Meet Ahyeon Koh the newest BME professor

The start of a new academic year in the Biomedical Engineering (BME) Department within the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science at Binghamton University is also the start of a new chapter for Assistant Professor Ahyeon Koh.

As a researcher, Koh has strong interests in the development of biocompatible biosensors for biomedical applications. Her research has focused on improving chemical and physical biocompatibilities of biosensors by releasing a therapeutic reagent in a controlled manner from biomedical devices, employing flexible and stretchable platforms with superior biomechanical properties, and developing biomaterials with emphasis on bio-inspired and bio-mimic technologies.

Academically, her teaching interests rely on fundamentals and recent interdisciplinary research in biosensors, bioanalytical instrumentation, biomedical devices and diagnosis, electrochemistry, and advanced analytical chemistry.

Koh did postdoctoral research training at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with Professor John A. Rogers in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. She received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry at Sogang University in Seoul, South Korea, before she pursued her doctorate in chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill under the direction of Professor Mark H. Schoenfisch.

In this conversation, Koh tells us more about herself:

How did you become interested in biomedical engineering?

My hometown is in a small county in Korea which has a gathering of all of the national research institutes and industry research complexes.

My father and most of my friends’ parents are scientists and engineers in the research institute and professors at the university. So, it was very natural for me since I was exposed to that kind of research environment.

I love science, and thus I had my career path in chemistry, specifically analytical chemistry.

During my graduate and postdoctoral careers, I found that I had an interest in biosensor research, and I wanted to expand my research experience in engineering projects, flexible electronics and wearable biosensors. These led me to biomedical engineering.

I believe the interdisciplinary research efforts in biomedical engineering research can lead to a bright future for many.

You said that you are interested in “bio-inspired and bio-mimic technologies,” what are some of the projects that you have worked on in that area?

I am interested in the development of biocompatible biosensors.

Our group will focus on developing intimately integrated biosensors in our body system by modifying their chemical and physical properties. The sensor platforms will be designed to be similar to our body systems. For example, sensors will be flexible and stretchable like a skin or have porous, thin membranes like cellular membranes.

Sensors with that kind of biocompatibility will help us understand human physiology better.

We also want to bring biomedically engineered sensors into our lives utilizing wearable technologies.

We hear that you play the drums and piano. How did you start playing music and do you still play now?

I love everything about music.

I played the piano when I was young, but not as often nowadays.

I played drums in a rock band when I was in college, but now I just occasionally play when I have time. I try to have music in my life all the time.

Beyond just music, we know that you used to ride horses, too. Where did that passion come from?

I rode English-style when I was in Illinois. I learned the hobby during my postdoc career to have an activity that was refreshing outside of the lab. I did trotting, cantering, and jumping.

As with all of the Biomedical Engineering Department, good luck this year!