Former students of Dr. Yedvobnick have honored him with this endowed award because he had an outstanding impact on his undergraduate research mentees. The award supports the summer stipend of an Emory undergraduate researcher which allows them to continue their biology-related research. Each awardee has the potential to make outstanding contributions to scientific research going forward. This year’s awardee is Junsung Nam.
Junsung is a fourth-year undergraduate student majoring in Biology at Emory University. Since 2023, he has been conducting brain organoid research in the lab of Dr. Fikri Birey in the Department of Human Genetics. In high school, he realized that one of the most fascinating properties of living systems is emergence. He became deeply drawn to systemic approaches in biology – particularly building models to explain complex biological phenomena. This interest led him to pursue organoid research to develop more accurate human genetic models. His current research focuses on investigating the disease mechanism of Prader-Willi Syndrome (PSW) using organoid and assembloid genetic models. Over the past year, he has dedicated himself to modifying the hypothalamic organoid recipe to suit the lab’s general organoid protocols and to exploring how the expression of genetic markers changes in response to specific developmental signals. He is now advancing to the next phase, comparing the transcriptional and translational landscapes of PWS patients to enhance understanding of PWS-specific molecular markers. His dream is to become a physician-scientist and develop new therapeutic platforms for those suffering from disease.