Soon Mi Lim
Instructional Associate Professor
My research career started from studying ozone-depleting molecules at ultra-high vacuum conditions and tried to understand the mechanism in ozone depletion. Furthermore I applied physical chemistry to understand interfacial properties of lipids, proteins and adjacent water molecules using Vibrational Sum Frequency Spectroscopy. Studying cell components (lipids, proteins, and DNA) motivated me to look into medical research, in which I investigated cells from blood vessels and tried to understand cardiovascular diseases. More specifically I investigated redistribution of structural and adhesion proteins in live vascular cells with fluorescence microscopes (TIRF and confocal) and atomic force microscope (AFM), and observed vascular cells change their structure and adhesion properties to adapt to changes in mechanical environment.
I am currently teaching Quantitative Analysis and coordinating lab classes. I enjoy serving community in outreach activities. I have participated in NSF-funded outreach program of "Saturday Morning Biophysics - Image life" with Dr. Andreea Trache at Texas A&M Health Science Center since 2008. I also enjoy helping Chemistry department by serving in the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and at our well-known Chemistry Open House.
Ph.D., Texas A&M University, 2006