A photo of Hee Woong Lim.

Member, Division of Biomedical Informatics

Assistant Professor, UC Department of PediatricsUC Department of Biomedical Informatics

513-803-0333

Biography & Affiliation

Biography

Dr. Lim is a computational scientist by training. After getting his PhD, he was fascinated by the complex yet highly organized biological system thereby switched to bioinformatics field. He did postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied transcriptional regulations in various metabolic systems such as pancreas, adipose tissues, and liver. After that, he joined the Division of Biomedical Informatics at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center as an assistant professor to start a regulatory genomics laboratory.

Dr. Lim investigates transcriptional regulations of gene expression in various context including but not limited to metabolism, development, pathogenesis, and pharmacogenomics. He specifically focuses on enhancer regulations and tries to explain their regulatory mechanisms. To this end, he integrates various levels of genomic, epigenomic, and transcriptomic information from high-throughput data (GRO-seq, RNA-seq, ChIP-seq, ChIP-exo, etc) to understand detailed enhancer architectures and their distinct functions.

Research Interests

Regulatory genomics; enhancer; transcription; metabolism; pharmacogenomics; machine learning

Academic Affiliation

Assistant Professor, UC Department of PediatricsUC Department of Biomedical Informatics

Divisions

Biomedical Informatics

Education

BS: Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.

MS: Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.

PhD: Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.

Postdoc: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Publications

Selected Publication

Distinct macrophage populations direct inflammatory versus physiological changes in adipose tissue. Hill, DA; Lim, HW; Kim, YH; Ho, WY; Foong, YH; Nelson, VL; Nguyen, HC B; Chegireddy, K; Kim, J; Habertheuer, A; et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA. 2018; 115:E5096-E5105.

Histone deacetylase 3 prepares brown adipose tissue for acute thermogenic challenge. Emmett, MJ; Lim, H; Jager, J; Richter, HJ; Adlanmerini, M; Peed, LC; Briggs, ER; Steger, DJ; Ma, T; Sims, CA; et al. Nature. 2017; 546:544-548.

Genetic Variation Determines PPARγ Function and Anti-diabetic Drug Response in Vivo. Soccio, RE; Chen, ER; Rajapurkar, SR; Safabakhsh, P; Marinis, JM; Dispirito, JR; Emmett, MJ; Briggs, ER; Fang, B; Everett, LJ; et al. Cell. 2015; 162:33-44.

Genomic redistribution of GR monomers and dimers mediates transcriptional response to exogenous glucocorticoid in vivo. Lim, H; Uhlenhaut, NH; Rauch, A; Weiner, J; Huebner, S; Huebner, N; Won, K; Lazar, MA; Tuckermann, J; Steger, DJ. Genome Research. 2015; 25:836-844.

PRDM16 binds MED1 and controls chromatin architecture to determine a brown fat transcriptional program. Harms, MJ; Lim, H; Ho, Y; Shapira, SN; Ishibashi, J; Rajakumari, S; Steger, DJ; Lazar, MA; Won, K; Seale, P. Genes and Development. 2015; 29:298-307.

Anti-diabetic rosiglitazone remodels the adipocyte transcriptome by redistributing transcription to PPARγ-driven enhancers. Step, SE; Lim, H; Marinis, JM; Prokesch, A; Steger, DJ; You, S; Won, K; Lazar, MA. Genes and Development. 2014; 28:1018-1028.

EBF2 determines and maintains brown adipocyte identity. Rajakumari, S; Wu, J; Ishibashi, J; Lim, H; Giang, A; Won, K; Reed, RR; Seale, P. Cell Metabolism. 2013; 17:562-574.

Early B Cell Factor Activity Controls Developmental and Adaptive Thermogenic Gene Programming in Adipocytes. Angueira, AR; Shapira, SN; Ishibashi, J; Sampat, S; Sostre-Colon, J; Emmett, MJ; Titchenell, PM; Lazar, MA; Lim, H; Seale, P. Cell Reports. 2020; 30:2869-2878.e4.

PRDM16 Maintains Homeostasis of the Intestinal Epithelium by Controlling Region-Specific Metabolism. Stine, RR; Sakers, AP; TeSlaa, T; Kissig, M; Stine, ZE; Kwon, CW; Cheng, L; Lim, H; Kaestner, KH; Rabinowitz, JD; et al. Cell Stem Cell. 2019; 25:830-845.e8.

A PRDM16-Driven Metabolic Signal from Adipocytes Regulates Precursor Cell Fate. Wang, W; Ishibashi, J; Trefely, S; Shao, M; Cowan, AJ; Sakers, A; Lim, H; O'Connor, S; Doan, MT; Cohen, P; et al. Cell Metabolism. 2019; 30:174-189.e5.