Yungki Park PhD
Yungki Park
PhD
Associate Professor
Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
Specialty/Research Focus
Bioinformatics; Cell growth, differentiation and development; Neurobiology
Professional Summary:
My laboratory seeks to understand the transcriptional regulatory network governing the development of oligodendrocytes (OLs) for central nervous system (CNS) myelination, with the long-term goal of translating this knowledge into the treatment of demyelinating diseases. CNS myelination by OLs is important not only for the saltatory conduction of action potentials but also for axonal integrity. Consistently, impaired myelination has been linked to both neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. To advance our understanding of OL development, we are currently pursuing two different research directions.
The first is to elucidate the functional mechanism of Myrf, a master regulator of OL development. Conditional knockout of Myrf in mice leads to lethal dysmyelination, highlighting the key role of Myrf in OL development and CNS myelination. We and the Emery laboratory have independently made the surprising discovery that Myrf is generated as an integral membrane protein that is auto-cleaved by its ICA domain into two fragments. This discovery invokes a number of fundamental questions about how Myrf drives OL differentiation. We employ both computational and experimental methodologies to elucidate the functional mechanism of Myrf.
The second is to identify new transcription factors and enhancers that govern OL development. We have recently developed an innovative method that maps promoter-distal enhancers to target genes in a principled manner. Using this method, we have elucidated how the expression of key OL genes, including Myrf and Plp1, is regulated. Further, we have uncovered the functional mechanism of rs17594362, a multiple sclerosis-linked single nucleotide polymorphism. We are currently characterizing a number of new OL enhancers and transcription factors.
Education and Training:
- Fellowship, Postdoc, The University of Texas at Austin (2014)
- PhD, Bioinformatics, Saarland University (2007)
- MS, Bioinformatics, Saarland University (2006)
- BS, Life Science, POSTECH (2002)
Employment:
- Associate Professor, Biochemistry, SUNY Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (2021-present)
- Assistant Professor, Biochemistry, SUNY Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (2014–2021)
Grants and Sponsored Research:
- October 2024–September 2025
Elucidating the role of Nucks1 in Myrf expression and central nervous system myelination
UB Neuroscience
Role: Principal Investigator
$40,000 - July 2021–December 2023
Role of Pacs2 in central nervous system myelination
NIH
Role: Principal Investigator
$438,625 - December 2019–November 2021
Systematic discovery of critical oligodendrocyte transcription factors by a CRISPRi screen
NIH
Role: Principal Investigator
$438,625 - July 2019–June 2021
Identifying oligodendrocyte enhancers that govern the expression of Olig1/2
NIH
Role: Principal Investigator
$438,625 - September 2015–June 2021
Transcription mechanism of Myrf for central nervous system myelination.
NIH
Role: Principal Investigator
$1,839,820 - April 2018–March 2021
Role of oligodendrocyte enhancers in central nervous system development and disease
NIH
Role: Principal Investigator
$438,625 - November 2017–October 2018
Elucidating the pathogenetic mechanisms of multiple sclerosis
National Multiple Sclerosis Society
Role: Principal Investigator
$44,000 - December 2021
Modulation of oligodendrocyte development by voltage-operated calcium channels
NIH
Role: Co-Investigator
$1,993,750
Journal Articles:
- Lee JM, Jung H, Tang Q, Li L, Lee SK, Lee JW, Park Y, Kwon HE. (2024) KMT2D regulates tooth enamel development. bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology (Dec). doi:10.1101/2024.08.20.608898
- Lee JM, Jung H, de Paula Machado Pasqua B, Park Y, Tang Q, Jeon S, Lee SK, Lee JW, Kwon HE. (2024) MLL4 regulates postnatal palate growth and midpalatal suture development. bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology (Nov). doi:10.1101/2024.07.16.603832
- Jiang K, Liu T, Kales S, Tewhey R, Kim D, Park Y, Jarvis JN. (2024) A systematic strategy for identifying causal single nucleotide polymorphisms and their target genes on Juvenile arthritis risk haplotypes. BMC medical genomics (Jul), 17(1): 185. doi:10.1186/s12920-024-01954-z
- Fan C, An H, Kim D, Park Y. (2023) Uncovering oligodendrocyte enhancers that control Cnp expression. Human Molecular Genetics (Nov)(32): 3225-3236.
- Nmezi B, Bey GR, Oranburg TD, Dudnyk K, Lardo SM, Herdman N, Jacko A, Rubio S, Alcocer EL, Kofler J, Kim D, Rankin J, Kivuva E, Gutowski N, Schon K, van den Ameele J, Chinnery PF, Sousa SB, Palavra F, Toro C, Pinto E Vairo F, Saute J, Pan L, Alturkustani M, Hammond R, Gros-Louis F, Gold M, Park Y, Bernard G, Raininko R, Zhou J, Hainer SJ, Padiath QS. (2023) An oligodendrocyte silencer element underlies the pathogenic impact of lamin B1 structural variants. bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology (Aug). doi:10.1101/2023.08.03.551473
- Fan C, Kim D, An H, Park Y. (2023) Identifying an oligodendrocyte enhancer that regulates Olig2 expression. Human Molecular Genetics (Feb)(32): 835-846.
- Kim D, An H, Fan C, Park Y. (2021) Identifying oligodendrocyte enhancers governing Plp1 expression. Human Molecular Genetics (Jul), 30(23): 2225-2239. doi:10.1093/hmg/ddab184
- Fan C, An H, Sharif M, Kim D, Park Y. (2021) Functional mechanisms of MYRF DNA-binding domain mutations implicated in birth defects. The Journal of Biological Chemistry (Mar), 296: 100612. doi:10.1016/j.jbc.2021.100612
- Wang W, Cho H, Kim D, Park Y, Moon JH, Lim SJ, Yoon SM, McCane M, Aicher SA, Kim S, Emery B, Lee JW, Lee S, Park Y, Lee SK. (2020) PRC2 Acts as a Critical Timer That Drives Oligodendrocyte Fate over Astrocyte Identity by Repressing the Notch Pathway. Cell Reports (Sep), 32(11): 108147.
- Jiang K, Kessler H, Park Y, Sudman M, Thompson SD, Jarvis JN. (2020) Broadening our understanding of the genetics of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA): Interrogation of three dimensional chromatin structures and genetic regulatory elements within JIA-associated risk loci. PLoS One (Jul), 15(7): e0235857.
- An H, Fan C, Sharif M, Kim D, Poitelon Y, Park Y. (2020) Functional mechanism and pathogenic potential of MYRF ICA domain mutations implicated in birth defects. Scientific Reports (Jan), 10(1): 814.
- Kim D, Park Y. (2019) Molecular mechanism for the multiple sclerosis risk variant rs17594362. Human Molecular Genetics (Nov), 28(21): 3600-3609.
- Kim D, An H, Shearer RS, Sharif M, Fan C, Choi JO, Ryu S, Park Y. (2019) A principled strategy for mapping enhancers to genes. Scientific Reports (Jul), 9(1): 11043.
- Belin S, Herron J, VerPlank JJS, Park Y, Feltri LM, Poitelon Y. (2019) YAP and TAZ Regulate Cc2d1b and Purß in Schwann Cells. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience (Jul), 12: 177.
- Choi JO, Fan C, Kim D, Sharif M, An H, Park Y. (2018) Elucidating the transactivation domain of the pleiotropic transcription factor Myrf. Scientific Reports (Aug), 8(1): 13075.
- Kim D, Choi JO, Fan C, Shearer RS, Sharif M, Busch P, Park Y. (2017) Homo-trimerization is essential for the transcription factor function of Myrf for oligodendrocyte differentiation. Nucleic Acids Research (May), 45(9): 5112-5125.
- Li Z, Park Y, Marcotte EM. (2013) A Bacteriophage tailspike domain promotes self-cleavage of a human membrane-bound transcription factor, the myelin regulatory factor MYRF. PLoS Biology (Aug), 11(8): 1001624.
- Park Y, Marcotte EM. (2012) Flaws in evaluation schemes for pair-input computational predictions. Nature Methods (Dec), 9(12): 1134-6.
- Park Y, Marcotte EM. (2011) Revisiting the negative example sampling problem for predicting protein-protein interactions. Bioinformatics (Nov), 27(21): 3024-3028.
- Hayat S, Park Y, Helms V. (2011) Statistical analysis and exposure status classification of transmembrane beta barrel residues. Computational Biology and Chemistry (Apr), 35(2): 96-107.
- Hayat S, Walter P, Park Y, Helms V. (2011) Prediction of the exposure status of transmembrane beta barrel residues from protein sequence. Journal of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (Feb), 9(1): 43-65.
- Park Y. (2009) Critical assessment of sequence-based protein-protein interaction prediction methods that do not require homologous protein sequences. BMC Bioinformatics (Dec), 10: 419.
- Park Y, Helms V. (2008) MINS2: revisiting the molecular code for transmembrane-helix recognition by the Sec61 translocon. Bioinformatics (Aug), 24(16): 1819-20.
- Park Y, Helms V. (2008) Prediction of the translocon-mediated membrane insertion free energies of protein sequences. Bioinformatics (May), 24(10): 1271-7.
- Park Y, Hayat S, Helms V. (2007) Prediction of the burial status of transmembrane residues of helical membrane proteins. BMC Bioinformatics (Aug), 8: 302.
- Park Y, Helms V. (2007) On the derivation of propensity scales for predicting exposed transmembrane residues of helical membrane proteins. Bioinformatics (Mar), 23(6): 701-708.
- Park Y, Helms V. (2006) How strongly do sequence conservation patterns and empirical scales correlate with exposure patterns of transmembrane helices of membrane proteins?. Biopolymers (Nov), 83(4): 389-99.
- Park Y, Helms V. (2006) Assembly of transmembrane helices of simple polytopic membrane proteins from sequence conservation patterns. Proteins (Sep), 64(4): 895-905.
- Park Y, Elsner M, Staritzbichler R, Helms V. (2004) Novel scoring function for modeling structures of oligomers of transmembrane alpha-helices. Proteins (Nov), 57(3): 577-85.
Presentations:
- "Myrf (Myelin regulatory factor): from bioinformatics to neurobiology and birth defects" Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Houston (2023)
- "How is Plp1 expressed in oligodendrocytes?" The 13th Great Lakes Glia Meeting (2022)
- "2021 Physician Scientist Training Program, Wonju College of Medicine, Yonsei University" Talk for physician scientists (2021)
- "Medical Scientist Training Program, University at Buffalo" Talk for MSTP students (2021)
Service Activities:
- Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (MSRP-RR1); ad hoc reviewer (2024)
- The PhD Program in Biomedical Sciences admissions committee; Committee member (2024–present)
- Heliyon; ad hoc reviewer (2024)
- Genetic, Genomics and Bioinformatics Research Day; Judge (2024)
- Biochemistry Research Day; Judge (2024)
- Heliyon; ad hoc reviewer (2024)
- AGCD-1 (NIH study section); ad hoc reviewer (2024)
- Representing the Genetic, Genomics and Bioinformatics program to SUNY Cobleskill Biotechnology program students and faculty; Representing member (2023)
- Inviting a seminar speaker (Dr. Quasar Saleem Padiath at University of Pittsburgh); Host (2023)
- Neuroscience Research Day; Judge (2023)
- BioEssays; ad hoc reviewer (2023)
- Journal of Cell Biology; ad hoc reviewer (2023)
- Committee on Promotions to Academic (Tenurial) Ranks; Committee member (2023–present)
- Graduate Education Committee of the Neuroscience program; Committee member (2023–present)
- Collegiate Science & Technology Entry Program Summer Research Poster Symposium & Luncheon; Judge (2023)
- eNeuro; ad hoc reviewer (2023)
- Biochemistry Research Day; Judge (2023)
- BioEssays; ad hoc reviewer (2023)
- Inviting a seminar speaker (Dr. Mingfu Wu at University of Houston); Host (2023)
- Current Protocols; ad hoc reviewer (2023)
- Admission interviews for PPBS applicants; Interviewer (2023)
- Genetic, Genomics and Bioinformatics Research Day; Judge (2023)
- Molecular Genetics & Genomic Medicine; ad hoc reviewer (2022)
- Neuroscience Research Day; Judge (2022)
- Faculty Search Committee; Committee member (2022–2023)
- ; Faculty Senate (2022–present)
- Inviting a seminar speaker (Dr. Jae-Sung Yang at Center for Research in Agricultural Genomics in Barcelona, Spain (05/10/2022)); Host (2022)
- Faculty Council Select Committee on Graduate Educational Policies in Biomedical Sciences; Member representing Biochemistry (2022–2023)
- Inviting a seminar speaker (Dr. Dae-Kyum Kim at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (03/08/2022)); Host (2022)
- Genetic, Genomics and Bioinformatics Research Day; Judge (2022)
- Molecular Brain; ad hoc reviewer (2021)
- Genetic, Genomics and Bioinformatics steering committee; Committee member (2021–present)
- Bioinformatics; ad hoc reviewer (2021)
- Neuroscience Letters; ad hoc reviewer (2021)
- Trends in Genetics; ad hoc reviewer (2021)
- Inviting a seminar speaker (Dr. Kyu-Sang Park at Wonju College of Medicine, Yonsei University, on 3/30/2021); Host (2021)
- Inviting a seminar speaker (Dr. Volkhard Helms at Universität des Saarlandes on 2/9/21); Host (2021)
- Neuroscience Master’s and PhD program admissions committee; Committee member (2021–2023)
- The PhD Program in Biomedical Sciences admissions committee; Committee member (2021–2022)
- International Journal of Biological Sciences; ad hoc reviewer (2021)