Leaves of a field-grown plant showing patchy red anthocyanin accumulation between green islands, a visible stress phenotype.

Plant Molecular Cell Biology

Plant Stress Lab 식물 스트레스 연구실

We study the molecular and cellular mechanisms that let plants sense their environment, defend themselves, and keep growing under stress.

Chonnam National University Gwangju, Korea PI · Hee Jin Park 박희진

7 Research programs
6 Lab members
5 Model systems
CNU Chonnam Natl. University

What we work on

Seven questions, five systems

Seven programs asking how an organism reads its environment and rewrites its own physiology in response.

All research programs

Lab news

Recent activity

  • Hosted high-school students from across Gwangju for lab visits and a science-club session, and filmed the G-LAMP program video. See photos

  • Rice transplanting day with Prof. Jang Kyu-pil’s group, for the long-grain rice project.

  • Young Woong, Jiwon and Gahyeon graduated — the lab’s first cohort of MSc students.

  • Research visit to Beijing, and talks at the Korean Society of Plant Biologists meeting in Gangneung and the plant pathology meeting in Gyeongju.

  • Young Woong Lee won a best poster award at the Korean Society for Plant Biotechnology meeting in Busan. The lab also moved rooms over the summer.

  • PNAS paper published: inverse regulation of SOS1 and HKT1 localization and stability by SOS3/CBL4 in Arabidopsis. See publications

Our approach

The unseen world of plant perception

We explore the intricate molecular and cellular mechanisms that enable plants to sense and respond to their environment.

How do plants recognize signals, process information, and adapt to changing conditions? How do they defend themselves against pathogens, adjust to environmental stresses, and coordinate growth and development?

Through research in plant molecular cell biology, we seek to uncover the hidden intelligence of plants and contribute to a deeper understanding of life itself. Welcome to our lab, where we unravel the unseen world of plant perception, communication, and adaptation.

Hee Jin Park, Principal Investigator of the Plant Stress Lab.

Hee Jin Park 박희진 Principal Investigator
Korea University (BSc, MSc) · Purdue University (PhD)
Gyeongsang National University (Postdoc)

Join us

Curious about plants? Come and ask better questions.

The Park lab welcomes highly motivated biologists who love digging into biological processes in plants — believing that our discoveries offer insight into other organisms too, and that our research can inspire the wider science community.

Prospective students, visiting researchers and collaborators are all welcome to get in touch.

Get in touch

Find us

Address
#224, Natural Science Building #1, College of Natural Sciences,
Chonnam National University, 77 Yongbong-ro, Buk-gu,
Gwangju 61186, Republic of Korea
주소
광주광역시 북구 용봉로 77 전남대학교 자연과학대학 1호관 224호
Contact
Email addresses and directions →