DR. J. SOOK CHUNG JOINS UMBI AS AN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

Baltimore MD.- J. Sook Chung, Ph.D., has joined the Center of Marine Biotechnology as an Assistant Professor. The addition of Dr. Chung and her expertise in crustacean molting and metabolic hormones complements the endocrine, reproductive, and physiological projects currently available within COMB’s Blue Crab Research Program.

Dr. Chung received her doctorate in 1991 from Texas A&M University for work on the diuretic neurohormone of the tobacco budworm. Subsequent research in insects involved the development of assays to characterize the activity of the myotropic/diuretic insect kinin neuropeptide family. In 1994, she changed her research focus to the neuropeptides and hormones that regulate vital life processes in crabs. Her most recent work focuses on hormonal control of the molting process in crabs. Her 1999 paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences was the first conclusive demonstration of the neurohormonal regulation of the crab (arthropod) molting process through a coordinated brain-gut axis.

Using advanced molecular biology and biochemical techniques, Dr. Chung has studied a variety of crustacean hormones including molt-inhibiting hormone, crustacean hyperglycemic hormone, and cardioactive peptide. Her exciting addition to the COMB faculty provides our blue crab research team with a broader range of technical skills and knowledge to study the interconnected processes of molting, growth and reproduction.

Prior to Dr. Chung’s appointment to the faculty at COMB, she was a Research Scientist (2000-2004) and a Post-Doctoral Researcher (1997-2000) at the School of Biological Science, University of Wales-Bangor in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Chung, an internationally recognized scientist, is a frequent speaker and contributor at the conference of comparative neuroendocrinology and a current member of the Society for Experimental Biology, the European Society for Comparative Endocrinology, and the Society for Endocrinology (UK).

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