Team

Jason is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics and Biomedical Sciences at Korea University College of Medicine. He completed his B.S. in Biological Science from the University of California Santa Barbara and graduated with an M.S. in Health Science and Technology from Sungkyunkwan University, focusing on Functional Genomics. Later, he received his Ph.D., also from Sungkyunkwan University, where he shifted his research focus to Cancer Genomics. While serving as a senior scientist at Samsung Medical Center, he specialized in tumor evolutionary dynamics and pharmacogenomics in various solid tumors. Building upon his expertise in exploring the cancer genome, he started his own independent research lab at Korea University in 2019, focusing on a wide spectrum of different tumor types, including glioblastoma, ovarian, colorectal, and gastric adenocarcinomas. Jason’s main scientific interests can be categorized into two main questions, which seek to: 1) identify essential driver mechanisms of evolutionary trajectories and biological response to therapy and 2) characterize key process dynamics that govern such composition. 

Jiwon is an M.S.-Ph.D. student in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Korea University. She received her B.S. in Biomedical Sciences from Handong Global University and subsequently gained research experience at the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. Her previous research focused on characterizing the molecular features that distinguish upper tract urothelial carcinoma from conventional bladder urothelial carcinoma, followed by pharmacogenomic analyses to identify molecular determinants of response to chemotherapy and immunotherapy in urothelial carcinoma. Her current research focuses on leveraging large-scale circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) profiling to investigate the clinical and functional significance of genomic alterations, particularly their associations with patient prognosis and treatment response.

Youjin is an M.S.-Ph.D. student in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Korea University. She received her B.S. in Biology from Konkuk University and subsequently worked at Geninus as a Chromium technician and researcher, where she gained experience in single-cell sequencing technologies. Her research interests center on the integrative analysis of advanced solid tumors and immune-related diseases at single-cell resolution. Her current research focuses on integrating molecular and spatial data to reconstruct the three-dimensional evolutionary landscape of glioblastoma and to identify distinct tumor evolutionary trajectories associated with patient prognosis.

Wooseok is an MS-PhD student in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Korea University. He completed his undergraduate studies in the Division of Life Sciences at Korea University, and his research interests centered on uncovering novel biomarkers and deciphering key signaling pathways involved in cancer progression. He is particularly focused on the molecular mechanisms underlying cellular proliferation and metastasis in malignant tumors, with the goal of translating these insights into clinically actionable strategies. His current work investigates spatially resolved cellular interactions between glioblastoma cells and tumor-associated macrophages, with the goal of identifying critical biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets.

Han is an MS-PhD student in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Korea University. Han received his bachelor's degree in Life Science from Chung-Ang University. His previous research focused on understanding tumor microenvironment remodeling and tumor cell plasticity during metastatic progression through integrative multi-omics analyses. His current research involves integrating multi-omics data, including genome, transcriptome, and proteome, across diverse brain tumor types to define functional subtypes with neuronal characteristics and to investigate synaptic interactions between tumor cells and neurons that may contribute to tumor progression and recurrence.

Hyeonmin is a Master's student in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Korea University. She received her bachelor's degree in Bioscience and Biotechnology from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. Her earlier research interests focused on identifying the genomic basis and molecular mechanisms of inherited disorders and rare pediatric genetic diseases, with an emphasis on understanding disease pathogenesis and uncovering potential therapeutic targets. Currently, her research explores the molecular characteristics of early-onset cancer patients compared to traditional-onset tumors, aiming to understand how these genomic features correlate with tumor progression and clinical outcomes.

Minhyung is a Master's student in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Korea University. He received his bachelor's degree in Biosystems and Biomedical Sciences from Korea University. His previous research focused on applying artificial intelligence to integrative multi-omics data, including genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics, to characterize patient-specific molecular heterogeneity and understand how biological variability shapes treatment response. His current research focuses on analyzing large-scale single-cell datasets from primary and metastatic brain tumors to identify tumor-specific cellular programs and molecular vulnerabilities that may serve as therapeutically actionable targets.

Jieun received her bachelor's degree in Systems Biomedical Science from Soongsil University. Her previous research focused on characterizing cellular heterogeneity and gene regulatory networks through the integration of single-cell multi-omics data. In particular, she investigated cell-type-specific transcriptional programs, identified key regulatory elements, and explored the dynamic relationship between chromatin accessibility and gene expression. Her current research focuses on reconstructing the longitudinal evolutionary trajectories of meningioma through integrated genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic analyses, with the goal of identifying molecular mechanisms that drive tumor recurrence.

Dayoung is currently a researcher in the Sa Lab. She received her B.S. in Systems Biomedical Science from Soongsil University and her master's degree from Korea University College of Medicine. Her primary research focuses on elucidating tumor evolutionary dynamics at single-cell resolution in response to immune checkpoint blockade across multiple solid tumor types, including hepatocellular carcinoma, MSI-high gastric adenocarcinoma, basal and squamous cell carcinomas, lung adenocarcinoma, and breast adenocarcinoma. Through these analyses, she aims to identify key molecular and cellular determinants of therapeutic response and resistance. Dayoung is also involved in several collaborative projects, including spatial transcriptomic analysis of zebrafish patient-derived xenograft models and the identification of novel genetic variants associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Jayoung serves as the lab administrator at the Sa Lab, overseeing all aspects of grant management, including budget tracking, expenditure approvals, and financial reporting. She is responsible for processing all grant and research-associated documents. In addition, she manages day-to-day administrative operations, helping to keep the lab running efficiently and supporting both research and personnel needs.

Shinhee is currently a fourth-year undergraduate student in the Department of Convergence Biotechnology at Kookmin University. Her previous research involved the identification of prognostic and therapeutic biomarkers in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) through single-cell analysis. She is currently focused on establishing integrative cancer genomics pipelines to investigate transcriptomic changes between primary and recurrent glioblastoma (GBM), aiming to explore molecular mechanisms underlying tumor evolution and recurrence.

Sooyi is currently a fourth-year undergraduate student in the Department of Biology at Kyung Hee University. Her research interests focus on understanding the impact of genomic alterations associated with breast cancer recurrence through the integration of multi-layered molecular data. She is particularly interested in investigating the clinical relevance of these alterations as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets to inform improved treatment strategies.

Shinwoo is currently a fourth-year undergraduate student in the Department of Integrative Bioscience and Biotechnology at Sejong University. Her current research focuses on establishing an RNA-seq pipeline to compare gene expression profiles between patient-derived primary and recurrent glioblastoma (GBM) tumor cells, with the goal of identifying distinct transcriptional states and functional pathways associated with tumor recurrence.

Siyeon earned her bachelor's degree in Food Science & Technology and Life Sciences from Kyungpook National University and her master's degree in Biomedical Informatics from Hanyang University. During her master's training, she used exome sequencing to identify novel genetic variants associated with retinitis pigmentosa. Her current research focuses on characterizing the molecular mechanisms that drive glioblastoma recurrence.