Dr. Kuk is an assistant professor in the City University of Hong Kong (DG) biomedical engineering program. Previously he was a postdoc with David Silver at Duke-NUS Medical School. He obtained his PhD at Duke University advised by Seok-Yong Lee. He has received a Human Frontier Science Program fellowship and a Singapore Young Individual Research Grant. His research centers on sugar and lipid metabolism, protein and metabolic engineering, extracellular matrix, and applications to nanomedicine. An enduring theme is the synthesis, remodeling, and recycling of the glycocalyx, a layer of carbohydrates surrounding the cell, with focus on the transporter proteins and membrane protein enzymes that mediate these processes.

His research has produced important contributions to bacterial cell wall synthesis, human N-linked glycosylation, and lysosomal lipid metabolism. He has consistently published in Tier 1/Q1 journals including PNAS, Cell Metabolism, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, and Nature Communications, with over 600 total citations including by US National Academy of Sciences members Daniel Kahne and Suzanne Walker (Harvard University), Barbara Imperiali (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and Dame Carol V Robinson (Oxford University). His pioneering study on the protein structure of MurJ laid the molecular foundation for antibiotic development and is highlighted on the Faculty of 1000 platform.