Faculty Profile
Jun Hyung Lee
Visiting Assistant Professor
Department of Environmental Biology
Environmental Biology 458 Illick Hall
Research
My primary research focus is advancing forest tree improvement and conservation through cutting-edge biotechnology, grounded in molecular and synthetic biology. Additionally, I am interested in leveraging beneficial microbes to enhance plant productivity and resilience against environmental challenges.
Teaching
- BTC425/EFB625 Plant Biotechnology - Spring
- BTC426/EFB626 Plant Tissue Culture Methods - Fall
Education
- Ph.D. in Forest Genetics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
- M.S. in Plant Science, Seoul National University, Seoul, S.Korea
- B.S. in Plant Science, Seoul National University, Seoul, S.Korea
Recent Publications
Lee, J.H., Piatkowski, B., Carrell, A.A., Pelletier, D.A., Gunter, L., Carter, K., Shaw, A.J., Schmutz, J., Healey, A., Lovell, J., Muchero, W., and Weston, D.J. 2025. Insights from an ancient plant lineage identifies a novel symbiosis pathway conferring host thermotolerance. PNAS (in preparation)
Feyissa, B.A., Lee, J.H., Carper, D., Engle, N.L., Tschaplinski, T.J., Abraham, P.E., Weston, D.J., Muchero, W., DiFazio, S.P., Tuskan, G.A., and Chen, J-G. 2024. Species-specific epigenetic signature associate with heat stress tolerance in a perennial tree species Populus. Global Change Biology Bioenergy (in review)
Yang, X., Rush, T.A., Tannous, J., Del Valle, I., Xiao, S., Maharjan, B., Liu, Y., Weston, D.J., De, K., Tschaplinski, T.J., Lee, J.H., Morgan, M., Jacobson, D., Islam, M.T., Chen, F., Abraham, P.E., Tuskan, G.A., Doktycz, M.J., and Chen, J-G. 2024. Utilizing plant synthetic biology to accelerate plant-microbe interactions research. BioDesign Research
Lee, J.H., Burdick, L.H., Piatkowski, B., Carrell, A.A., Doktycz, M.J., Pelletier, D.A., and Weston, D.J. 2023. A rapid assay for assessing bacterial effects on Arabidopsis thermotolerance. Plant Methods 19:63. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13007-023-01022-0
Yang, Y., Shao, Y., Chaffin, T.A., Lee, J.H., Poindexter, M.R., Ahkami, A.H., Blumwald, E., and Stewart, C.N. Jr. 2022. Performance of abiotic stress-inducible synthetic promoters in genetically engineered hybrid poplar (Populus tremula × Populus alba). Frontiers in Plant Science 13:1011939. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.1011939
Carrell, A.A., Lawrence, T.J., Cabugao, K.G.M., Carper, D.L., Pelletier, D.A., Lee, J.H., Jawdy, S., Grimwood, J., Schmutz, J., Hanson, P.J., Shaw, A.J., Weston, D.J. 2022. Habitat-adapted microbial communities mediate Sphagnum peatmoss resilience to warming. New Phytologist 234: 2111-2125. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18072
(†Co-first) †Yang, Y., †Lee, J.H., Poindexter, M.R., Shao, Y., Piasecki, C., Ahkami, A.H, DiFazio, S.P., Blumwald, E., and Stewart, C.N. Jr. 2021. Rational design and testing of abiotic stress-inducible synthetic promoters from poplar cis-regulatory elements. Plant Biotechnology Journal 19: 1354-1369. https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.13550
Lee, J.H., Mazarei, M., Pfotenhauer, A.C., Dorrough, A.B., Poindexter, M.R., Hewezi, T., Lenaghan, S.C., Graham, D.E., and Stewart, C.N. Jr. 2020. Epigenetic footprints of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing in plants. Frontiers in Plant Science 10: 1720. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2019.01720
Yang, X., Medford, J.I., Markel, K., Shih, P.M., De Paoli, H.C., Trinh, C.T., McCormick, A.J., Ployet, R., Hussey, S.G., Myburg, A.A., Jensen, P.E., Hassan, M.M., Zhang, J., Muchero, W., Kalluri, U.C., Yin, H., Zhuo, R., Abraham, P., Chen, J.G., Weston, D., Yang, Y., Liu, D., Li, Y., Labbe, J., Yang, B., Lee, J.H., Cottingham, R.W., Martin, S., Lu, M., Tschaplinski, T.J., Yuan, G., Lu, H., Ranjan, P., Mitchell, J.C., Wullschleger, S.D., and Tuskan, G.A. 2020. Plant biosystem design research roadmap 1.0. BioDesign Research https://doi.org/10.34133/2020/8051764
Rigoulot, S.B., Schimel, T.M., Lee, J.H., Brabazon, H., Meier, K.A., Schimid, M.J., Seaberry, E.M., Poindexter, M.R., Layton, J.S., Brabazon, J.W., Madajian, J.A., Fianader, M.J., DiBenedetto, J., Occhialini, A., Lenaghan, S.C., and Stewart, C.N. Jr. 2020. Imaging of multiple fluorescent proteins in canopies enables synthetic biology in plants. Plant Biotechnology Journal 19: 830-843. https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.13510
Lee, J.H. and Pijut, P.M. 2018. Optimization of Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation of Fraxinus nigra and development of black ash for possible emerald ash borer resistance. Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture-Journal of Plant Biotechnology 134:217–229. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-018-1414-9
Lee, J.H. and Pijut, P.M. 2017. Adventitious shoot regeneration from in vitro leaf explants of Fraxinus nigra. Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture-Journal of Plant Biotechnology 130:335-343. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-017-1228-1
Lee, J.H. and Pijut, P.M. 2017. Isolation and characterization of a floral homeotic gene in Fraxinus nigra causing earlier flowering and homeotic alterations in transgenic Arabidopsis. Plant Gene 10:17-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plgene.2017.03.003
Lee, J.I., Yu, D.J., Lee, J.H., Kim, S.J., and Lee, H.J. 2013. Comparison of mid-winter cold-hardiness and soluble sugars contents in the shoots of 21 highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) cultivars. The Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology 88:727-734. https://doi.org/10.1080/14620316.2013.11513031
Lee, J.H., Yu, D.J., Kim, S.J., Choi, D., and Lee, H.J. 2012. Intraspecies differences in cold hardiness, carbohydrate content and β-amylase gene expression of Vaccinium corymbosum during cold acclimation and deacclimation. Tree Physiology 32:1533-1540. https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tps102