Keynote Speaker

Prof. Cho serves as a KAIST Endowed Chair Professor and Vice President of the Office of Research Affairs at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). Prior to joining KAIST, he worked as a project scientist in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of California San Diego, USA. He earned his Ph.D. from Seoul National University, Korea, specializing in molecular biotechnology and biomaterials. His research focuses on systems and synthetic biology, with his group making significant contributions to understanding microbial transcriptional and translational regulatory networks through high-throughput technologies. Current research initiatives include engineering microorganisms using information-rich datasets and synthetic biology tools for four main applications: developing C1 biorefinery systems using acetogens, constructing minimal genome E. coli chassis platform, discovering secondary metabolites from Streptomycetes, and designing therapeutic microbes. As of June 2025, his scientific contributions include 230 published articles and 20 registered patents. His achievements have been recognized through several prestigious appointments, including KAIST Endowed Chair Professor (2021), World Top 2% Scientist by Elsevier (2024), and young scientist by both the World Economic Forum (2012) and the Korea Academy of Science and Technology (2013).