Julius Lucks

Julius B. Lucks
Alma materUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (BS)
University of Cambridge (MPhil)
Harvard University (PhD)
Known forSHAPE-Seq, Cell-free biosensors, RNA folding design
AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship (2023)
Sloan Research Fellowship (2013)
AAAS Fellow (2025)
Scientific career
FieldsSynthetic biology, Chemical engineering, RNA
David Robert Nelson
Websiteluckslab.org

Julius B. Lucks is an American chemical and biological engineer and the Margery Claire Carlson Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Northwestern University.[1] He is known for his research in synthetic biology, particularly in the areas of RNA engineering and the development of low-cost, cell-free biosensors for environmental monitoring.[2] A Guggenheim Fellow and AAAS Fellow,[3] his work integrates biophysics and artificial intelligence to predict molecular folding.[4]

Education

Lucks attended the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics.[1] He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.S. in Chemistry as a Goldwater Scholar.[5] As a Churchill Scholar, he obtained an M.Phil. in Chemistry from the University of Cambridge.[6]

He completed his graduate studies at Harvard University, earning an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics under David Robert Nelson.[7] His doctoral research focused on viral genome organization using theoretical physics.

Career

Lucks was a Miller Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley in the laboratory of Adam P. Arkin, where he co-developed SHAPE-Seq, a method for high-throughput RNA structure probing.[8]

In 2011, he joined Cornell University as an Assistant Professor. In 2016, he moved to Northwestern University, where he serves as Professor and Co-Director of the Center for Synthetic Biology.[9] In 2019, he co-founded Stemloop, Inc. to commercialize biosensing technologies developed at Northwestern.[10]

Research

The Lucks Group focuses on two primary areas:

  • RNA Design and AI: Using deep learning and experimental pipelines to predict and design RNA folding processes.[11]
  • Biosensing Technologies: Engineering cell-free systems for point-of-use diagnostics. These sensors have been field-tested for monitoring water quality in Chicago and Kenya.[2]

Awards and honors

References

  1. ^ a b "Faculty Profile: Julius Lucks". Northwestern McCormick School of Engineering. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
  2. ^ a b Jung, J. K.; Alam, K. K.; Lucks, J. B. (2020). "Cell-free biosensors for rapid detection of water contaminants". Nature Biotechnology. 38: 1451–1459. doi:10.1038/s41587-020-0571-7. PMC 7718425.
  3. ^ a b "Lucks Named Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science". Northwestern Engineering. 2025-03-27. Retrieved 2026-02-02.
  4. ^ a b "Julius B. Lucks - John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation". Retrieved 2024-05-22.
  5. ^ "Departmental Awards - UNC Chemistry". University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
  6. ^ "Churchill Scholars by Year". Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
  7. ^ "Hertz Fellow: Julius Lucks". Fannie and John Hertz Foundation. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
  8. ^ Lucks, J. B. (2011). "Multiplexed RNA structure characterization with selective 2'-hydroxyl acylation analyzed by primer extension sequencing (SHAPE-Seq)". PNAS. 108 (27): 11063–11068. doi:10.1073/pnas.1106501108. PMC 3131332.
  9. ^ "Leadership - Center for Synthetic Biology". Northwestern University. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
  10. ^ "Northwestern startup Stemloop wins global water tech competition". Northwestern University News. 2021. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
  11. ^ Strobel, E. J.; Yu, A. M.; Lucks, J. B. (2018). "High-throughput determination of RNA structures". Nature Reviews Genetics. 19: 615–634. doi:10.1038/s41576-018-0034-x. PMC 7388734.
  12. ^ "AIMBE College of Fellows Class of 2022". Retrieved 2024-05-22.
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