Ken Lee

Born and raised in Yangon, Myanmar, Ken Lee (Kaung Khant Soe) is an M.D./Ph.D. candidate at Yale School of Medicine. He graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2024 with a degree in chemistry (biochemistry concentration) and a minor in bioinformatics. In the Jackrel lab, he studied how an RNA-binding protein, Matrin-3, contributes to neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), which sparked his interest in how protein properties shape cellular function. Now a graduate student in the lab of Dr. Junjie Guo, Ken studies how ribosomes choose where to begin translating a gene. He combines genome-wide sequencing with large-scale reporter libraries to uncover the rules by which alternative start sites generate protein variants with different functions, especially in neurons, where these variants may contribute to disease. Beyond the lab, he volunteers at the HAVEN Free Clinic and is helping design clinical outcomes research with the Department of Anesthesiology at Hue Central Hospital in Huế, Vietnam. Ken is happy to talk with any Burmese or international applicants about careers in medicine and can be reached at ken.lee@yale.edu.