Associate Director
Won-Suk Chung, Ph.D.
📧 Email : wonsuk.chung@kaist.ac.krÂ
⛪ Homepage : https://www.kaistglia.org
Associate Director, Center for Vascular Research, IBS
Assocaite Professor, KAIST
Won-Suk Chung is an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at KAIST and the associate director of the Center for Vascular Research at the Institute for Basic Science. Throughout his research, he has established that the brain’s resident immune cells, astrocytes and microglia, control neural circuit refinement and homeostasis by selectively eliminating unnecessary synapses via phagocytosis. His research team has also been revealing that these phagocytic roles of brain cells are critical not only for regulating synapse number and neural circuits but also for reducing potential central nervous system (CNS)-enriched antigens, such as myelin debris, Aβ and tau. At the IBS Center for Vascular Research, he is currently aiming to understand how the brain’s resident immune cells communicate with systemic immune responses through brain vasculature at the CNS borders, influencing the brain’s development, maintenance, and pathology. Through this research, his team seeks to provide new therapeutic strategies for various CNS disorders, such as autoimmune disorders, neuroinflammatory diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases.