معرفی
Michael L Skowyra is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW), where he joined as an Endowed Scholar in spring 2025. His laboratory investigates fundamental mechanisms of peroxisome biogenesis, protein import, and membrane repair using innovative biochemical and cell biological approaches.
His educational background includes a doctoral degree from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where he trained with Phyllis I. Hanson and discovered a lysosomal membrane-repair pathway. He subsequently conducted postdoctoral research with Tom A. Rapoport at Harvard Medical School as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellow of the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation, where he elucidated the mechanism of peroxisomal protein import.
Dr. Skowyra's research focuses on how cellular organelles like peroxisomes form, maintain their identity, and execute critical metabolic functions including myelin synthesis, fat breakdown, and toxin processing. His lab employs intact cells, biochemical reconstitution with purified components, and a novel cell-free system derived from Xenopus egg extracts to study peroxisomal protein import through nuclear pore-like conduits, organelle growth/division mechanisms, and damage response pathways. Defects in these processes are linked to fatal human diseases, which his work aims to understand and cure.
His publication record reveals a consistent focus on organelle biology, with recent work (2022-2025) centered on peroxisomal protein translocation mechanisms using structural and biochemical approaches, while earlier research (2011-2018) examined membrane repair pathways and fungal pathogenesis. This progression demonstrates a shift from studying ESCRT machinery in lysosomal repair to specialized investigation of peroxisome biogenesis.
- 2023 Porter Prize for Research Excellence (American Society for Cell Biology)
- Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Medical Science Fellow (2019)
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellow of the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation
Dr. Skowyra has demonstrated leadership in academic community development as Chair of the Harvard Medical Postdoc Association (2023-2025), where he advocated for equitable postdoc compensation and career development resources. His laboratory, located in room K3.502 of UTSW's Jonsson Building, utilizes high-speed fluorescence imaging and in vitro reconstitution techniques to explore fundamental questions in organelle biology with direct implications for understanding human disease mechanisms.
