Welcome to the Chan Yul Yoo Lab at the University of Utah!

Welcome to the Chan Yul Yoo Lab in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Utah!

Just as we see the world by our eyes, plants see light with photoreceptors to control growth and development through the entire life cycle. Our lab is broadly interested in understanding fundamental functions of photobodies (photoreceptors-containing biomolecular condensates) as developmental and environmental sensors in controlling plant growth, development, and chloroplast biogenesis (greening). We use a combination of molecular biology, cell biology, and genetic techniques to explore fundamental mysteries of photobodies.

We are looking for passionate undergraduate students and PhD students!
Please see JOIN US for more information.

News

Dec 5, 2025 Min will present her research at the UROP Fall Symposium. Congratulations!
Nov 13, 2025 Kate’s paper is out on bioRxiv! This is her first First-author paper as a PhD student in our lab! Two undergraduate students, Madi and Min, also contribute to this paper! Congratulations!
Oct 23, 2025 Min presented her research in poster presentation during SBS Science Retreat! Great Job!
July 31, 2025 Elise presented her Honors thesis research at the Alumni House! Congratulation! Great job!
July 11, 2025 Sih-An received 2025 Fall UROP award! Congratulations!
June 30, 2025 Jae Hyung’s paper is published in Plant Physiology! Congratulations!
Undergraduate students, Min, Abi, and Sandhya participated this research! Congratulations!
June 27, 2025 Kate Olson, a PhD student, received NIH T32 Developmental Biology Training Grant. Congratulations!!!
June 17, 2025 Our lab participated Summer Science Camp for 10th grade high school students from Salt Lake Center for Science Education high school!
Apr 2, 2025 Abi received American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Award! Congratulations! Here is the announcement!
Mar 26, 2025 Min received SBS Research Scholar! Congratulations!
Jan 6, 2025 We have new SRI students in our lab! Kate Clement, Mark Gonzalez, Ella McNeely, and Kay-C Pronillos, Welcome to our lab! Kate Olson will be graduate SRI TA. Yejin and Quenna will serve as undergraduate SRI TA!
Nov 27, 2024 Abi received another 2025 Spring UROP award! Congratulations!
Oct 6, 2024 Coby Wellman joined the lab as a as a MCEB rotation student! Welcome!
Aug 20, 2024 Elise, a Honors student, joined the lab! Welcome!
Aug 9, 2024 Abi received 2024 Fall UROP award! Congratulations!
July 16, 2024 A collaboration paper with Jeongim Kim lab at University of Florida is published in
Plant Molecular Biology!
July 16, 2024 A collaboration paper with Mickelbart lab at Purdue University is published in Plant Direct!
June 26, 2024 Chan Yul gave a talk during the Plenary:Gibbs Symposium, 2024 ASPB meeting.
June 17, 2024 Keene Golden, a high school student, joined the lab! Welcome!
May 14, 2024 Jaehyung’s paper is out on bioRxiv! Congratulations!
May 6, 2024 Nate Raymond joined the lab as a PhD student (MCEB program)! Welcome!
Mar 21, 2024 First review paper with Dr. Bjorn Willige at Colorado State University is published in
the Plant Cell!
Mar 12, 2024 A collaboration paper with Mickelbart lab is out on bioRxiv!
Feb 2, 2024 Sih-An joined the lab! Welcome!
Jan 8, 2024 New SRI students (Queena, Yejin, and Claire) joined the lab! Welcome!
Dec 6, 2023 Lexie received 2024 Spring UROP award! Congratulations!
Aug 29, 2023 Nate Raymond joined the CY lab as a MCEB rotation student! Welcome!
Aug 2, 2023 Madi Dean received 2023 Fall UROP award! Congratulations!
Apr 19, 2023 Madi Dean joined the CY lab! Welcome!
Apr 20, 2023 Lexie received a Biology Research Scholar Award for Fall 2023. Congratulations!
Award ceremony will be Apr 26, 3pm ASB220.
Apr 19, 2023 Kate passed Capstone exam and officially joined the CY Lab! Congratulations and Welcome!
Mar 24, 2023 Jaehyung received an 2023 ASPB Travel Award! Congratulations!
Jan 17, 2023 Three undergraduate students (Lexie, Min, and Abi) joined the CY Lab! Welcome!
Min and Abi are SRI students!
Jan 9, 2023 Kate Christensen (MCEB rotation) and Jiyeon Hyun (MCEB rotation) joined the CY Lab!
Welcome to the lab!
Dec 6, 2022 Scott’s research proposal was selected for UROP award! Congratulations!
Dec 2, 2022 New paper is published in Nature Communications!
Aug 29, 2022 Scott joined the CY Lab! Welcome to the lab!
Aug 24, 2022 First official Lab meeting! Dr. Emily Yang from Columbia University visited our lab!
Aug 24, 2022 Sandhya joined the CY Lab! Welcome!
Aug 2nd, 2022 Dr. Jaehyung Lee joined the CY Lab! Welcome!
Jul 6th, 2022 The CY Lab renovation is underway to be done by the Fall semester! Fingers crossed!
Jun 22nd, 2022 Our first postdoc will join to our lab on Aug!
Feb 23rd, 2022 A postdoc position is available! Check here!
Feb 21st, 2022 The Chan Yul Yoo Lab website opens!
Jan 1st, 2022 The Chan Yul Yoo Lab is officially started in the School of Biological Sciences,
University of Utah!

Welcome to the Chan Yul Yoo Lab in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Utah!