Narry Kim is a Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at Seoul National University and a founding Director of the RNA Research Center at Institute for Basic Science (IBS). Kim graduated from Seoul National University in 1992 and received her Ph.D. in 1998 from the University of Oxford where she studied lentiviruses and gene delivery. For postdoctoral training, she joined the Gideon Dreyfuss lab at the University of Pennsylvania to study mRNA surveillance. Kim moved back to Seoul National University in 2001 to set up her own group and has been investigating how genes are regulated at the RNA level.

The Kim lab delineated the microRNA pathway, identified key factors including DROSHA, and revealed their action mechanisms and structures. Her group also uncovered the roles of noncanonical RNA tailing such as uridylation and mixed tailing in the control of microRNAs, mRNAs, and viral RNAs. She is a recipient of the L’Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science Award, the Hoam Prize, and the Asan Prize; was elected members of KAS, NAS, EMBO, and the Royal Society; and serves on the editorial boards of Science, Cell, Molecular Cell, GD, and EMBO J.