Y. Bill Kim, Ph.D.

Dr. Bill Kim is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at York University. His research focuses on finding new ways of creating genetic diversity using CRISPR technology.

Bill completed his undergraduate study at the University of Toronto, where he first encountered the elegance of proteins and how new function can be created through molecular evolution, while working with Professor G. Andrew Woolley for his 4th year project. He then went on to complete his PhD study at Harvard University with Professor David R. Liu, where he was a part of the group that invented the first cytosine base editor (CBE), which was featured as a finalist for ‘Breakthrough of the Year’ by Science magazine in 2017. Afterwards, Bill applied his base editing expertise at Pairwise Plants, a startup company focused on agriculture. There, he expanded the mutagenic capabilities of base editors and other new genome editing proteins, resulting in over 10 pending or granted patent applications. At the same time, he gained a valuable insight on how technology translates into real-world value. Bill joined York University as an assistant professor in 2023.