About

Yeon-Soo Kim is an Associate Professor and Graduate Director in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Rutgers University. She specializes in contemporary Spanish literature and culture. Her monograph, The Family Album: Histories, Subjectivities and Immigration in Contemporary Spanish Culture (2005), is an original study of the family album as a critical medium through which to reconsider the attitudes of Spanish society toward its dictatorial past and the Spanish transition to democracy. Her forthcoming work, Asia and the Asians in the Contemporary Spanish Imaginary, investigates how contemporary narratives, travel writings, and films attempt to avoid exoticizing Asia and Asians, while establishing new forms of exoticism that undermine difference and otherness by the Self's own cultural effacement. She scrutinizes travel writings about Asia written shortly after Spain's loss of the Philippines and during Franco's regime to interpret various types of contemporary exoticism. Additionally, she has published articles analyzing ethical positions in visual and narrative representations of immigrants.

Research topics

• Biology
• Biochemistry
• Internal medicine
• Medicine
• Endocrinology
• Chemistry
• Cell biology
• Bioinformatics
• Immunology
• Physiology

Selected publications

• Genetic background and transient prenatal disruption of vitamin A signaling determine susceptibility to airway hyperresponsiveness in mice

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2025-11-03

  preprintOpen access

  Airway structural changes and hyperresponsiveness (AHR), hallmarks of asthma, are crucially influenced by genetic variations and adverse exposures. While intrauterine environmental perturbations leading to dysfunctional lung development have been linked to adult pulmonary disease, still little is known about the developmental events leading to these postnatal abnormalities. Here, we provide evidence of genetic background playing a key role in this process. Using A/J and C57BL/6J mice known for their distinct susceptibility to AHR, we show that A/J but not C57BL/6J develop an aberrant airway smooth muscle (SM) program and AHR in adulthood when exposed transiently to a vitamin A/retinoic acid (RA)-disrupted intrauterine environment in vivo by a maternal BMS493 administration. Single nuclei multiomics analysis identified a subpopulation of mesenchymal cells that overactivated TGFβ targets in response to BMS selectively in A/J, but not C57BL/6J, embryonic lungs. These cells, localized to sites of airway SM initiation, exhibited robust BMS-mediated upregulation of SMAD2/3 targets, including regulators of SM program Pdgfra and Tnc, and showed stable cell proportions despite the marked transcriptional rewiring following RA disruption. These findings identify TGFβ-activating mesenchymal cells as a critical niche responsive to RA signaling and reveal how genetic background determines developmental susceptibility to micronutrient perturbations with long-term impact on airway function.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• β-carotene improves fecal dysbiosis and intestinal dysfunctions in a mouse model of vitamin A deficiency

  Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids · 2022 · 23 citations

  • Biology
  • Immunology
  • Internal medicine
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Microsomal triglyceride transfer protein-mediated transfer of β-carotene from donor to acceptor vesicles in vitro

  Methods in enzymology on CD-ROM/Methods in enzymology · 2022-01-01 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Retinoic acid regulates pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 ( <i>Pdk4</i> ) to modulate fuel utilization in the adult heart: Insights from wild‐type and β‐carotene 9′,10′ oxygenase knockout mice

  The FASEB Journal · 2022 · 10 citations

  • Endocrinology
  • Internal medicine
  • Biochemistry

  Regulation of the pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) complex by the pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase PDK4 enables the heart to respond to fluctuations in energy demands and substrate availability. Retinoic acid, the transcriptionally active form of vitamin A, is known to be involved in the regulation of cardiac function and growth during embryogenesis as well as under pathological conditions. Whether retinoic acid also maintains cardiac health under physiological conditions is unknown. However, vitamin A status and intake of its carotenoid precursor β-carotene have been linked to the prevention of heart diseases. Here, we provide in vitro and in vivo evidence that retinoic acid regulates cardiac Pdk4 expression and thus PDH activity. Furthermore, we show that mice lacking β-carotene 9',10'-oxygenase (BCO2), the only enzyme of the adult heart that cleaves β-carotene to generate retinoids (vitamin A and its derivatives), displayed cardiac retinoic acid insufficiency and impaired metabolic flexibility linked to a compromised PDK4/PDH pathway. These findings provide novel insights into the functions of retinoic acid in regulating energy metabolism in adult tissues, especially the heart.

  PublisherDOI

• Abstract 227: Lack of Beta-carotene 9’,10’ Diooxygenase (Bco2) Impacts Cardiac Postnatal Growth and Energy Metabolism in Female Mice

  Circulation Research · 2020-07-31

  article

  As the postnatal heart grows it also undergoes critical metabolic adaptations to use mainly lipids rather than carbohydrates as energy-providing substrates. Abnormal growth patterns and lack of metabolic flexibility are pathological responses of the heart that lead to cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Carotenoids, such as β-carotene - the most abundant dietary precursor of vitamin A - have been linked to the prevention of CVD. In the heart, β-carotene can be metabolized to retinoids and other apo-carotenoids by the action of β-carotene 9’,10’-dioxygenase (BCO2). We found that Bco2 -/- female mice have significantly smaller hearts than wild-type (WT), pre- and post-puberty. Echocardiography revealed a significant increase in aortic blood flow velocity with no change in overall cardiac output. This analysis also suggests that the mutant has a smaller left ventricle with thinner walls. In addition, expression of cardiac foetal genes (BNP, α-Skeletal actinin and β-MyHc ), typically upregulated during embryogenesis or under pathological conditions in the adult, were significantly increased in the mutant. Bco2 -/- females showed impaired exercise capacity, displaying a ~40% reduction in running distance compared to WT. These data indicate functional cardiac defects in the mutant under stress conditions. Bco2 -/- females also displayed impaired cardiac metabolic flexibility. We found that Bco2 -/- mice have reduced Pdk4 expression and thus enhanced PDH activity. Cardiac expression of Glut1 and Mct1, key glucose and lactate transporters , were significantly higher in Bco2 -/- females, while triglyceride levels were lower in the heart and serum. These findings suggest preferential use of glucose as a cardiac energy source. Interestingly, the mutants had reduced cardiac retinoic acid levels (by LC-MS analysis) compared to WT. Retinoic acid upregulates Pdk4 , thus we postulated that retinoic acid deficiency contributes to loss of cardiac metabolic flexibility in Bco2 -/- females. Ongoing studies aim to confirm this hypothesis and determine if altered retinoic acid homeostasis is also linked to impaired postnatal heart growth in mutant mice. These findings give new insights into a potential role of the β-carotene metabolic pathway in regulating adult heart function.

  PublisherDOI

• The mitochondrial PKCδ/retinol signal complex exerts real-time control on energy homeostasis

  Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids · 2020 · 31 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Cell biology
  • Biochemistry
  • Biology
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Investigating the Mechanism of STRA6-Mediated Cellular Retinol Uptake

  Biophysical Journal · 2020-02-01

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Sample preparation for structural and functional analyses of the STRA6 receptor for retinol-binding protein

  Methods in enzymology on CD-ROM/Methods in enzymology · 2020-01-01 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• β-apo-10′-carotenoids support normal embryonic development during vitamin A deficiency

  Scientific Reports · 2018-06-05 · 23 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Vitamin A deficiency is still a public health concern affecting millions of pregnant women and children. Retinoic acid, the active form of vitamin A, is critical for proper mammalian embryonic development. Embryos can generate retinoic acid from maternal circulating β-carotene upon oxidation of retinaldehyde produced via the symmetric cleavage enzyme β-carotene 15,15′-oxygenase (BCO1). Another cleavage enzyme, β-carotene 9′,10′-oxygenase (BCO2), asymmetrically cleaves β-carotene in adult tissues to prevent its mitochondrial toxicity, generating β-apo-10′-carotenal, which can be converted to retinoids (vitamin A and its metabolites) by BCO1. However, the role of BCO2 during mammalian embryogenesis is unknown. We found that mice lacking BCO2 on a vitamin A deficiency-susceptible genetic background ( Rbp4 −/− ) generated severely malformed vitamin A-deficient embryos. Maternal β-carotene supplementation impaired fertility and did not restore normal embryonic development in the Bco2 −/− Rbp4 −/− mice, despite the expression of BCO1. These data demonstrate that BCO2 prevents β-carotene toxicity during embryogenesis under severe vitamin A deficiency. In contrast, β-apo-10′-carotenal dose-dependently restored normal embryonic development in Bco2 −/− Rbp4 −/− but not Bco1 −/− Bco2 −/− Rbp4 −/− mice, suggesting that β-apo-10′-carotenal facilitates embryogenesis as a substrate for BCO1-catalyzed retinoid formation. These findings provide a proof of principle for the important role of BCO2 in embryonic development and invite consideration of β-apo-10′-carotenal as a nutritional supplement to sustain normal embryonic development in vitamin A-deprived pregnant women.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Quality Changes of Low Temperature Storage and Storage Period of New Cultivar Dewdrop Pine Mushroom (Lentinula edodes GNA01) and Button Mushroom (Agaricus bisporus Sing.)

  Korean Journal of Food and Cookery Science · 2017-04-30 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate quality characteristics and antioxidant effects on storage by temperature between new cultivar Dewdrop Pine Mushroom (Lentinula edodes GNA01) and button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus). Methods: Dewdrop Pine Mushroom and button mushroom were prepared at low storage temperature. Results: Weight loss increased with time, whereas the new cultivar Dewdrop Pine Mushroom showed a decrease of less than 4% until 15days. Hardness of new cultivar Dewdrop Pine Mushroom was reduces less than button mushroom during storage. Color change of new cultivar Dewdrop Pine Mushroom was not altered during storage. For viable cell count, new cultivar Dewdrop Pine Mushroom proliferated less than button mushroom. For antioxidant activity, polyphenol content increased with storage period of both mushrooms. The electron-donating action of new cultivar Dewdrop Pine Mushroom maintained high antioxidant activity accounting for 80% until 12 days of storage. New cultivar Dewdrop Pine Mushroom was evaluated as better than pine mushroom as it exceeded the middle of storage in sensory characteristics; such as appearance, color, aroma and overall acceptability, etc. Conclusion: In summary, new cultivar Dewdrop Pine Mushroom was stored for 12 days while button mushroom was stored for 9 days.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Loredana Quadro

  Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  25 shared

• Lesley Wassef

  Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  9 shared

• Ulrich Hämmerling

  Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  6 shared

• William S. Blaner

  5 shared

• Brianna K. Costabile

  Columbia University

  5 shared

• Jahangir Iqbal

  Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  5 shared

• Elizabeth Spiegler

  Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  5 shared

• Michael V. Zuccaro

  Columbia University

  4 shared

Education

• Ph.D.

  Yale University