Kichoon Lee

Research Focus

Enhancing growth rates with larger muscle mass, reduction of subcutaneous fat, and enhanced intramuscular fat will be beneficial to livestock producers and the consumer. My research focuses on discovery of novel factors and understanding their roles in adipose tissue and muscle development. The knowledge gained from these studies will lead to the development of new breeding strategies for selection of superior lines of animals with greater muscle growth and less fat. Additionally, development of new genetic and nutritional approaches to modulate the expression of candidate genes in the adipose or muscle is expected to improve animal production. Our basic understanding through these studies has implications for human obesity and diseases associated with defects in muscle development.

Future Research Focus

My future direction in research will be to continue to study several candidate genes involved in the adipose and muscle development using in vitro and in vivo systems (transgenic animals). In addition, the genes will be further evaluated for application in animal production. Expression of the same gene in humans will be assessed to investigate whether the gene is involved in development of human obesity and muscle wasting diseases or muscle hypotrophy. In the future, I will enthusiastically work with other researchers at OSU to establish a competitive, nationally recognized obesity research team.