About

Sung Soo Kim is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at UC Santa Barbara. His research interests include molecular, cellular, and developmental biology, with a focus on neuroscience. He is involved in advancing understanding in these fields through his academic and research activities at UCSB. For further contact, his office is located at 2141 Biology II, and he can be reached via email at sungsoo@lifesci.ucsb.edu or by phone at 805.893.5103.

Research topics

• Biophysics
• Biology
• Physics
• Materials science
• Chemistry
• Classical mechanics
• Cell biology
• Anatomy
• Neuroscience
• Mechanics
• Nanotechnology
• Genetics

Selected publications

• Visomitin as a differentiation-inducing therapeutic agent through SYK inhibition in AML

  Frontiers in Pharmacology · 2026-02-24

  articleOpen access

  Background Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an aggressive hematological malignancy characterized by the rapid proliferation of immature myeloblasts and resistance to apoptosis. Overcoming the differentiation block and apoptotic resistance remains a major challenge in AML therapy. Visomitin, a mitochondria-targeted antioxidant, has shown protective effects in other contexts, but its potential in AML has not been explored. Methods We examined the effects of Visomitin on AML cell differentiation and apoptosis using flowcytometry, including CD11b, CD14 staining and ROS measurement. Western blot analysis of Bcl-2 family proteins and p21/p16/Rb axis. Potential underlying mechanisms were explored through SYK activation. Additionally, primary AML patient samples were tested to assess translational relevance, and in vivo efficacy was evaluated in a xenograft mouse model. Results Treatment with Visomitin promoted differentiation of AML cells, as indicated by increased CD14 expression, and induced apoptosis by downregulating anti-apoptotic proteins (Mcl-1, Bcl-XL) while upregulating pro-apoptotic factors (Bak, Bax). Mechanistic studies suggested that Visomitin-induced ROS accumulation enhances AML differentiation and apoptosis. Notably, Visomitin selectively increased ROS in AML cells while reducing ROS levels in normal myeloid cells. Pharmacological and genetic rescue experiments further imply that Visomitin’s anti-AML effects are mediated by ROS-dependent inhibition of SYK. In vivo , Visomitin suppressed tumor growth and elevated ROS within tumors. Furthermore, ex vivo treatment of primary AML cells reduced proliferation, highlighting potential clinical applicability. Conclusion These findings suggest that Visomitin exerts potent anti-leukemic effects by simultaneously promoting differentiation and apoptosis through ROS-mediated SYK inhibition. The selective activity against malignant cells and favorable in vivo efficacy suggest that Visomitin is a potential therapeutic agent for AML.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Material-like robotic collectives with spatiotemporal control of strength and shape

  Science · 2025-02-20 · 18 citations

  articleOpen access

  The vision of robotic materials-cohesive collectives of robotic units that can arrange into virtually any form with any physical properties-has long intrigued both science and fiction. Yet, this vision requires a fundamental physical challenge to be overcome: The collective must be strong, to support loads, yet flow, to take new forms. We achieve this in a material-like robotic collective by modulating the interunit tangential forces to control topological rearrangements of units within a tightly packed structure. This allows local control of rigidity transitions between solid and fluid-like states in the collective and enables spatiotemporal control of shape and strength. We demonstrate structure-forming and healing and show the collective supporting 700 newtons (500 times the weight of a robot) before "melting" under its own weight.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The physical roles of different posterior tissues in zebrafish axis elongation

  Nature Communications · 2025-02-21 · 7 citations

  articleOpen access

  Shaping embryonic tissues requires spatiotemporal changes in genetic and signaling activity as well as in tissue mechanics. Studies linking specific molecular perturbations to changes in the tissue physical state remain sparse. Here we study how specific genetic perturbations affecting different posterior tissues during zebrafish body axis elongation change their physical state, the resulting large-scale tissue flows, and posterior elongation. Using a custom analysis software to reveal spatiotemporal variations in tissue fluidity, we show that dorsal tissues are most fluid at the posterior end, rigidify anterior of this region, and become more fluid again yet further anteriorly. In the absence of notochord (noto mutants) or when the presomitic mesoderm is substantially reduced (tbx16 mutants), dorsal tissues elongate normally. Perturbations of posterior-directed morphogenetic flows in dorsal tissues (vangl2 mutants) strongly affect the speed of elongation, highlighting the essential role of dorsal cell flows in delivering the necessary material to elongate the axis.

  PublisherDOI

• Physical interpretation of entropy, Boltzmann constant, and temperature

  Scientific Reports · 2024-07-31 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  Through the previously reported the quantum-identity, the light-model, and the T(temperature) $$\cdot$$ S(entropy) energy, the implied meaning of temperature and entropy, respectively, which it was difficult to intuitively recognize, was clearly defined. In order to minimize possible errors at this time, the interrelationship of the SI base unit, which is the smallest unit, and the T(temperature) $$\cdot$$ S(entropy) unit integration was used. In the process of converting to Planck units, each unit (criterion) for entropy and temperature was calculated, and their physical and chemical meanings were compared and reinterpreted. Thus, the unit of entropy is related to the Boltzmann constant, and the temperature is the oscillation of pure mass units. Therefore, the intuitive recognition of physical and chemical factors based on the unit of meter(m)-time(s) is considered sufficient as an initiator to move closer to new science beyond the current limited application.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A nuclear jamming transition in vertebrate organogenesis

  Nature Materials · 2024-08-12 · 29 citations

  articleOpen access1st author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Proliferation-driven mechanical compression induces signalling centre formation during mammalian organ development

  Nature Cell Biology · 2024-04-01 · 48 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Influence of Design Parameters on Natural Convection Heat Transfer in Additively Manufactured Bcc Lattice Structures

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Exceptionally Dense and Resilient Polydisperse Disk Packings

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2024-02-13

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Understanding the way disordered particle packings transition between jammed (rigid) and unjammed (fluid) states is of both great practical importance and strong fundamental interest. The values of critical packing fraction (and other state variables) at the jamming transition are protocol dependent. Here, we demonstrate that this variability can be systematically traced to structural measures of packing, as well as to energy measures inside the jamming regime. A novel generalized simultaneous particle swap algorithm constructs overjammed states of desired energy, which upon decompression lead to predictable critical packing fractions. Thus, for a given set of particle sizes, states with extraordinarily high critical packing fractions can be found efficiently, which sustain substantial shear strain and preserve their special structure over the entire jammed domain. The close relation revealed here between the energy landscape of overjammed soft-particle packings and the behavior near the jamming transition points towards new ways of understanding and constructing disordered materials with exceptional properties.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Exceptionally dense and resilient critically jammed polydisperse disk packings

  Soft Matter · 2024-01-01 · 8 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Understanding the way disordered particle packings transition between jammed (rigid) and unjammed (fluid) states is of both great practical importance and strong fundamental interest. The values of critical packing fraction (and other state variables) at the jamming transition are protocol dependent. Here, we demonstrate that this variability can be systematically traced to structural measures of packing, as well as to energy measures inside the jammed regime. A novel generalized simultaneous particle swap algorithm constructs overjammed states of desired energy, which upon decompression lead to predictable critical packing fractions. Thus, for a given set of particle sizes, states with extraordinarily high critical packing fractions can be found efficiently, which sustain substantial shear strain and preserve their special structure over the entire jammed domain. The close relation revealed here between the energy landscape of overjammed soft-particle packings and the behavior near the jamming transition points towards new ways of understanding and constructing disordered materials with exceptional properties.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• In situ quantification of osmotic pressure within living embryonic tissues

  Nature Communications · 2023-11-02 · 44 citations

  articleOpen access

  Mechanics is known to play a fundamental role in many cellular and developmental processes. Beyond active forces and material properties, osmotic pressure is believed to control essential cell and tissue characteristics. However, it remains very challenging to perform in situ and in vivo measurements of osmotic pressure. Here we introduce double emulsion droplet sensors that enable local measurements of osmotic pressure intra- and extra-cellularly within 3D multicellular systems, including living tissues. After generating and calibrating the sensors, we measure the osmotic pressure in blastomeres of early zebrafish embryos as well as in the interstitial fluid between the cells of the blastula by monitoring the size of droplets previously inserted in the embryo. Our results show a balance between intracellular and interstitial osmotic pressures, with values of approximately 0.7 MPa, but a large pressure imbalance between the inside and outside of the embryo. The ability to measure osmotic pressure in 3D multicellular systems, including developing embryos and organoids, will help improve our understanding of its role in fundamental biological processes.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Otger Campàs

  Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics

  20 shared

• Sascha Hilgenfeldt

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  19 shared

• Georgina A. Stooke‐Vaughan

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  7 shared

• Payam Rowghanian

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  6 shared

• Marie Pochitaloff

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  6 shared

• Samhita P. Banavar

  Princeton University

  5 shared

• Emmet K. Carn

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  5 shared

• Koichi Kato

  Institute for Molecular Science

  4 shared

Labs

• Sung Soo Kim LabPI

  Not provided