Faculty Profiles

Colleges and Departments

Dr. Karen Lewis

  • Associate Professor - Chemistry and Biochemistry
Portrait of Dr. Karen Lewis

Biography and education

Dr. Karen A. Lewis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Texas State University in San Marcos, TX.

Teaching Interests

Research Interests

  • Lewis, Karen A, Whitten, Steven T (Co-Principal), Hough, Loren (Co-Principal), Hodby, Eleanor (Co-Principal), Theodoropoulou, Nikoleta (Supporting), Close, Eleanor W (Supporting), Rangelov, Blagoy (Supporting), Islam, Tanzima Z (Supporting), Betancourt, Tania (Supporting), Berry, Joe (Supporting), Finklestein, Noah (Supporting), MacGregor, Meredith (Supporting), Brown, Jed (Supporting), Eaves, Joel (Supporting). Creating Equitable Pathways to STEM Graduate Education, Sloan Foundation, Private / Foundation / Corporate, $249299. (Submitted: September 2, 2022, Funded: January 2023 - Present). Grant.
  • Lewis, Karen A (Principal), Kerwin, Sean Michael (Co-Principal), Whitten, Steven T (Co-Principal), Kornienko, Alexander Vladimir (Supporting), Peterson, Ryan Loren (Supporting), Xue, Xiaoyu (Supporting). MRI: Acquisition of Automated Isothermal Titration Calorimeter for Biophysical Research at Texas State University, National Science Foundation, Federal, $262280. (Submitted: January 19, 2022, Funded: September 1, 2022 - August 31, 2025). Grant.
  • Lewis, Karen A (Principal), Luxford, Cynthia J (Co-Principal), Wheeler, Brittany Marie (Co-Principal), Webre, Whitney Ann (Co-Principal), Holland, Cory Lee (Co-Principal), Betancourt, Tania (Supporting), Brittain, William J (Supporting), Hudnall, Todd W (Supporting), Irvin, Jennifer A (Supporting), Kerwin, Sean Michael (Supporting), Kornienko, Alexander Vladimir (Supporting), Peterson, Ryan Loren (Supporting), Rhodes, Christopher Peter (Supporting). REU Site: A Chemistry REU on Molecular Innovation and Exploration (CheMIE), National Science Foundation, Federal, $378188. (Submitted: August 25, 2021, Funded: April 15, 2022 - Present). Grant.
  • Lewis, Karen A (Principal), Kerwin, Sean Michael (Co-Principal), McLean, Robert J C (Co-Principal), Chang, Carolyn T (Supporting), David, Wendi M (Supporting). U-RISE at Texas State, National Institutes of Health - National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Federal, $2238578. (Funded: April 1, 2021 - March 31, 2026). Grant.
  • Lewis, Karen A (Principal). Molecular Mechanisms of RNA Binding by the Posttranscriptional Regulator LARP6, National Institutes of Health - National Institute of General Medical Studies, Federal, $460000. (Submitted: February 26, 2018, Funded: September 1, 2019 - August 31, 2022). Grant.
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  • Dock-Bregeon, A.-C., Lewis, K. A., & Conte, M. R. (2019). Structural Advances in La and La Related Proteins. RNA Biology. https://doi.org/10.1080/15476286.2019.1695712
  • Wilson, C., Lewis, K. A., Fitzkee, N. C., Hough, L. E., & Whitten, S. T. (2023). ParSe 2.0: A web tool to identify drivers of protein phase separation at the proteome level. Protein Science, 32(9). https://doi.org/doi: 10.1002/pro.4756
  • Ibrahim, A. Y., Khaodeuanepheng, N. P., Amarasekara, D. L., Correia, J. J., Lewis, K. A., Fitzkee, N. C., … Whitten, S. T. (2023). Intrinsically disordered regions that drive phase separation form a robustly distinct protein class. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 299(1), 102801. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbc.2022.102801
  • Paiz, E. A., Lewis, K. A., & Whitten, S. T. (2021). Structural and energetic characterization of the denatured state from the perspectives of peptides, the coil library, and intrinsically disordered proteins. Molecules, 26(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26030634
  • Lewis, K. A., & Luxford, C. J. (2020). Integrating Manipulatives and Animations to Visualize Holliday Junctions. CourseSource, 7. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2020.37
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  • Award / Honor Recipient: College Achievement Award for Excellence in Service, Texas State University. September 1, 2022
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Foundations of Excellence, Texas State University Student Foundation. 2020
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Alpha Chi Favorite Professor, Alpha Chi Student Honor Society. 2018
  • Award / Honor Recipient: ABRCMS Judge Travel Award, ABRCMS/American Society for Microbiology. November 14, 2018 - November 18, 2018
  • Award / Honor Recipient: College Achievement Award for Excellence in Teaching, Texas State University. September 1, 2018
View all awards
  1. Chair

    Central Texas Local Section of the American Chemical Society

  2. Graduate Advisor

    Integrated Molecular and Biophysical Chemistry

  3. Treasurer

    Gibbs Society for Biological Thermodynamics

  4. Member

    Political Affairs Advisory Committee, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

  5. Other

    Texas State U-RISE Program

  6. Other

    CIMER Research Mentor Training Program

  7. View all activities