Lab Members

Dohoon Kim, Ph.D - Principle Investigator

Associate Professor, Department of Molecular, Cell and Cancer Biology
Co-Leader, Cancer Cell Biology Program
Fellow, Suh Kyungbae Foundation (SUHF)

Do obtained his B.S. and M.S. in Biology in the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and his Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology at Harvard University in the lab of Li-Huei Tsai. He carried out his postdoctoral research with David Sabatini at the Whitehead Institute at MIT, where he was supported by a fellowship from the American Brain Tumor Association. He joined UMass Chan Medical School in November 2015. Do’s hobbies outside of lab include playing (crummy) guitar, basketball, video games, and Sci-Fi movies.

Valerie Bausemer - Research Associate

Valerie earned her Bachelor’s from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in Biology in 2020. During the COVID pandemic she worked at the Broad Institute as part of their COVID testing team. She spent a year in Dr. Michael Green’s lab at UMass Medical. In 2023 she joined the Kim lab. Outside of the lab, Valerie enjoys crafting, knitting, and playing video games. She studies the crosstalk between toxic metabolite pathways and oncogenic signaling pathways.

Brennon Berard – Graduate Student

Brennon completed his BA/MA at Boston University in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. He grew up in Londonderry, NH and enjoys camping, fishing, hiking and trying new craft beer. His projects relate to novel toxic metabolite pathway identification and in elucidating the multifaceted role of toxic metabolites within the tumor microenvironment. 

Mihir Doshi, Ph.D - Postdoctoral Associate

Mihir earned his master’s degree in Biotechnology from the Northeastern University in 2014. He interned at a biopharmaceutical company in Boston for a year and subsequently worked as a research technician at DFCI for three years. He joined the Kim lab to pursue his Ph.D studies in 2018 and is interested in studying the differences in metabolic activities between different cancers and how this impacts resistance to chemotherapy. In his spare time, Mihir enjoys hiking, traveling and board games (current favorite game: 7 Wonders). Upon defending his thesis in Oct 2023, Mihir leads efforts to develop lead compounds targeting detoxifying enzymes as novel cancer therapeutics against chemoresistant cancers.

Namgyu Lee, Ph.D - Assistant Professor at Dankook University and Visiting Member

Namgyu joined Kim lab after finishing her Ph.D research on elucidating roles of SIRT6 and VRK1 in hepatocellular carcinoma in POSTECH, South Korea. Since joining the lab she has been investigating the underlying mechanisms of metabolite toxicity using genome scale CRISPR pooled screening methods, and the role of selenium metabolism in cancer and beyond. Outside of the lab, she enjoys traveling, jogging and hiking. Namgyu began a faculty position in Dankook University in Korea in Sep 2023 but also visits and works with us during the year on collaborative projects.

Minoh Lim – Research Associate

Minoh grew up in South Korea and conducted her bachelor studies in Marine Biology  at Chonnam National University, investigating environmental toxicological factors in marine organisms. She joined the Kim lab in 2023. Outside of the lab, she enjoys listening to music and going for walks. She investigates the interaction of toxic metabolites with biological processes as mechanisms of toxicity.