Hoon Ryu, PhD
Adjunct Associate Professor, Neurology

Biography
Dr. Hoon Ryu earned his doctoral degree from Chonbuk National University, South Korea. He completed a postdoctoral research fellowship and was appointed Instructor of Neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in 1999. He joined the Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine’s Department of Neurology in 2004 as an Assistant Professor. Now he is an Associate Professor and an investigator with the Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Center and VA Boston Healthcare System. He is a director of the laboratory for Neuronal Gene Regulation and Epigenetics. He works on the identification of biomarkers, the determination of molecular genetic, epigenetic mechanisms, and the development of therapeutics using cell culture systems and animal models of neurodegeneration. He has published over 70 original reports.
Research Interests:
Epigenetic changes encompass an array of molecular modifications including DNA methylation and changes to the chromatin packaging of DNA by post-translational histone modifications. The structure, dynamics, and chemical properties of chromatin almost completely determines how, when, and which genes are turned on and off. Chromatin remodeling and transcription regulation are tightly controlled under physiological conditions. Deregulation of chromatin remodeling is linked to the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders but the mechanism is elusive. In order to identify how genomes are deregulated by heterochromatin, Dr. Ryu is performing ChIP genome-wide sequencing combined with RNA-sequencing followed by platform integration analysis. He has found that altered chromatin plasticity is closely linked to the pathogenesis of Huntington’s disease via an expression of ESET (ERG-associated protein with a SET domain), a histone H3K9-specific methyltransferase. Currently, he is conducting research about mechanisms of ESET gene induction and neuronal heterochromatin condensation in Alzheimer’s disease.
Other Positions
- Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research, Boston University
- VA Boston Healthcare System
Websites
Education
- Chonbuk National University, PhD
- Chonbuk National University, MS
- Chonbuk National University, BS
Publications
- Published on 10/2/2023
Heo JY, Park AH, Lee MJ, Ryu MJ, Kim YK, Jang YS, Kim SJ, Shin SY, Son HJ, Stein TD, Huh YH, Chung SK, Choi SY, Kim JM, Hwang O, Shong M, Hyeon SJ, Lee J, Ryu H, Kim D, Kweon GR. Correction: Crif1 deficiency in dopamine neurons triggers early-onset parkinsonism. Mol Psychiatry. 2023 Oct 02. PMID: 37783789.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/14/2023
Jung JW, Kim H, Park J, Woo J, Jeon E, Lee G, Park M, Kim S, Seo H, Cheon S, Dan K, Lee J, Ryu H, Han D. In-depth proteome analysis of brain tissue from Ewsr1 knockout mouse by multiplexed isobaric tandem mass tag labeling. Sci Rep. 2023 Sep 14; 13(1):15261. PMID: 37709831.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 8/30/2023
Heo JY, Park AH, Lee MJ, Ryu MJ, Kim YK, Jang YS, Kim SJ, Shin SY, Son HJ, Stein TD, Huh YH, Chung SK, Choi SY, Kim JM, Hwang O, Shong M, Hyeon SJ, Lee J, Ryu H, Kim D, Kweon GR. Crif1 deficiency in dopamine neurons triggers early-onset parkinsonism. Mol Psychiatry. 2023 Aug 30. PMID: 37648779.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 7/3/2023
Nam MH, Ko HY, Kim D, Lee S, Park YM, Hyeon SJ, Won W, Chung JI, Kim SY, Jo HH, Oh KT, Han YE, Lee GH, Ju YH, Lee H, Kim H, Heo J, Bhalla M, Kim KJ, Kwon J, Stein TD, Kong M, Lee H, Lee SE, Oh SJ, Chun JH, Park MA, Park KD, Ryu H, Yun M, Lee CJ. Visualizing reactive astrocyte-neuron interaction in Alzheimer's disease using 11C-acetate and 18F-FDG. Brain. 2023 Jul 03; 146(7):2957-2974. PMID: 37062541.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 3/13/2023
Lim S, Shin S, Sung Y, Lee HE, Kim KH, Song JY, Lee GH, Aziz H, Lukianenko N, Kang DM, Boesen N, Jeong H, Abdildinova A, Lee J, Yu BY, Lim SM, Lee JS, Ryu H, Pae AN, Kim YK. Levosimendan inhibits disulfide tau oligomerization and ameliorates tau pathology in TauP301L-BiFC mice. Exp Mol Med. 2023 Mar; 55(3):612-627. PMID: 36914856.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 12/20/2022
Choi SH, Yousefian-Jazi A, Hyeon SJ, Nguyen PTT, Chu J, Kim S, Kim S, Ryu HL, Kowall NW, Ryu H, Lee J. Modulation of histone H3K4 dimethylation by spermidine ameliorates motor neuron survival and neuropathology in a mouse model of ALS. J Biomed Sci. 2022 Dec 20; 29(1):106. PMID: 36536341.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 12/12/2022
Kim JH, Kang RJ, Hyeon SJ, Ryu H, Joo H, Bu Y, Kim JH, Suk K. Lipocalin-2 Is a Key Regulator of Neuroinflammation in Secondary Traumatic and Ischemic Brain Injury. Neurotherapeutics. 2023 Apr; 20(3):803-821. PMID: 36508119.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 10/28/2022
Kim H, Kim H, Nguyen LT, Ha T, Lim S, Kim K, Kim SH, Han K, Hyeon SJ, Ryu H, Park YS, Kim SH, Kim IB, Hong GS, Lee SE, Choi Y, Cohen LB, Oh U. Amplification of olfactory signals by Anoctamin 9 is important for mammalian olfaction. Prog Neurobiol. 2022 Dec; 219:102369. PMID: 36330924.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 10/8/2022
Kim JH, Afridi R, Cho E, Yoon JH, Lim YH, Lee HW, Ryu H, Suk K. Soluble ANPEP Released From Human Astrocytes as a Positive Regulator of Microglial Activation and Neuroinflammation: Brain Renin-Angiotensin System in Astrocyte-Microglia Crosstalk. Mol Cell Proteomics. 2022 Nov; 21(11):100424. PMID: 36220603.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/2/2022
Kim DK, Jeong H, Bae J, Cha MY, Kang M, Shin D, Ha S, Hyeon SJ, Kim H, Suh K, Choi MS, Ryu H, Yu SW, Kim JI, Kim YS, Lee SW, Hwang D, Mook-Jung I. Aß-induced mitochondrial dysfunction in neural progenitors controls KDM5A to influence neuronal differentiation. Exp Mol Med. 2022 Sep; 54(9):1461-1471. PMID: 36056186.
Read at: PubMed
View 151 more publications: View full profile at BUMC