Jeong-Il Kim received his Bachelor’s degree from Seoul National University, Republic of Korea, in 1991, his Master’s degree from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, in 1993, and a Ph.D. from the department of chemistry of University Nebraska-Lincoln in 2002. He is currently a professor at the Department of Molecular Biotechnology, Chonnam National University, and the director of Kumho Life Science Laboratory. He has been working on the regulatory mechanisms for photomorphogenetic development and light signaling networks in plants, mainly with phytochromes. In addition, He is also conducting biotechnology-related research, such as the development of biotech crops using the CRISPR/Cas-mediated gene-editing methods.