, Allen NJ, Bushong EA, Ventura PB, Chung WS, Zhou L, Cahoy JD, Daneman R, Zong H, Ellisman MH, Barres BA. (2011). Development of a method for the purification and culture of rodent astrocytes. Neuron. Sep 8;71(5):799-811.
  • Chung WS and Stainier DY. (2008). Intra-endodermal interactions are required for pancreatic β- cell induction. Dev Cell. 14, 582-593. Highlighted in Faculty of 1000
  • Shin CH, Chung WS, Hong S, Ober EA, Verkade H, Field HA, and Stainier DY. (2008). Multiple roles for Med12 in vertebrate endoderm development. Dev Bio. 15, 467-479.
  • Bae SK, Chung WS, Kim EJ, Rhee JK, Kwon JW, Kim WB and Lee MG. (2004). Pharmacokinetics of DA-7867, a new oxazolidinone, after intravenous or oral administration to rats: intestinal first-pass effect. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 48, 659-662.
  • Bae SK, Chung WS, Kim EJ, Rhee JK, Kwon JW, Kim WB and Lee MG. (2004). Pharmacokinetic blood partition and protein binding of DA-7867, a new oxazolidinone. Biopharm Drug Dispos. 25, 127-35. 5
  • Chung WS, Kim EJ, Lee I, Kim SG, Lee MG and Kim SH. (2003). The effects of growth hormones on pharmacokinetics of chlorzoxazone in rats with acute renal failure induced by uranyl nitrate. Life Sci. 73. 253-63.
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