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Suckjoon Jun

Research

We delve into the realm of quantitative microbial physiology, examining model organisms ranging from minimal cells to all three domains of life (bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes). A pivotal invention from our lab, the microfluidic mother machine, has revolutionized single-cell physiology studies. Additionally, we pioneered the discovery of the "adder principle" in cell size control, a foundational concept in the field of cell-size control. Presently, we are engrossed in uncovering the principles of precision control and cellular resource allocation across various biological scales. Students and postdocs keen on exploring opportunities within Prof. Jun’s lab are encouraged to reach out directly.

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Select Publications

  • Fangwei Si, Guillaume Le Treut, John T Sauls, Stephen Vadia, Petra Anne Levin, Suckjoon Jun. “Mechanistic origin of cell-size control and homeostasis in bacteria” ( Current Biology, under review)
  • Fabai Wu, Pinaki Swain, Louis Kuijpers, Xuan Zheng, Kevin Felter, Margot Guurink, Jacopo Solari, Suckjoon Jun, Thomas S. Shimizu, Debasish Chaudhuri, Bela Mulder & Cees Dekker. “Cell boundary confinement sets the size and position of the E. coli chromosome”. ( Cell, under review)
  • K. Sekar, R. Ruscon, JT Sauls, T. Fuhrer, E. Noor, J. Nguyen, VI Fernandez, MF Buffing, M. Berney, S. Jun, R. Stocker, U. Sauer. "Synthesis and degradation of FtsZ quantitatively predicts the first cell division in starved bacteria". Mol. Sys. Biol., (2018) 14, e8623
  • Arshad Desai and Suckjoon Jun. Promoting an "Auteur Theory" for Young Scientists: Preserving Excitement and Creativity". BioEssays, 1800147 (2018)
  • Suckjoon Jun, Fangwei Si, Rami Pugatch, Mathew Scott. Fundamental Principles in Bacterial Physiology - History, Recent progress, and the Future with Focus on Cell Size Control: A Review. Reports on Progress in Physics, 81 056601 (2018)
  • Suckjoon Jun and Michael Rust. A fundamental unit of cell size in bacteria. TRENDS in Genetics 33(7), 433-435 (2017)
  • Fangwei Si*, Dongyang Li*, Sarah E. Cox, John T. Sauls, Omid Azizi, Cindy Sou, Amy B. Schwartz, Michael J. Erickstad, Yonggun Jun, Xintian Li, Suckjoon Jun. Invariance of the initiation mass and predictability of cell size in Escherichia coli. Current Biology 27, 1278–1287 (2017)
  • Xin-tian Li, Yonggun Jun, Michael J. Erickstad, Steven D. Brown, Adam Parks, Donald L. Court & Suckjoon Jun. tCRISPRi: tunable and reversible, one-step control of gene expression. Scientific Reports 6, 39076 (2016)
  • John T Sauls, Dongyang Li, Suckjoon Jun Adder and quantitative, phenomenological approach to cell size homeostasis in bacteria. Current Opinion in Cell Biology, 38:38-44 (2016)
  • Steven B. Brown and Suckjoon Jun. Complete Genome Sequence of Escherichia coli NCM3722. Genome Announcements, 3(4):e00879-15 (2015)
  • Sattar Taheri-Araghi, Steven B. Brown, John T. Sauls, Dustin McIntosh, & Suckjoon Jun. Single-cell physiology. Annual Review of Biophysics 44:3.1-3.20 (2015)
  • Suckjoon Jun. Chromosome, cell cycle, and entropy. Biophysical Journal 108, 785-786 (2015)
  • Sattar Taheri-Araghi*, Serena Bradde*, Norbert Hill, Petra A. Levin, Johan Paulsson, Massimo Vergassola*, Suckjoon Jun*. Cell size control and homeostasis in bacteria. Current Biology 25, 385-391 (2015)
  • Suckjoon Jun and Sattar Taheri-Araghi. Cell-size maintenance: universal strategy revealed. TRENDS in Microbiology 23, 4-6 (2015)
  • Ariel Amir, Farinaz Babaeipour, Dustin McIntosh, David R. Nelson & Suckjoon Jun. Bending forces plastically deform growing bacterial cell walls. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA (2014)
  • Brenda Youngren, Henrik J. Nielsen, Suckjoon Jun & Stuart Austin. The multi-fork Escherichia coli chromosome is a self-duplicating and self-segregating thermodynamic ring polymer. Genes & Development. 28, 71-84 (2014)
  • James Pelletier and Suckjoon Jun. Isolation and characterization of bacterial nucleoids in microfluidic devices. The Bacterial Nucleoid. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1624. Humana Press, New York, NY
  • Sattar Taheri & Suckjoon Jun. Single-cell cultivation in microfluidic devices. The Handbook of Hydrocarbon and Lipid Microbiology (Springer, 2016)

Biography

Suckjoon Jun was trained as a theoretical physicist and began his laboratory work as a Bauer Fellow at Harvard University in 2007. It was there that he transitioned to experimental quantitative biology. In 2012, he relocated his lab to UCSD, significantly contributing to the institution's reputation as a leading force in quantitative biology. His accolades include being named an Allen Distinguished Investigator (2013), a Pew Scholar (2013), and a Scialog Fellow (2015). Furthermore, he has been honored with the NSF CAREER award (2013), the Lattimer Award (2019), and the Michael and Kate Bárány Award from the Biophysical Society (2022).

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