Born in a rural area of Gimpo City, Lee interacted with the natural world and raised livestock at home which inspired an interest in biology.

While under an Illinois State Scholarship[2] and working as a junior research assistant in the lab of Professor Louis Seiden, Lee majored in chemistry and obtained his B.A.

Lee participated in establishing brain science research infrastructure at KIST, first as a founding member of the Center for Neuroscience with director Shin Hee-sup.

[5][6][7] In November 2018, Lee joined the IBS Center for Cognition and Sociality as a co-director with Shin Hee-sup, who he had previously met and worked with at KIST.

[10] Lee's research group has contributed to the field of gliotransmission by creating several seminal publications on the channel-mediated gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate release from astrocytes.

[18] In response to his Alzheimer's research related to causes of memory loss, Lee received the Science Day 2017 Presidential Medal of Honor.

[22] They also put forth the proposal that the heterodimer of TWIK-1 and TREK-1 could be a potential therapeutic target for epilepsy, depression, and anxiety disorders caused by concentrations of potassium ion.

[27] Lee's research also showed that the astrocytic volume change through aquaporin-4 water channel is critical for synaptic plasticity.

[31] Lee has been involved in the development of several research-related software projects, including Mini Analysis and Easy Articles, both distributed by Synaptosoft.