Assistant Professor of Neuroscience Kwanghun Chung

Kwanghun Chung

Investigator in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Neuroscience
Institute for Medical Engineering and Science
Department of Chemical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Contact Info

Office: 46-6263
Phone: 617-452-2263

Administrative Assistant

Michael Harrison
Phone: 617-253-0009

The Chung Lab is an interdisciplinary research team devoted to developing and applying novel technologies for holistic understanding of large-scale complex biological systems. Specifically, we develop a host of methods including CLARITY (Nature, 2013), SWITCH (Cell, 2015), stochastic electrotransport (PNAS, 2015), MAP (Nature Biotechnology, 2016) and SHIELD (Nature Biotechnology, 2018) that may enable identification of multi-scale functional networks and interrogation of their system-wide, multifactorial interactions. We are applying these technologies for studying brain function and dysfunction using animal models, human clinical samples, and organoid systems.

Kwanghun Chung is Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT, as well as a Core Member of the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES). He is also a Core Member of The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, and an Associate Member of the Broad Institute. He received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Seoul National University in 2005, and then moved to Georgia Institute of Technology for his Ph.D. training under the mentorship of Dr. Hang Lu, where he developed automated and integrated microsystems for high-throughput imaging, molecular/behavioral phenotyping, and cell microsurgery of a broad range of living systems. Following his graduation in 2009, Dr. Chung joined the Karl Deisseroth Lab at Stanford University for post-doctoral training in 2010, where he invented a novel technology termed CLARITY, which enables system-wide structural and molecular analysis of large-scale intact biological samples. In 2013, Dr. Chung established his independent group at MIT and has been leading an interdisciplinary team to develop and apply novel technologies for holistic understanding of large-scale complex biological systems. Chung was the recipient of the McKnight Technological Innovations in Neuroscience Award 2016, the Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering Award 2015, the NARSAD Young Investigator Award 2015, the Yumin Awards for Creativity 2014, the Searle Scholars Award 2014, and the BWF Career Award at the Scientific Interface 2012. 

2019 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers

2016 NIH New Innovator Award

2016 Association of Korean Neuroscientists (AKN) Junior Faculty Award

2016 McKnight Technological Innovations in Neuroscience Award

2015 Samuel Goldblith Career Development Professorship, MIT

2015 Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering

2015 NARSAD Young Investigator Award

2014 Yumin awards for creativity

2014 Searle Scholars Program

2014 40 under 40, Cell magazine

2012 Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Awards at the Scientific Interface

Featured publications are below. For a full list visit the lab website linked above.

November 17, 2015
Sung-Yon Kim, Jae Hun Cho, Evan Murray, Naveed Bakh, Heejin Choi, Kimberly Ohn, Sara Vassallo, Luzdary Ruelas, Austin Hubbert, Meg McCue, Philipp Keller and Kwanghun Chung. PNAS, 2015 Nov 17: 112(46): E6274-83.
May 30, 2015
Kwanghun Chung*, Karl Deisseroth*, Nature Methods, 2013, 10, 508-513 (*co-correspondence)
May 16, 2013
Kwanghun Chung, Jenelle Wallace, Sung-Yon Kim, Sandhiya Kalyanasundaram, Aaron Andalman, Tom J. Davidson, Kelly A. Zalocusky, Joanna Mattis, Sally Pak, Viviana Gradinaru, Hannah Bernstein, Julie Mirzabekov, Charu Ramakrishnan, and Karl Deisseroth, Nature, 2013, 497, 332-337
December 26, 2010
Kwanghun Chung, Yoosik Kim*, Jitendra S Kanodia, Emily Gong, SY Shvartsman, and Hang Lu. Nature Methods, 2011, 8, 171-176
June 22, 2008
Kwanghun Chung, Matthew M. Crane, Hang Lu. Nature Methods volume 5, pages 637–643 (2008)

Clover Su
Research Scientist

Jose Vargas Asencio
Postdoctoral Associate

Seo Woo Choi
Graduate Student

Lauren DeLorenzo
Research Engineer

Chuanxi Zhao
Technical Associate

Webster Guan
Graduate Student

Nicholas Haas
Graduate Student

Kit-Yi Yam
Postdoctoral Associate

Slayton Marx
Software Engineer Researcher

Minyoung Evelyn Kim
Graduate Student

Mira Moukheiber
Software Engineer Researcher

Shaoyu (Sebastian) Lin
Postdoctoral Fellow

Joha Park
Postdoctoral Fellow

Juhyuk Park
Postdoctoral Fellow

Srinu Pujari
Graduate Student

Jiho Shin
Postdoctoral Fellow

Yuxuan Tian
Graduate Student

Xinyi Gu
Graduate Student

Jisoo Kim
Graduate Student

Dae Hee Yun
Graduate Student