Yoonkey Nam, PhD


​Associate Professor
Department of Bio and Brain Engineering
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)

Address:
​291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34141
Office: E16, Room 1007
Phone: +82-042-350-4322
Email: ynam (at) waist.ac.kr

Curriculum Vita (English, Korean) 
Google Scholar (link) Research Gate (link) 
Research Area
  • Neural interface control
  • Neural recording and stimulation technology
  • Surface micro-patterning technology for neurobiology
  • Nano-neurotechnology
  • Neuron-based biosensor technology
  • Neural network dynamics
  • Neuro-Machine interface system
Education
  • Ph. D.     University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Electrical Engineering, 2005    
  • M.S.     University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Electrical Engineering, 2003
  • B.S.     Seoul National University, Electrical Engineering, 1997
POSITIONS
  • 2013 – 2014        Visiting Scholar, Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA
  • 2010 – present   Associate Professor, Dept. of Bio and Brain Engineering, KAIST
  • 2006 - 2010        Assistant Professor, Dept. of Bio and Brain Engineering, KAIST
  • 2005 - 2006       Post Doc., Dept. of Bioengineering, UIUC, USA
  • 2000 - 2005      Research Assistant, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UIUC, USA
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
  • Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering (2010-2012, 2018 - present)
  • Editorial board member, Experimental Neurobiology (2018 - present)
  • Editorial board member, Journal of Biological Engineering Research (2008 - present)
  • Local Organizing Committee member, IEEE EMBC 2017 (2017)
  • Local Organizing Committee member, MicroTAS 2015 (2015)
  • Organizing Committee member, IBEC (International BioEngineering Conference) (2015)
  • Organizing Committee member, ISMM (International Symposium on Microchemistry and Microsystems) (2018)
  • International Scientific Program Committee of MEA Meeting (2016, 2018)
  • Chair of Academic Program Committee (Korea BioChip Society) (2016)
  • Chair of Academic Program Committee (Korean Society for Medical and Biological Engineering) (2010 -2011)
  • Chair of International Relationship Committee (Korean Society for Medical and Biological Engineering) (2017 - 2018)
HONORS & AWARDS
  • 'The Top 100 Technologies and Leaders in 2025 Korea' (2017) by The National Academy of Engineering of Korea
  • Best Paper Award (2014) by The Korean Society of Medical & Biological Engineering (KOSOMBE)
  • Early Career Achievement Award (2013) by The Korea BioChip Society
  • Young Investigator Awards in Biomedical Engineering (2011) by KOSOMBE
  • Excellent Collaboration in Research (2011) by KAIST
  • Outstanding Lecturer (2008) by KAIST
  • Outstanding Lecturer (2008, 2012, 2015, 2016) by Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, KAIST
Selected Publications
  1. H. Kang, GH. Lee, H. Jung, JW Lee, Y. Nam*, "Inkjet-Printed Bio-Functional Thermo-Plasmonic Interfaces for Patterned Neuromodulation", ACS Nano 2018;12(2);1128-38.
  2. H. Kang, JW Lee, Y. Nam*, "Inkjet-printed multi-wavelength thermo-plasmonic images for anti-counterfeiting applications", ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 2018;10(7);6764-71.
  3. J.W. Lee, H. Jung, H.H. Cho, J.H. Lee, Y. Nam*, "Gold nanostar-mediated neural activity control using plasmonic photothermal effects", Biomaterials. 2017 Oct 27.
  4. H. Jung, H. Kang, Y. Nam*, "Digital Micromirror based Near-infrared Illumination System for Plasmonic Photothermal Neuromodulation", Biomedical Optics Express 2017;8(6):2866-78.
  5. H. Kang, J.Y. Kim, Y.K. Choi*, Y. Nam* "Feasibility Study of Extended-gate Type Silicon Nanowire Field-Effect Transistors for Neural Recording", Sensors 2017;17(4):705.
  6. N. Hong, S. Joo, Y. Nam*, "Characterization of axonal spikes in cultured neuronal networks using microelectrode arrays and micro channel devices", IEEE Trans. Biomed Eng 2017 Feb;64(2);492-98.
  7. M. J. Jang, W. R. Kim, S. Joo, J. R. Ryu, E. Lee, Y. Nam*, W. Sun*,"Cell-type dependent effect of surface-patterned microdot arrays on neuronal growth", Front. Neurosci. 2016 May 02; 10:217.
  8. J.R. Ryu, M. J. Jang, Y. Jo, S. Joo, D.H. Lee, B.Y. Lee, Y. Nam*, W. Sun*,"Synaptic compartmentalization by micropatterned masking of a surface adhesive cue in cultured neurons", Biomaterials 2016 March 19; 92:46-56.
  9. Yoo S, Kim R, Park JH*, Nam Y*, “Electro-optical neural platform integrated with nanoplasmonic inhibition interface”, ACS Nano 2016 Mar 09;10(4);4274-81.
  10. Kang K, Park YS, Park M, Jang MJ, Kim SM, Lee J, Choi JY, Jung DH, Chang YT, Yoon MH*, Lee JS*, Nam Y*, and Choi IS*, "Axon-First Neuritogenesis on Vertical Nanowires", Nano Lett. 2016 Jan 13;16(1);675-80.
  11. Joo S, Kim JY, Lee E, Hong M, Sun W*, Y. Nam*. Effects of ECM protein micropatterns on the migration and differentiation of adult neural stem cells. Scientific Reports. 2015 Aug 12;5:13043.
  12. Jang MJ and Nam Y*. NeuroCa: Integrated framework for systematic analysis of spatio-temporal neuronal activity patterns from large-scale optical recording data. Neurophotonics. 2015 Jul;2(3):035003.
  13. Joo J, Liu X, Kotamraju VR, Rouslahti E, Nam Y, and Sailor MJ*. Gated Luminescence Imaging of Silicon Nanoparticles. ACS Nano, 2015 Jun 23;9(6):6233-41.
  14. Joo S, Kang K, Nam Y*. In vitro neurite guidance effects induced by polylysine pin-stripe micropatterns with polylysine background. J Biomed Mater Res:Part A. 2015 Aug;103(8):2731-39.
  15. Jang M.J. and Nam Y*. Agarose-assisted micro-contact printing for high-quality biomolecular micro-patterns. Macromolecular Bioscience, 2015 May;15(5):613-21. [Cover article] 
  16. Kim R, Nam Y*. Electrochemical layer-by-layer approach to fabricate mechanically stable platinum black microelectrodes using a mussel-inspired polydopamine adhesive. J Neural Eng. 2015 Mar 4;12(2):026010.
  17. Lee J.W., Kim D., Yoo S, Lee H, Lee G, Nam Y*. Emerging Neural Stimulation Technologies for Bladder Dysfunctions. Int. Neurourol J 2015;19:3-11.
  18. Kang K, Joo S, Choi JY, Geum S, Hong S, Lee S,Kim YH, Kim S, Yoon M, Nam Y*, Lee K*, Lee H*, Choi IS*. Tissue-based metabolic labeling of polysialic acids in living primary hippocampal neurons. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2015 Jan 20;112(3):E241-8.
  19. Kim. R,  Joo SH, Jung H, Hong N, Nam Y*. Recent trends in microelectrode array technology for in vitro neural interface platform. Biomedical Engineering Letters. 2014 June; 4(2): 129–141.
  20. Yoo S, Hong S, Choi Y, Park JH*, Nam Y*. Photothermal inhibition of neural activity with near-infrared-sensitive transducers. ACS Nano. 2014 Aug 26;8(8):8040-9.
  21. Hong D, Bae K, Yoo S, Kang K, Jang B, Kim J, Kim S, Jeon S, Nam Y, Kim YG, Choi IS*. Generation of cellular micropatterns on a single-layered graphene film. Macromol. Biosci. 2014 Mar;14(3):314-9.
  22. Kang K, Yoon SY, Choi SE, Kim MH, Park M, Nam Y*, Lee JS*, Choi IS*. Cytoskeletal actin dynamics are involved in pitch-dependent neurite outgrowth on bead monolayers. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2014 Jun 10;53(24):6075-9. [Cover article]
  23. Kim WR, Jang MJ, Joo S, Sun W*, Nam Y*. Surface-printed microdot array chips for the quantification of axonal collateral branching of a single neuron in vitro. Lab Chip. 2014 Feb 21;14(4):799-805.
  24. Moon Y, Kim JY, Kim WR, Kim HJ, Jang MJ, Nam Y, Kim K, Kim H, Sun W*. Function of ezrin-radixin-moesin proteins in migration of subventricular zone-derived neuroblasts following traumatic brain injury. Stem Cells. 2013 Aug;31(8):1696-705.
  25. Kim R, Hong N, Nam Y*. Gold nanograin microelectrodes for neuroelectronic interfaces. Biotechnol J. 2013 Feb;8(2):206-14. [Cover article]