Rate My Professor Hyun Koo

Hyun (Michel) Koo is Professor of Orthodontics in the Department of Orthodontics and holds appointments in the Divisions of Pediatric Dentistry and Community Oral Health at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. He is also Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Koo serves as Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Center for Innovation & Precision Dentistry, bridging dental medicine, engineering, and computational sciences, and as Program Director of an NIDCR T90/R90 postdoctoral training program in Engineering and Oral-Craniofacial Sciences. His academic background includes a D.D.S. from São Paulo State University, Brazil (1993); an M.S. in Food Engineering from the University of Campinas, Brazil (1996); a Ph.D. in Oral Biology and Pathology from the University of Campinas and University of Rochester Medical Center (1999); postdoctoral training in Oral Biology and Microbiology at the University of Rochester Medical Center (1999-2001); and a visiting fellowship at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, NIH (2011-2012). Koo's career began as an instructor at the University of Campinas and University of Rochester, advancing to Associate Professor (tenured) at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry (2008-2013) before joining Penn in 2013 as Professor and Director of Biofilm Research in the Levy Center for Oral Health.

Koo's research specializes in the assembly principles and virulence determinants of oral biofilms, interkingdom bacterial-fungal interactions, and the development of nanotechnology, small-scale robotics, and catalytic nanoparticles for biofilm disruption, caries prevention, and precision diagnostics. His laboratory employs multiscale imaging, biophysical, and computational approaches to study polymicrobial biofilms and microbiome spatial structure. Key contributions include co-inventing small-scale robotics for wireless plaque removal (published in Science Robotics, 2019), pH-responsive nanozymes for chronic biofilm infections, and anti-plaque chewing gum using plant-derived biologics. He holds several U.S. and international patents. Koo has received major awards including Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher (2021, 2023), Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2019), Emerging Inventor of the Year from the Penn Center for Innovation (2020), IADR William H. Bowen Caries Research Award (2018), and multiple IADR Innovation and Young Investigator Awards (2001-2013). His work appears in high-impact journals such as PNAS, Nature Communications, ACS Nano, and Science Robotics, with extensive editorial contributions and service on NIH/NIDCR study sections and IADR awards committees. Koo's innovations have been highlighted in Nature, Science, and NIH Research Matters, influencing oral health therapies globally.