Tae Jin Kim
Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine
Korea
Dr. Tae Jin Kim is an immunologist, specializing in the B cell immune responses and the interaction between T and B cells. He obtained his M.D. in Seoul National University (SNU) College of Medicine and Ph.D. in Pathology at SNU. With his interest in immunologic mechanism of autoimmune diseases, he worked as post-doctoral fellow in Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center to study “B cell development and signaling”. Returning to Korea, he became a Professor in Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, teaching “Immunology” and performing immunology research. He is participating in Korean Immunology Society and Korean Experimental Hematology Society as academic committee members. His major interest is the development of innate lymphocytes, which form the earliest adaptive immune system for future immune responses by naïve lymphocytes, and their functions in immune functions and diseases. Especially, he is investigating on the functions of B-1 lymphocytes, natural IgM antibody-secreting cells in the peritoneal cavity. Although B-1 cells are known to function independently of CD4+ T cells, he recently identified the CD4+ T cells for B-1 cells, a novel subset of helper T cells. He is also interested in the regulation of B cell autoimmunity and investigating the autoreactivity of major B cell subsets.