Dr. Kim’s research focuses on achieving precision and personalization in gene therapy through innovative and rational optimization of nucleic acid delivery vectors. Accurate and precise delivery of nucleic acids remains a significant challenge to the clinical translation of genetic medicine for inaccessible organs.To overcome this hurdle, we are interested in coupling material science, modular engineering, high-throughput screening, machine learning, and clinical pathology to address disease-specific delivery barriers, such as ocular or neurological complications, as well as patient-specific delivery barriers, such as tumor’s genetic variability. Specifically, we will develop tissue-specific, localized gene therapy system based on nanoparticles that protect and allow transfection of nucleic acids, by facilitating the delivery across tissue-specific barrier, such as internal limiting membrane, cornea, sclera (ocular), blood brain barrier (brain), and mucosa (lungs). Also, we aim to develop and validate a novel personalized, machine learning-based optimization method for gene delivery nanoparticles based on data generated through material characterization, high-throughput transfection screening, and next generation sequencing of individual diseased tissue samples.