Insook Kim, PhD

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Section of Pulmonary Medicine

Contact Information

Arkansas Children's Hospital

800 Marshall Street

Little Rock, AR  72202

Phone: (501) 364-4592

Fax: (501) 364-4542

KimInsook@uams.edu

Education

PhD - University of Iowa, 1986

Training

Post-Doctoral:  Biochemistry, University of Iowa, 1987

Research Interests

Carotid chemoreceptor cells in carotid body can sense the blood oxygen level and the cells are excited and send the signal to the brainstem for respiratory reflex in response to hypoxia or hyperoxia atmosphere. The mechanism underlying oxygen sensing is not clearly understand. My main interests is reveal the oxygen sensing mechanism by utilizing the electrophysiological and molecular approaches. Specially identification and characterization of the oxygen-sensitive ion channels which might be modulated during developmental CB maturation and might be impaired from exposure to chronic hypoxia or chronic hyperoxia will be focused. The ultimate goal of work is to find the way to treat or prevent a number of potentially life threatening disorders such as asthma, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, apnea, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) by determining the mechanism of sensing blood oxygen level and how the body respond to altered blood oxygen level.