Sarah L. Keller

Sarah L. Keller is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Washington, holding the Duane and Barbara LaViolette Endowed Chair. She earned her Ph.D. in Physics from Princeton University and completed postdoctoral research at UC Santa Barbara and Stanford University. Her research focuses on self-assembling soft matter systems, particularly lipid membrane biophysics and prebiotic chemistry. She investigates how lipid mixtures form complex phases and their biological implications.

Education: Ph.D. in Physics, Princeton University (1995); postdoctoral training at UC Santa Barbara (Presidential Fellow) and Stanford University (NIH NRSA Fellow).

Research Interests: Keller's lab explores phase behavior in lipid membranes, prebiotic vesicle formation, and membrane-driven cellular processes. They employ interdisciplinary approaches combining physics, chemistry, and bioengineering to study systems like yeast vacuoles and protocell models.

Awards: Biophysical Society Avanti Award, Cottrell Scholar, NSF CAREER Award, Fellow of the American Physical Society, and recognition for mentoring and teaching excellence. Her students frequently win NSF Graduate Fellowships and international awards.

Advising & Grants: Keller has mentored over 50 students/postdocs, many of whom hold academic or industry roles. Her lab emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration, with funding from NSF, NIH, and private foundations. The Keller Lab also supports career development resources for early-career researchers.

Labs/Teams: The lab is part of the UW Chemistry Department and collaborates with the UW Biophysics program. Research is conducted in the Bagley Hall laboratory, with access to advanced microscopy and simulation tools.