Team
Joon Seok Park, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator / Assistant Professor of Medicine, Biological Science Division, Committee on Immunology, Committee on Cancer Biology, Committee on Microbiology, University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center, Duchossois Family Institute, University of Chicago
Joon grew up in Pohang, South Korea, a small city with a rich scientific community. He earned his B.S. in Biochemistry with high honor from Yonsei University, Seoul. He served in the 8th U.S. Army as a KATUSA soldier (ROK Army). He was inspired by Dr. James Allison’s talk on cancer immunotherapy and moved to the U.S. to pursue a PhD in Immunology. Joon studied the role of epigenetic regulators in T-cell mediated immunity in the laboratory of Sasha Tarakhovsky at Rockefeller University and earned his PhD in Immunology from Cornell University. He completed his postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Arlene Sharpe in the Department of Immunology at Harvard Medical School, where he discovered a novel microbiome-dependent signaling pathway in the immune system. In 2024, he joined the University of Chicago to develop a new concept in immunology and work towards curing cancer by studying the interactions between the immune system and commensal microbes. Besides science, Joon enjoys mentoring young scientists and trainees. His mentoring philosophy is to “Keep the mentee motivated through effective communication”. Joon considers community important and he served as the 38th president of New England Bioscience Society. He was also a part-time independent consultant for a pharmaceutical company. Besides professional activities, he loves soccer, jiu-jitsu, playing the guitar, and history.
Lab Members
Jae-Young Kim, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher
Jae-Young received her B.S. (2019) and Ph.D. (2024) in Food Biotechnology at Korea University. During her Ph.D. training, she focused on the roles of prebiotics and probiotics on gut microbiota modulation under the supervision of Dr. Sae Hun Kim. Jae-Young joined the Park lab in March 2025, and is currently working on bacterial translocation within the gut barrier and tumor.
In her free time, she likes to go to live concerts and take long walks.
Hocheol Shin, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher
Hocheol (Hugh) grew up in South Korea and moved to Chicago to begin his postdoctoral research at the University of Chicago. He earned his Ph.D. in Immunology from Sungkyunkwan University, where he studied how ER stress shapes the behavior of tumor-infiltrating γδ T cells in ovarian cancer. He has expertise in molecular biology, immunology, and multi-omics analysis, including bulk and single-cell RNA-seq as well as scATAC-seq. His current research focuses on understanding how microbial signals regulate the function of conventional and γδ T cells in the tumor microenvironment, with the goal of developing novel immunotherapeutic strategies.
Outside the lab, he enjoys walking by the lake, recording songs, playing the guitar, and spending time cooking.
Shrey Sindhwani, MD, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Shrey grew up in Delhi, India, and moved with his family to Canada at the age of 18. He completed a Bachelor of Applied Sciences in Nanotechnology Engineering from the University of Waterloo. He was then inspired by his research experiences in Boston to pursue an MD/PhD, which he subsequently completed at the University of Toronto in 2021. His graduate work was in the lab of Dr. Warren Chan, where he focused on the mechanisms of cancer nanomedicine. Specifically, he developed a 3D mapping technique for tumors to identify the precise location of nanoparticles and the surrounding microenvironment. He also discovered the mechanism for the entry of nanoparticles into solid tumors. He then completed his Internal Medicine training in 2024 in Toronto and is now pursuing a Hematology-Oncology Fellowship at the University of Chicago. Outside of the lab, he likes to read, explore coffee (trained as a Barista a long time ago!), and follow his favorite football (soccer!) team, Arsenal, on the weekend.
Maksym Pudelek
Visiting Graduate Student
Maksym comes from Tarnów, Poland. He began his scientific journey at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, where he joined a research team at the Department of Cell Biology. Motivated by a strong interest in the metabolic plasticity of cancer, his research focused on analyzing the metabolic preferences of glioblastoma multiforme cells and investigating their adaptive responses to metabolic stress induced by pathway-specific inhibitors.
He is currently further developing his research skills through the BioLab internship at the University of
Chicago. Outside the laboratory, he enjoys playing soccer, hiking in the
mountains, and drinking yerba mate.
Undergraduate Students
Sadye Lackman
Undergraduate Researcher (Molecular Engineering)
Sadye is an undergraduate student at the University of Chicago in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (’26). She is interested in immunology as it pertains to cancer research and therapies, and she joined the Park Lab in October 2024. She is currently working on an optogenetic tool for T cell fate tracking in vivo.
Sadye is from Los Angeles, CA, and in her free time, she enjoys dancing, sewing, and trying new coffee shops. She also designed the lab logo!
Evelyn Chua
Undergraduate Researcher (Biology)
Originally from the Chicagoland suburbs, Evelyn is an undergraduate pursuing a biology major on the pre-med track at the University of Chicago (‘28). Her academic interests lie in cancer immunology and immunotherapies as she aims to specialize in these fields as a physician.
Outside of the lab, Evelyn enjoys photography, swimming, hiking in national parks, and biking on the lakefront trail.
Alumni
Lena Eunkyung Lee
Research Assistant (Master Student in Biological Science Division)
Lena received a Master’s in Biomedical Science at the University of Chicago (2025), concentrating in Healthcare System Science. Her background includes project management in genetic research, as well as experience in data generation and international research collaborations. She also brings industry experience from the pharmaceutical sector, where she specialized in quality assurance and compliance.