Minhee Lee
(South Korea)
Associate Professor of Chemistry
Email: leem23@spu.edu
Phone: 206-281-2103
Office: Marston 251
Education: Dual BS, Yonsei University, 2004; PhD, Columbia University, 2010. At SPU since 2014.
Originally born in South Korea, Minhee Lee came to the United States to pursue a PhD degree in organic and biological chemistry at Columbia University in the city of New York. Before joining SPU in 2014, Dr. Lee worked as a cancer biologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in a Molecular Diagnostics team and discovered a new regime for personalized therapy of pancreatic cancers.
Dr. Lee has strong chemistry/biology interdisciplinary academic and research background. Her research focus is on the design and synthesis of fluorescent molecules that can be used to visualize biological events, such as dopamine release in the brain and RAN expressions in vivo. Her patented compounds, Mini202 and Mini102, are commercially available and have been used for many aspects of research in neuroscience.
Selected Publications
- Capello, M.; Lee, M.; Wang, H.; Babel, I.; Katz, M.H.; Fleming, J.B.; Maitra, A.; Tian, W.; Taguchi, A.; Hanash, S.M. “Cocaine Esterase 2 as a Determinant of Response to Irinotecan and Neoadjuvant FOLFIRINIX Therapy in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma”, J. Natl. Cancer. Inst. 2015, 107(8).
- Lee, M.; Sulzer, D.; Sames, D. “Development of pH-Responsive Fluorescent False Neurotransmitters”, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132, 8828-8830.
Please view Dr. Lee’s CV (PDF) for more information.