A Canadian who grew up in Edmonton, Lewis Kay graduated with a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Alberta in 1983 and won the Lieutenant Governor’s Gold Medal for Highest Achievement in the Graduating Class in the Faculty of Science. Professor Kay went on to obtain his Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics from Yale University in 1988, followed by post-doctoral studies at the National Institutes of Health.   He was assistant professor from 1992–1994 and subsequently appointed full professor of molecular genetics, biochemistry and chemistry.

Measurement of active site ionization equilibria in the 670 kDa proteasome core particle using methyl-TROSY NMR Velyvis A, Kay LE. J Am Chem Soc. 2013 Jun 26;135(25):9259-62. doi: 10.1021/ja403091c Read Unraveling the mechanism of protein disaggregation through a ClpB-DnaK interaction Rosenzweig R, Moradi S, Zarrine-Afsar A, Glover JR, Kay LE. Science. 2013 Mar 1;339(6123):1080-3. doi: 10.1126/science.1233066 Read Proteasome allostery as a population shift between interchanging conformers Ruschak AM, Kay LE. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Nov 20;109(47):19268-73. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1212036109 Read Folding of the four-helix bundle FF domain from a compact on-pathway intermediate state is governed predominantly by water motion Sekhar A, Vallurupalli P, Kay LE. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Nov 20;109(47):19268-73. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1212036109 Read Structure of an intermediate state in protein folding and aggregation Neudecker P, Robustelli P, Cavalli A, Walsh P, Lundström P, Zarrine-Afsar A, Sharpe S, Vendruscolo M, Kay LE. Science. 2012 Apr 20;336(6079):362-6. doi: 10.1126/science.1214203 Read Solution structure of a minor and transiently formed state of a T4 lysozyme mutant Bouvignies G, Vallurupalli P, Hansen DF, Correia BE, Lange O, Bah A, Vernon RM, Dahlquist FW, Baker D, Kay LE. Nature. 2011 Aug 21;477(7362):111-4. doi: 10.1038/nature10349 Read