Seung Soo Chung, PhD

For over 20 years, I have conducted neuroscience research as a professor specializing in electrophysiology, with early work on ion channels in peripheral pain-sensory plasticity, the electrophysiological characterization of stem cell-derived neurons, and peripheral nociceptor sensitization by inflammatory mediators. In 2008, as a visiting fellow in John Isaac's lab at NINDS/NIH, I extended my focus to cortical synaptic plasticity in the mammalian brain. My work elucidated synaptic mechanisms underlying injury-induced circuit reorganization in the adult somatosensory cortex, with implications for stroke and peripheral nerve injury recovery. By combining electrophysiology with fMRI, I identified the sites and mechanisms of brain plasticity in a rat injury model — published in Neuron (2012;74:731–742). Upon returning to Yonsei University College of Medicine, where I now serve as Professor and Head of the Department of Physiology, I continued investigating adult cortical synaptic plasticity and cognitive function using electrophysiological, molecular, and behavioral approaches. In 2016, I founded BnH Research Co., Ltd. to translate this research into therapy. As CEO, I lead the development of BnH-015B — the world's first GluN2B-selective NMDA Receptor Positive Allosteric Modulator for Alzheimer's disease, with Phase 1 completed in December 2025 and Phase 2a initiating in June 2026.