Dr. Sung-Ryul Kim is a Scientist II at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), where his research focuses on gene discovery and validation in rice, with a strong emphasis on utilizing wild rice relatives to expand the genetic base of cultivated varieties.

His team develops and studies mapping populations such as chromosome segment substitution lines (CSSLs) and introgression lines (ILs), which incorporate genetic material from diverse wild rice species into cultivated rice backgrounds. Through these populations, and using approaches such as fine mapping and candidate gene validation, his research identifies genes linked to key traits including resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, as well as grain quality and nutritional traits.

More recently, his team successfully cloned the high out-crossing (HO) gene from Oryza longistaminata, a wild rice species, which is important for hybrid rice development. The broader goal of his work is to discover novel genes that are absent in current cultivated rice but are valuable for improving breeding outcomes. His team also uses genome engineering tools such as CRISPR/Cas and transgenic approaches for gene validation and for improving traits directly in elite rice varieties.

Sung-Ryul earned his PhD in Rice Functional Genomics from POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology), Republic of Korea, in 2009 and joined IRRI in 2013.