Kwang-Soo Kim, PhD, is professor and director of the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory at McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He has more than 20 years of experience investigating the molecular and developmental neurobiology of the midbrain dopamine neuronal system in health and disease. His work primarily centers on elucidating the regulatory cascade of intrinsic signaling molecules and extrinsic transcription factors involved in the development and maintenance of dopamine neurons. Dr. Kim’s recent research is focused on the identification and validation of potential molecular targets of novel mechanism-based and neuroprotective therapeutics for Parkinson’s disease (PD). In addition, he is interested in developing cell replacement therapy of PD and has pioneered the generation of safe human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells by direct delivery of reprogramming proteins. His team demonstrated that these protein-based iPS cells can efficiently generate functional dopamine neurons and improve motor deficits in pre-clinical models of PD.