Yujin Kwon, 2022 Daniel L. Simmons Fellowship Recipient, on studying cancer-changing researching and facing failure with gratitude

Yujin Kwon, BYU graduate student and recipient of the 2022 Daniel L. Simmons Fellowship, is an accomplished chemist who wants to make the world a better place. A member of the Willardson Research Lab, Kwon specializes in cellular complexes - particularly Gβ proteins - and is currently earning her PhD.

Raised in South Korea, Kwon was first introduced to Brigham Young University after her mother met and began taking lessons with missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, through which Kwon and several members of her family were ultimately baptized. “I was able to meet a lot of church friends who were trying to go to BYU or trying to study in Utah,” Kwon says, attributing their influence to her desire to study at Brigham Young University. After receiving her undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Konyang University, Kwon remembered her long-time dream of attending graduate school in Utah and applied. She was accepted and began her graduate studies with BYU in 2017.  

Fascinated by medicinal biology from a young age, Kwon chose to study chemistry to gain a strong foundation in the fundamentals of medicine. And, based on her current research, she’s going to be contributing to future medicinal findings in a big way. 

As part of the Barry M. Willardson Research Lab, Kwon says, “Our lab is mainly focusing on chaperonin-mediated proteins folding. So, just to simply explain it, proteins will be transmitted from DNA and mRNA, and then they have to be able to function in cells properly.” The function of these proteins is crucial in maintaining cell health, signaling cellular death, and other functions that are necessary for the function of biological systems. “But,” Kwon says, “a lot of proteins need to get folded and structured properly before they actually go work in cells. Most of them need some help from another chaperonin complex, so we are trying to figure out how the chaperone helps the proteins to be folded; how they maintain the protein balance in cells; and how they avoid protein aggregation,” which is a major aspect of avoiding cancers and other degenerative diseases. Kwon and her team, under the direction of Dr. Willardson, are working to understand how CCT, a main Gβ protein chaperone, and its mechanisms in folding and stabilizing substrates. 

When asked how her current research relates to her dreams of working in the medical field, Kwon is optimistic about the Willardson Lab’s impact on the molecular foundations of medicine. Their current research, a study a long time in the making which will be published this spring, has the potential to help drug manufacturers and scientists discover more effective ways to treat various types of cancer and neurogenetic diseases. The mechanisms of CCT in folding Gβ proteins has always been a bit of a mystery; until now. “I’m very excited about it,” Kwon says. “Through this publication, we will be able to understand better. If you are able to see how Gβ protein is folded and how it’s inappropriately functioned or folded, we will be able to think of a mechanism to target this specific interaction. If we can just break it down in cancer cells, it will be a pretty big idea for cancer [treatment and prevention]. That’ll be a huge publication for the lab; not only just for myself, but the lab and Dr. Willardson. I think that it will be a really great achievement.” 

Kwon attributes much of her success to her mentor, Dr. Barry Willardson, saying that “he has been very supportive to let me think and plan the experiments by myself, and then [points out] what will be the best for me to consider in this experiment. From a mentor perspective, he was very patient and very respectful for all grad students, including me. No matter what we do wrong, mistakes or failure, he was very patient. He tried to help us, he tried to see why it happened and how we can fix it, and why it is important to fix and then move on. So, that was great.”

Despite her past and imminent successes, Kwon says that being a part of BYU’s Biochemistry program has posed plenty of challenges. Because chemical studies can be applied to dozens of different fields, Kwon says that understanding chemical implications requires a lot of effort. Additionally, she says that writing academic papers as a foreign student posed a challenge. “No matter what school or what [emphasis] you will go, it’ll be hard at some points,” she says. “If I’m honest, there will be 99% hard times and failure and mistakes and 1%, maybe less than 1%, good times and a lot of success.” However, Kwon has a message of hope for herself and students who are considering applying to the BYU graduate program. “I want them to know that all efforts, no matter what the result will be, are worth it. All mistakes, all hardships will be worth it at the end. There are some hard times that I had in the past, but that helped me to grow to understand things better and to be a better person, actually. So any hard times will be worth it, any efforts you put as your bets will be worth it. So, I want them to know that and not give up.”

When asked how those hard experiences and academic challenges have helped her grow, Kwon was graciously positive. “There are two different reactions that I had. One is I got motivated from the hard times. I thought, ‘Okay, something is not right. Something is too hard for me to do it; what can I do right now, not thinking about the past or the future?’ So, that made me motivated to think about what I can do now and just start from there. And that actually helped me to move on slowly over time and to feel better about myself.”

Kwon also expresses how her personal and academic struggles have given her a greater sense of gratitude for hardship. “You are having a hard time - why think about gratitude, right? But, seriously, that made me think: okay, even though this is hard, I am very grateful that I can have this failure, or make this mistake, because it means that I am trying to do something. If I didn’t try, I wouldn’t be able to have any failure, or even success. So, even though I have failure or really have a hard time, that shows me that I’m doing something, that I’m trying to do something cool. That makes me feel grateful for how hard I’m trying.” 

When asked how her time studying chemistry and earning her PhD helps her fulfill the BYU motto “Enter to learn; go forth to serve,” Kwon’s response was ever poetic and ever poignant. “Besides for public health or research areas, I think all the core values that I’ve been learning from the program will have a great impact on community or anywhere I go in the future. For example, I know how to mentor people more than before. I know how to read things better than before…I know how to organize data, I know how to analyze data, I know how to present my data to even non-scientific people. These values will help me to go any area that I would like to or have a better effect as a scientist, woman, person, or educator, or whatever titles I will have.” 

With Kwon preparing to graduate as Dr. Yujin Kwon, PhD, this upcoming spring, she will be able to take her academic scope and Christ-like influence to the next level. And, while she will be missed as a student at BYU, her contributions to life-changing research and continuing education are sure to make a lasting impact wherever she goes.