Lisa Olshansky.Lisa Olshansky, an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has joined the Beckman Institute.
Olshansky began her independent career as an assistant professor of chemistry at Illinois in 2018. Her research centers on exploring and exploiting conformational gating mechanisms. Conformational gating is when the rate of a reaction depends on a large-scale structural change and is a common mechanism for regulating reactivity in biological systems. By developing simplified model systems that mimic this mechanism, Olshansky and her colleagues are developing new molecular switches for solar energy conversion, biocatalysts, and biosensors.
Olshansky is particularly interested in biosensors that can sense and respond to early signs of disease in the human body. For example, she has already developed a protein-based biosensor that responds to glutamine binding, which happens more frequently in healthy cells than cancerous ones. She envisions that these biosensors may one day be applied to detect early signs of cancer and disease — even prior to the formation of tumor cells. Collaborations with Beckman's Brad Sutton, Tracey Wszalek, and their teams at the Biomedical Imaging Center play a critical role in translating systems development to testing and application.
"The aspect of becoming a Beckman faculty affiliate that most excites me is the prospect of increased collaboration and interaction with a large cross-section of researchers. One of my favorite aspects of scientific research is the creativity involved. My creativity is particularly sparked through interdisciplinary interactions, and I believe that it is within these intersections that transformative discoveries have the highest potential to arise," she said.
Olshansky earned her B.S. in chemistry from UC San Diego in 2009. She completed her Ph.D. in chemistry at MIT in 2015 as an NSF and Presidential Fellow under the mentorship of Professors Daniel Nocera and JoAnne Stubbe. She then went on to work with Professor Andy Borovik at UC Irvine as an ACS Irving S. Sigal Postdoctoral Fellow.
During her early career, Olshansky has been recognized with Searle, Cottrell, and Vallee Scholars awards, Carver Trust and DOE Young Investigator awards, and an NIH Early-Stage Investigator award. Olshansky was recently named an NAS Kavli Fellow and received the Paul Saltman Young Investigator Award for her research on Metals in Biology.
Since joining the faculty at Illinois, Olshansky has spearheaded an initiative called C2 that aims to foster inclusivity and diversity in the School of Chemical
Sciences. She is also an assistant professor in the Materials Research Lab and an affiliate faculty with the center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology.
