PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Heungkyu Lee

Also known as Heung Kyu Lee, 이흥규

Heungkyu Lee is a tumor immunologist at KAIST and an adjunct professor in its College of AI, with research areas in computational immuno-oncology and AI-driven immunomodulator design. He earned a B.E. from Dongguk University in 1995, an M.S. from Yonsei University in 1998 and a Ph.D. from Yale University in 2009, and joined KAIST in Daejeon as an assistant professor in 2009. He became an associate professor in 2016 and a professor in 2022, and his team's mouse studies of glioblastoma immunotherapy showed in 2024 that deleting the receptor FcγRIIB improved survival and found in 2025 that tryptophan and the gut bacterium Duncaniella dubosii strengthened anti-PD-1 therapy. In 2026, the team reported that B-cell responses in neck lymph nodes drive the effect of anti-CTLA-4 therapy and that a vitamin A metabolite protects CD8 T cells from exhaustion. As of October 2026, he leads the Lab of Host Defenses in KAIST's Department of Biological Sciences.

Now at
KAIST

Timeline

  1. 1995–2009

    Degrees from Dongguk to Yale

    He earns a B.E. from Dongguk University in 1995 and an M.S. from Yonsei University in 1998. He completes a Ph.D. at Yale University in 2009.

  2. 2009–2022

    Assistant, then associate professor

    In 2009, he joins KAIST in Daejeon as an assistant professor. He becomes an associate professor there in 2016.

  3. Since 2022

    Professor of biological sciences

    He becomes a professor at KAIST in 2022 and serves as principal investigator of the Lab of Host Defenses in the Department of Biological Sciences.

  4. 2024

    FcγRIIB and glioblastoma immunotherapy

    In 2024, his team, working with the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, shows that removing the inhibitory Fc gamma receptor FcγRIIB restores cytotoxic T cells' response to checkpoint inhibitors and improves survival in a glioblastoma mouse model. The study appears in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer.

  5. 2025

    Gut microbes and brain tumors

    A 2025 study from his team in Cell Reports shows that restoring gut microbial diversity with the amino acid tryptophan helps CD8 T cells reach tumors in a glioblastoma mouse model. The gut bacterium Duncaniella dubosii improves survival when combined with anti-PD-1 immunotherapy.

  6. July 2026

    B cells and anti-CTLA-4 therapy

    In July 2026, his team reports in Science Immunology that anti-CTLA-4 therapy depends on B cells and on antibody responses that arise in the deep cervical lymph nodes of the neck in mouse glioma models. He is the corresponding author of the paper.

  7. September 2026

    Vitamin A and exhausted T cells

    KAIST announces in September 2026 that his team, with Seoul St. Mary's Hospital and Konyang University College of Medicine, found that the vitamin A metabolite all-trans retinoic acid suppresses terminal exhaustion of CD8 T cells in brain tumors. Combined with anti-PD-1 therapy, it improves tumor suppression and survival in a model of recurrent brain tumors, and the work appears in Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy.

  8. As of October 2026

    Adjunct professor, College of AI

    As of October 2026, he is a professor in KAIST's Department of Biological Sciences and an adjunct professor in its College of AI. His research areas there are tumor immunology, computational immuno-oncology and AI-driven immunomodulator design, with healthcare and bio-AI as the application area and data-centric AI and foundation models as core AI competencies.

Career

  1. Since 2009KAISTAssistant Professor, Associate Professor

Education

  1. 2009Yale UniversityPh.D.
  2. 1998Yonsei UniversityM.S.
  3. 1995Dongguk UniversityB.E.

From the biography.

  1. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes KAIST. We estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes KAIST. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes KAIST. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  4. 44% of AI career moves go from one university to anotherIncludes KAIST. We estimate how 26,439 AI career moves link universities, companies, labs, nonprofits and government research centers, with decade counts, net flows and the top paths.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Heungkyu Lee yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Heung Kyu Lee - Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology pure.kaist.ac.kr. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Lab members | Lab of Host Defenses heungkyulee.kaist.ac.kr. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. KAIST Unveils New Possibilities for Treating Intractable Brain Tumors kaist.ac.kr. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. KAIST Enhances Immunotherapy for Difficult-to-Treat Brain Tumors with Gut Microbiota news.kaist.ac.kr. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. KAIST Uncovers the “Hidden Key” to Immunotherapy for Intractable Brain Tumors news.kaist.ac.kr. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. KAIST study opens a new avenue for treating intractable brain tumors news-medical.net. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Key to Fighting Brain Tumors Lives in the Neck - Neuroscience News neurosciencenews.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Vitamin A Derivative Preserves T Cells’ Function as KAIST Points to a New Strategy for Treating Intractable Brain Tumors news.kaist.ac.kr. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. Faculty | AX aicollege.kaist.ac.kr. Checked 21 October 2026.