Youngwoo Lee: The Plant Cell First Author

Youngwoo Lee, first author of “A co-fractionation mass spectrometry-based prediction of protein complex assemblies in the developing rice aleurone-subaleurone”

Current Position:

Postdoc in Szymanski Lab at Department of Botany and Plant Pathology and Center for Plant Biology in Purdue University

Education:
PhD Botany (PULSe) from Purdue University, MS Horticulture from University of Seoul, BS Life Sciences from Chungbuk National University

Non-scientific Interests:

Travelholic, EDM lover, art museum visitor, snowboarder

Brief bio:
“Decontaminate the chemical-contaminating area!”

An amazing sight met my eyes after I performed my duty as a platoon commander of chemical forces for a military exercise. Plants were germinating on the combat training field polluted by the use of supertropical bleach (STB), toxic to plants, during decontamination trainings for many years. I began to question, “How can those plants overcome the toxicity of STB?” My observation of that day left me awestruck by élan vital, and switched my life from a lieutenant to a botanist.

During my PhD in Botany at Purdue University (advisor: Dr. Daniel Szymanski), my focus was on the extension of the boundary of CF-MS application to learn how protein complex evolution (Sci. Adv 2021) and protein complex composition (this TPC paper) have been accomplished. I keep my research interest in understanding how dynamics of protein complex components in plant cells coordinate nearly all cellular processes. Using a system-wide proteomics profiling of protein complex dynamics, I am creating entirely novel large-scale data sets for the plant community. These new resources could have a significant value to understand systems-level behaviors of cells in model and crop species.