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INFORMATION FOR

LusKing Lab

Welcome to LusKing Lab!

The LusKing Lab investigates fundamental aspects of nuclear structure, dynamics, and integrity. We communicate our knowledge to both the scientific community and the general public. The lab provides a rich training environment for scientists at all levels to become interdisciplinary researchers capable of working effectively both individually and as a team. Our group is proud to effect positive change—promoting core principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion—in our institutional, local, and national scientific communities.

Principal Investigators’ Message

We lead a passionate and diverse research group that equally emphasizes providing an environment for scientific research and training. As such, we strive to establish a community where scientific discovery is as passionately pursued as personal and professional ambition. Our mission is to make fundamental discoveries in the field of nuclear cell biology at the interface of basic and medical science. We work hard to not only advance scientific knowledge but also to disseminate that knowledge through engaging in scientific outreach and teaching. Further, we recognize that our potential can only be reached when the contributions of all members of our local communities are heard and valued. To this end, we strive to create a lab environment built fundamentally on respect, kindness, and compassion, in which all members are supported and celebrated. We seek to purposefully amplify and uplift the voices of those who belong to groups underrepresented in science and ensure that space is created for diverse ideas to be heard.

Join Our Team

We are recruiting new members to join our team at all career stages. If you are interested, please contact Megan and/or Patrick. See more details under “People”.

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For interested students, please see our short introduction to the Lab:

Contact

  • Megan C. King, PhD

    Associate Professor of Cell Biology and of Molecular, Cellular and Development Biology; Co-Leader, Radiobiology and Genome Integrity, Yale Cancer Center; Associate Cancer Center Director, Basic Science

    Megan received her B.A. in Biochemistry from Brandeis University working with Dr. Susan Lowey and her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania working with Dr. Mark Lemmon. During her postdoctoral training with Dr. Günter Blobel at Rockefeller University, she discovered new mechanisms for the targeting and function of integral inner nuclear membrane proteins. Since founding her own group in 2009, Megan has continued to investigate the broad array of biological functions that are integrated at the nuclear envelope, from impacts on DNA repair to nuclear and cellular mechanics. Megan was named a Searle Scholar in 2011, is a recipient of the NIH New Innovator Award and is currently an Allen Distinguished Investigator.
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  • C. Patrick Lusk, PhD

    Associate Professor of Cell Biology

    Dr. Lusk runs the joint LusKing laboratory with Megan King in the Department of Cell Biology. He is also the co-director of the MCGD graduate training track. He has a long standing interest in fundamental cellular mechanisms of compartmentalization with an emphasis on those that govern the biogenesis of the nuclear envelope and nuclear pore complexes (NPCs). He has been studying the nuclear envelope and nuclear transport since his graduate work at the University of Alberta in Canada and has been trained during his postdoctoral fellowship by Nobel Laureate Günter Blobel at The Rockefeller University. During this time, he (with collaborators/colleagues) has provided substantial insight into how nuclear transport is regulated and how the NPC is assembled. Moreover, he has helped to develop yeast as a model to study integral membrane proteins that reside at the inner nuclear membrane. While it is generally understood that these proteins are essential factors in gene regulation and genome organization, which is reflected by the discovery of the “nuclear envelopathies”, they remain challenging to study. Dr. Lusk is leveraging his expertise in yeast cell biology and genetics with super-resolution and proteomic approaches to illuminate function at the nuclear periphery.
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