Biography

Paul H. Kim, Ph.D.

Bioengineer and cell biologist

Paul H. Kim is a bioengineer and cell biologist and a Researcher in Biosecurity and Bioassurance at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California, where he leads and executes a Laboratory Directed Research and Development program spanning wet-lab experiments, sequencing, proteomics and software. His work there moves into synthetic biology, bioinformatics and machine learning.

Before Sandia, he spent a decade (2015 – 2025) in the Fong and Young laboratories at the University of California, Los Angeles, studying how the nuclear lamina fails in aging and in Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome. He earned his Ph.D. in Bioengineering at UCLA in 2024 with a dissertation on the mechanisms of vascular disease in progeria. As first author, he showed that disrupting the LINC complex protects aortic smooth muscle cells in progeria mice (Science Translational Medicine, 2018), that repeated nuclear membrane ruptures underlie the vascular disease (JCI Insight, 2021), that progerin forms an abnormal meshwork that disrupts the nuclear lamina (PNAS, 2024), and that the slow accumulation of progerin drives the loss of aortic smooth muscle cells (Cell Death & Disease, 2025).

He also builds open software for bench biologists, from browser tools for everyday calculations and gel analysis to desktop apps for nuclear lamina imaging, IHC quantification and mass spectrometry. See his software and plain-language summaries of his papers.

Google Scholar ↗ORCID 0000-0002-8429-651X ↗LinkedIn ↗GitHub ↗

Education

• 2024Ph.D., Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles
  Dissertation: Underlying Mechanisms of Vascular Disease in Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (advisors Loren G. Fong and Stephen G. Young)
• 2022M.S., Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles
• 2011 – 2013M.S., Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania
• 2009B.S., Biology, College of William & Mary

Positions

• 2025 – presentResearcher, Biosecurity and Bioassurance
  Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA
• 2024 – 2025Project Scientist
  Department of Medicine (Cardiology), UCLA (Fong and Young laboratories)
• 2019 – 2024Graduate Student Researcher
  Department of Bioengineering, UCLA (Fong and Young laboratories)
• 2015 – 2019Senior Research Associate III
  Department of Medicine (Cardiology), UCLA (Fong and Young laboratories)
• 2010 – 2015Research Technologist II and Laboratory Safety Supervisor
  DuPont / Nemours–Alfred I. duPont research campus, Wilmington, DE (Yoo laboratory)
• 2009 – 2010Research Assistant
  College of William & Mary (Forsyth laboratory)

Interviews

• “First person – Paul H. Kim”, Journal of Cell Science, October 2026. First Person interview about the co-first-author paper “Lamin B1 coordinates the assembly of the nuclear lamina.”

Research funding and fellowships

• Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program, Sandia National Laboratories / U.S. Department of Energy, 2025 – present.
• NIH T32 Vascular Biology Training Fellowship, UCLA, 2022 – 2024.
• Research fellowship, Turing (AI research platform access), 2026.

Technical expertise

• Nuclear and cell biology: super-resolution microscopy (STED, STORM), confocal, FRAP, electron and atomic force microscopy; live-cell rupture reporters; cell stretching; 500+ engineered cell lines (CRISPR/Cas9, viral vectors, FACS); primary, patient-derived and iPSC-derived cells and organoids.
• Mouse genetics and in vivo studies: progeria (Lmna G609G, Zmpste24), lamin-deficient, LINC-disruption and lipid-metabolism models; quantitative IHC, RNAscope and laser-capture microdissection.
• Genomics and screening: bulk and single-cell RNA-seq from library preparation to analysis; pooled CRISPR screens; a 200,000-compound high-content screen; LC-MS/MS proteomics; cell-free expression and CRISPR-based biosensors.
• Computation: Python (Scanpy, PyDESeq2, scikit-image, scikit-learn, FastAPI), R, image-analysis pipelines and AI-assisted software development.

Publications

Paul H. Kim’s name is in bold; first-author papers are marked. * co-first authors. Complete record on Google Scholar.

23. Paul H Kim; Megan A McSweeney; Joshua T Hong; Hannah Chan; Michael C Jewett; Yooli K Light; Kelly P Williams; Joseph S Schoeniger. Sense-to-sense changes in bacterial genetic codes. Nucleic Acids Research. In review.First author · in review
22. Joonyoung R Kim*; Paul H Kim*; Yiping Tu; James Carroll; Jenna P Koerner; Stephen G Young; Loren G Fong. Lamin B1 coordinates the assembly of the nuclear lamina. Journal of Cell Science. 2026;139(19):jcs265156.Co-first author Plain-language summary →
21. Paul H Kim; Joonyoung R Kim; Patrick J Heizer; Hyesoo Jung; Yiping Tu; Ashley Presnell; Julia Scheithauer; Rachel G Yu; Stephen G Young; Loren G Fong. The accumulation of progerin underlies the loss of aortic smooth muscle cells in Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome. Cell Death & Disease. 2025;16(1):557.First author Plain-language summary →
20. Christian Park; Kyung In Baek; Ruei-Chun Hung; Leandro Choi; Kiyoung Jeong; Paul Kim; Andrew Keunho Jahng; Jung Hyun Kim; Yerin Kim; Mostafa Meselhe; Ashwin Kannan; Chien-Ling Chou; Dong Won Kang; Eun Ju Song; Jay Aaron Bowman-Kirigin; Michael David Clark; Sander W van der Laan; Gerard Pasterkamp; Nicolas Villa-Roel; Alyssa Panitch; Hanjoong Jo. Disturbed flow induces reprogramming of endothelial cells to immune-like and foam cells under hypercholesterolaemia during atherogenesis. Cardiovascular Research. 2025;121(17):2679-2699.
19. Wenxin Song; Madison Hung; Ellen Kozlov; Megan Hung; Anh P Tran; James Carroll; Le Phoung Nguyen; Troy L Lowe; Paul Kim; Hyesoo Jung; Yiping Tu; Joonyoung Kim; Ashley M Presnell; Julia Scheithauer; Jenna P Koerner; Ye Yang; Shino D Magaki; Christopher K Williams; Michael Ploug; Haibo Jiang; Christer Betsholtz; Maarja Andaloussi Mäe; Liqun He; Anne P Beigneux; Loren G Fong; Stephen G Young. GPIHBP1, lipoprotein lipase, and triglyceride-rich lipoproteins in capillaries of the choroid plexus and circumventricular organs. The Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2025;135(19).
18. Paul H Kim; Joonyoung R Kim; Yiping Tu; Hyesoo Jung; JY Brian Jeong; Anh P Tran; Ashley Presnell; Stephen G Young; Loren G Fong. Progerin forms an abnormal meshwork and has a dominant-negative effect on the nuclear lamina. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2024;121(27):e2406946121.First author Plain-language summary →
17. Wenxin Song; Ye Yang; Anh P Tran; Thomas A Weston; Hyesoo Jung; Yiping Tu; Paul H Kim; Joonyoung R Kim; Katherine Xie; Rachel G Yu; Julia Scheithauer; Ashley M Presnell; Michael Ploug; Gabriel Birrane; Hannah Arnold; Katarzyna Koltowska; Maarja A Mäe; Christer Betsholtz; Liqun He; Jeffrey L Goodwin; Anne P Beigneux; Loren G Fong; Stephen G Young. Distinct strategies for intravascular triglyceride metabolism in hearts of mammals and lower vertebrate species. JCI Insight. 2024;9(20):e184940.
16. Paul Kim. Underlying Mechanisms of Vascular Disease in Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome. Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 2024.First author
15. Ye Yang; Anne P Beigneux; Wenxin Song; Le Phuong Nguyen; Hyesoo Jung; Yiping Tu; Thomas A Weston; Caitlyn M Tran; Katherine Xie; Rachel G Yu; Anh P Tran; Kazuya Miyashita; Katsuyuki Nakajima; Masami Murakami; Yan Q Chen; Eugene Y Zhen; Joonyoung R Kim; Paul H Kim; Gabriel Birrane; Peter Tontonoz; Michael Ploug; Robert J Konrad; Loren G Fong; Stephen G Young. Hypertriglyceridemia in Apoa5-/- mice results from reduced amounts of lipoprotein lipase in the capillary lumen. The Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2023;133(23).
14. Joonyoung R Kim; Paul H Kim; Ashley Presnell; Yiping Tu; Stephen G Young. Revisiting the truncated lamin A produced by a commonly used strain of Lmna knockout mice. Nucleus. 2023;14(1):2262308.
13. Paul H Kim; Natalie Y Chen; Patrick J Heizer; Yiping Tu; Thomas A Weston; Jared LC Fong; Navjot Kaur Gill; Amy C Rowat; Stephen G Young; Loren G Fong. Nuclear membrane ruptures underlie the vascular pathology in a mouse model of Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome. JCI Insight. 2021;6(16):e151515.First author Plain-language summary →
12. Natalie Y Chen; Paul H Kim; Yiping Tu; Ye Yang; Patrick J Heizer; Stephen G Young; Loren G Fong. Increased expression of LAP2β eliminates nuclear membrane ruptures in nuclear lamin-deficient neurons and fibroblasts. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2021;118(25):e2107770118.
11. Cuiwen He; Haibo Jiang; Wenxin Song; Howard Riezman; Peter Tontonoz; Thomas A Weston; Paul Guagliardo; Paul H Kim; Rachel Jung; Patrick Heizer; Loren G Fong; Stephen G Young. Cultured macrophages transfer surplus cholesterol into adjacent cells in the absence of serum or high-density lipoproteins. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2020;117(19):10476-10483.
10. Natalie Y Chen; Paul H Kim; Loren G Fong; Stephen G Young. Nuclear membrane ruptures, cell death, and tissue damage in the setting of nuclear lamin deficiencies. Nucleus. 2020;11(1):237-249.
9. Patrick J Heizer; Ye Yang; Yiping Tu; Paul H Kim; Natalie Y Chen; Yan Hu; Yuko Yoshinaga; Pieter J De Jong; Laurent Vergnes; Jazmin E Morales; Robert L Li; Nicholas Jackson; Karen Reue; Stephen G Young; Loren G Fong. Deficiency in ZMPSTE24 and resulting farnesyl-prelamin A accumulation only modestly affect mouse adipose tissue stores. Journal of Lipid Research. 2020;61(3):413-421.
8. Lindsay DeVorkin; Nils Pavey; Gillian Carleton; Alexandra Comber; Cally Ho; Junghyun Lim; Erin McNamara; Haochu Huang; Paul Kim; Lauren G Zacharias; Noboru Mizushima; Tatsuya Saitoh; Shizuo Akira; Wayne Beckham; Alireza Lorzadeh; Michelle Moksa; Qi Cao; Aditya Murthy; Martin Hirst; Ralph J DeBerardinis; Julian J Lum. Autophagy regulation of metabolism is required for CD8+ T cell anti-tumor immunity. Cell Reports. 2019;27(2):502-513.e5.
7. Natalie Y Chen; Ye Yang; Thomas A Weston; Jason N Belling; Patrick Heizer; Yiping Tu; Paul Kim; Lovelyn Edillo; Steven J Jonas; Paul S Weiss; Loren G Fong; Stephen G Young. An absence of lamin B1 in migrating neurons causes nuclear membrane ruptures and cell death. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2019;116(51):25870-25879.
6. Navjot Kaur Gill; Chau Ly; Paul H Kim; Cosmo A Saunders; Loren G Fong; Stephen G Young; GW Gant Luxton; Amy C Rowat. DYT1 dystonia patient-derived fibroblasts have increased deformability and susceptibility to damage by mechanical forces. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology. 2019;7:103.
5. Paul H Kim; Jennings Luu; Patrick Heizer; Yiping Tu; Thomas A Weston; Natalie Chen; Christopher Lim; Robert L Li; Po-Yu Lin; James CY Dunn; Didier Hodzic; Stephen G Young; Loren G Fong. Disrupting the LINC complex in smooth muscle cells reduces aortic disease in a mouse model of Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome. Science Translational Medicine. 2018;10(460):eaat7163.First author Plain-language summary →
4. Natalie Y Chen; Paul Kim; Thomas A Weston; Lovelyn Edillo; Yiping Tu; Loren G Fong; Stephen G Young. Fibroblasts lacking nuclear lamins do not have nuclear blebs or protrusions but nevertheless have frequent nuclear membrane ruptures. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2018;115(40):10100-10105.
3. Cuiwen He; Xuchen Hu; Rachel S Jung; Mikael Larsson; Yiping Tu; Sandra Duarte-Vogel; Paul Kim; Norma P Sandoval; Tara R Price; Christopher M Allan; Brian Raney; Haibo Jiang; André Bensadoun; Rosemary L Walzem; Richard I Kuo; Anne P Beigneux; Loren G Fong; Stephen G Young. Lipoprotein lipase reaches the capillary lumen in chickens despite an apparent absence of GPIHBP1. JCI Insight. 2017;2(20):e96783.
2. Hak Hee Kim; Paul Kim; Monichan Phay; Soonmoon Yoo. Identification of precursor microRNAs within distal axons of sensory neuron. Journal of Neurochemistry. 2015;134(2):193-199.
1. Soonmoon Yoo; Hak H Kim; Paul Kim; Christopher J Donnelly; Ashley L Kalinski; Deepika Vuppalanchi; Michael Park; Seung J Lee; Tanuja T Merianda; Nora I Perrone-Bizzozero; Jeffery L Twiss. A HuD-ZBP1 ribonucleoprotein complex localizes GAP-43 mRNA into axons through its 3' untranslated region AU-rich regulatory element. Journal of Neurochemistry. 2013;126(6):792-804.