Hyunsuk Shim, PhD
Title: Associate Professor of Radiology
Associate Professor of Winship Cancer Institute
Chair, Pharmacology graduate program faculty membership committee
Division: Radiopharmaceutical Discovery
Focus Area: Development of targeted therapy for Cancer Metastasis and inflammation, Positron Emission Tomography radiotracer development, Monitoring therapeutic response using MRI/MRS, Intraoperative surgical guidance using optical imaging.
Doctorate: Biophysics University of Illinois at Urbana - IL
Other: Post-doctorate - Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins
Post-doctorate - Radiology Department, Johns Hopkins
Current Organization:
American Association for Cancer Research
Radiological Society of North America
Society of Nuclear Medicine
International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
Molecular Systems and Pharmacology Graduate Program Executive Committee
Promotion committee, Department of Radiology
Advisory Committee, Cell Imaging Core of P30 NCI-Designated Cancer Center
Program committee for Tumor Metastasis, American Association for Cancer Research
Career Sketch: Hyunsuk Shim, PhD became a faculty member of Emory University in 2002, when she joined the department of Hematology and Oncology. Hyunsuk Shim, PhD became a faculty member of Emory University in 2002, when she joined the department of Hematology and Oncology. As of August 2008, Dr. Shim moved to the Department of Radiology to apply her wide experience and knowledge in molecular imaging and drug discovery. Her current NIH-funded studies include:
1. R01 CA 109366 (PI: Shim): The long-term outcome that we hope to achieve is the identification of a small molecule that will attenuate tumor metastasis in-vivo while demonstrating a sufficient pharmacokinetic and toxicological profile to merit advancement into human, clinical evaluation. Presently, we have identified a library of small molecules, including MSX-122 which is currently the most advanced, that bind potently to CXCR4 and thus block the CXCR4/SDF-1 signaling process in collaboration with Drs Liotta/Snyder.
2. R21 HL092518 (PI: Shim & Shu): The objective of this project is to determine whether blocking CXCR4/SDF-1 function will prevent radiation-induced pulmonary fibrosis. Lung fibrosis is the dose limiting toxicity of radiation therapy for cancer patients.
3. P50 CA128301 (Project 2 PI: Shim): We have demonstrated that CXCR4 is a required factor for metastatic progression in head and neck cancer. Therefore, we are developing Positron Emission Tomography (PET) tracers to detect CXCR4 expression levels non-invasively in a whole body PET imaging. We plan to do monkey toxicity study of the lead compound soon to file expedited IND (eIND) to FDA to expedite its translation to the clinic. This is in collaboration with Mark Goodman, Dennis Liotta, Carolyn Meltzer, Nabil Saba, and all other ICMIC P50 investigators.
4. R21CA141836 (PI: Olson, Hu, and Shim): During carcinogenesis, tumor-suppressor genes can be silenced by aberrant histone deacetylation. This epigenetic modification has become an important target for tumor therapy. Vorinostat is an orally active, potent inhibitor of HDAC activity, and its phase II evaluation in glioblastoma is scheduled to begin in 2011. Our objective is to establish an important clinical MRS-based tool to predict the therapeutic response at the early stage of vorinostat treatment initiation. This is in collaboration with Jeffrey Olson, Xiaoping Hu, Andrew Miller, Carolyn Meltzer, Donald Harvey, Robert Lyles, and Dan Brat.
5. RC1 AI081273 (PI: Shim and Shu): The goal of this proposal is to evaluate a new drug for its ability to suppress the development of radiation-induced pulmonary fibrosis. Because of better supportive medical care for subjects that have undergone high total body exposure to radiation, such patients are now able to survive the bone marrow and GI toxicities that they might have previously succumbed to. Thus, such patients can now survive these total body exposures and will be more likely to develop other devastating late toxicities such as pulmonary fibrosis. If successful, this drug will be further evaluated in clinical trials to attempt to define its use as a mitigator of radiation-induced pulmonary fibrosis.