Youngchan Park
Assistant Professor
(Starting August 2025)
Youngchan Park was born and raised in South Korea, pursuing her doctoral degree in the Department of Chemistry at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) under the guidance of Professor Hyunjoon Song. Following her doctoral studies, She joined Professor Peng Chen’s lab at Cornell University for her postdoctoral research, studying bacterial cellular mechanisms, including transcription regulation and electron transfer. In August 2025, Youngchan joined the faculty in the Department of Chemistry at Indiana University.
Her lab's research focuses on elucidating the spatiotemporal dynamics of proteins involved in extracellular electron transfer (EET) mechanisms in electroactive bacteria. This research aims to gain fundamental insights both in vitro and in living bacteria, and to enhance electron transfer efficiency through the integration of nanomaterials, advancing bioenergy applications (e.g., bacterial fuel cells). Projects in her laboratory provide researchers with opportunities to build quantitative skills and gain expertise in optics and microscopy, imaging analysis through computer coding, biophysical and biochemical techniques, as well as general molecular biology in protein systems.