Description of the Breakthrough Discovery
Prof. Kim established the foundational framework of the microRNA pathway by defining how microRNAs are generated. She proposed the first biogenesis model, identified key factors, and solved their structures, thereby establishing the molecular basis of microRNA biology and advancing siRNA technologies. During these studies, she discovered that microRNAs are regulated by tailing enzymes that catalyze uridylation and adenylation, prompting her to explore whether similar mechanisms might regulate mRNAs.
To address this, Kim developed TAIL-seq, a genome-wide method for sequencing RNA 3’ ends. Using this, she discovered widespread noncanonical mRNA tailing, including uridylation and, critically, ‘mixed tailing’—the incorporation of non-adenosine nucleotides into poly(A) tails to regulate mRNA stability (Lim et al., Science 2018). She identified the enzymatic machinery responsible and demonstrated that these 3’ modifications are critical for post-transcriptional regulation.
This work overturned the textbook view that poly(A) tails are simple homopolymers and established that mRNA tail composition as well as tail length as a new regulatory layer with broad implications across biology and disease.
Building on these discoveries, Kim showed that diverse viruses exploit tailing machinery to stabilize their RNAs (Kim et al., NSMB 2020). She developed the first sequencing-based platform to screen hundreds of thousands of viral sequences, uncovering novel regulatory mechanisms and establishing the field of ‘functional viromics’ (Seo et al., Cell 2023).
Her recent work demonstrated that selected viral elements can dramatically extend mRNA stability and enhance protein production, addressing a key limitation of current mRNA technology (Jung et al., Nat. Biotechnol. 2025).
She further elucidated the molecular basis of how cells process therapeutic mRNAs through genome-wide CRISPR knockout screens, identifying key cellular pathways and revealing TRIM25 as a pH-sensitive suppressor of therapeutic mRNAs (Kim et al., Science 2025). Together, these advances provide a mechanistic blueprint for next-generation mRNA medicines.
Background to the Breakthrough
Over two decades, Prof. Kim has delivered multiple transformative contributions, with her most recent breakthroughs centered on the discovery of noncanonical RNA tailing mechanisms.
Her invention of TAIL-seq and discovery of mixed tailing represent a major shift in RNA biology. Prior to this work, the poly(A) tail was viewed as a simple homopolymer. Kim demonstrated that mRNA tails harbor chemical diversity that encodes regulatory information, enabling gene regulation across cellular and viral contexts. The realization that viruses hijack mixed-tailing machinery opened new paths for antiviral intervention.
Her recent advances extend these insights to therapeutic innovation. By functionally mapping viral genomes and identifying RNA elements that modulate tailing and stability, she created a suite of tools capable of dramatically enhancing mRNA half-life, addressing one of the principal challenges in mRNA therapeutics. These elements translate a basic biological discovery into a programmable toolkit for RNA medicine. This technology has the potential to reduce dose requirements, dosing frequency, and manufacturing costs, while improving efficacy and tolerability. Kim is currently collaborating with the International Vaccine Institute and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to develop more effective and affordable vaccines for low-income countries. Beyond vaccines, RNA-stabilizing elements derived from her work may facilitate new classes of mRNA-based therapies, including protein replacement therapies, cancer vaccines, immunotherapy, opening possibilities for the treatments of rare genetic disorders, cancer, and infectious diseases.
Together, these achievements represent a constellation of discoveries that continue to reshape RNA biology and drive the advance of RNA therapeutics.
Standing
Kim’s impact spans molecular biology, structural biology, virology, and RNA therapeutics, placing her among the world’s most influential life scientists. She is a Foreign Member of the Royal Society, an International Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a foreign member of EMBO, and a member of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology.
Her honors include the L’Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science Award, the Ho-Am Prize in Medicine, the Asan Award in Medicine, the Chen Award, and numerous national distinctions. In 2018, Nature named her one of the ten “Science Stars of East Asia.” Her work has been cited over 40,000 times, and she has delivered hundreds of invited lectures worldwide.
Beyond her scientific discoveries, Kim contributed to the global RNA research community through leadership, mentorship, and institution-building. She founded the IBS Center for RNA Research in 2012, establishing one of the world’s leading hubs for RNA science. She has mentored many young scientists and leaders in the field, organized many international conferences, and co-founded the Asia RNA Club, which has rapidly grown into a major regional network. She has also served on editorial boards of leading journals and on numerous committees supporting equity, inclusion, and early-career researchers.
Biography
V. Narry Kim received her B.A. (1992) and M.S. (1994) in Microbiology from Seoul National University and her Ph.D. (1998) in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford, where she studied retroviral gene transfer. She conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania, investigating mRNA surveillance pathways, before joining Seoul National University in 2001 to establish her independent laboratory. She is currently a Distinguished Professor at Seoul National University and Director of the IBS Center for RNA Research
Publications
S.-J. Jung, J. J. Seo, S. Lee, S.-I. Hyun, J.-e. Lee, S. Lee, Y. Lee, H. Chang, H. Lee, J.-H. Kim, V. N. Kim (2025) “RNA stability enhancers for durable base-modified mRNA therapeutics” Nature Biotechnology. DOI: 10.1038/s41587-025-02891-7
M. Kim, Y. Pyo, S.-I. Hyun, M. Jeong, Y. Choi, V. N. Kim (2025) “Exogenous RNA surveillance by proton-sensing TRIM25” Science, 388:eads4539. DOI: 10.1126/science.ads4539
J. J. Seo, S.-J. Jung, J. Yang, D.-E. Choi, V. N. Kim (2023) “Functional viromic screens uncover regulatory RNA elements” Cell, 186:3291-3306. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.06.007
D. Kim, Y. Lee, S.-J. Jung, J. Yeo, J. J. Seo, Y.-Y. Lee, J. Lim, H. Chang, J. Song, J. Yang, J. S. Kim, G. Jung, K. Ahn, V. N. Kim (2020) “Viral hijacking of the TENT4-ZCCHC14 complex protects viral RNAs via mixed tailing” Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, 27:581–588. DOI: 10.1038/s41594-020-0427-3
J. Lim, D. Kim, Y. Lee, M. Ha, M. Lee, J. Yeo, H. Chang, J. Song, K. Ahn, V. N. Kim (2018) “Mixed tailing by TENT4A and TENT4B shields mRNA from rapid deadenylation” Science, 361: eaam5794.DOI: 10.1126/science.aam5794