Rate My Professor Jungjoon Lee

Jungjoon Kempthorne Lee is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS). He serves as Principal Investigator at NUS Synthetic Biology for Clinical and Technological Innovation (SynCTI) and leads the Genome Re-Innovation Lab. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Stanford University and a B.A. and M.Sci. in Natural Science Tripos from the University of Cambridge. Prior to his appointment at NUS in 2024, Lee worked as a senior researcher in the Biotherapeutics Department at Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, where he received the Multiple Citizenship for Outstanding Talent award from the Korean Ministry of Justice. He later served as Senior Director, Research Head Platform Development at Toolgen, contributing to CRISPR platform development, key patents, publications, and the company’s IPO on KOSDAQ. He also held a senior researcher position at Seoul National University Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics.

Lee’s research centers on the development of next-generation genome editing platforms that combine high activity with precision and safety for therapeutic use. His lab integrates directed evolution, high-throughput screening, and computational modeling to engineer CRISPR-based editors and related systems for improved target range, efficiency in primary cells and organoids, and minimized off-target effects. He is a founding member and former vice chairman of the Korean Association for Genome Editing and serves as Vice President Membership of the NUSS Toastmasters Club. Lee has authored or co-authored numerous peer-reviewed publications, including works on high-fidelity Cas9 variants, off-target detection methods such as Extru-seq and TAPE-seq, and directed evolution of CRISPR-Cas9 for enhanced specificity.