News From The CLARK LAB

The Clark Lab

The Clark lab studies the molecular mechanisms of lipid transport and sensory transduction. They leverage C. elegans genetics and scalability to investigate the architecture and function of the macromolecular complexes at the heart of these cellular processes. The lab aims to understand how these mechanisms govern organismal behavior and physiology.

Publications

"Structural basis of lipid transfer by a bridge-like lipid transfer protein"

The Clark lab published its first paper this spring, titled “Structural basis of lipid transfer by a bridge-like lipid transfer protein". The paper describes the first high resolution structure of a lipid transport protein complex that is isolated from C. Elegans. The lipid transport protein, LPD-3, is in complex with three auxiliary proteins and 30 lipid molecules. The structure provides insight into the mechanism of lipid transport between the ER and the plasma membrane. The paper has been covered by multiple sources, including a Nature briefing, an OSU impact article, a Nature Structural and Molecular Biology article, and Phys.org, all linked below.

Kang, Y., Lehmann, K. S., Long, H., Jefferson, A., Purice, M., Freeman, M., & Clark, S. (2025). Structural basis of lipid transfer by a bridge-like lipid-transfer protein. Nature, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08918-y

Click HERE to read the article

Click HERE to read the OSU impact article

Click HERE to read the Nature briefing

Click HERE to read the coverage from phys.org

Click HERE to read the coverage from NSMB

New Lab Members!

The Clark lab welcomes graduate student Sarah Perkel to the lab! Sarah will study the structure and function of mechanosensitive ion channels in Drosophila, and why they appear to be so favored evolutionarily across insect species.