Molecular Biology of the Cell (MBoC) has named Virginia Lyle King as a winner of the 2024 MBOC Paper of the Year Award for her research paper, F-actin–rich territories coordinate apoptosome assembly and caspase activation during DNA damage–induced intrinsic apoptosis. Awarded to the first author on a paper (grad student or postcoc), King was chosen by the Editorial Board of ASCB's science research journal, MBoC, as one of the best papers published from June of the previous year to May.

Dr. King (Virginia Lyle) received her Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Connecticut in the laboratory of Dr. Ken Campellone, and her B.S. in Biology at the University of Mary Washington.

Dr. King is an Associate of Cure Ventures with over 10 years of research experience. As a member of the Cure Ventures team, Lyle is involved in sourcing new deals, conducting due diligence, and assisting with company creation endeavors.

Most recently, she worked at the University of Connecticut as a graduate researcher where she gained extensive experience utilizing a broad range of genetic and molecular biology tools to study the spatiotemporal regulation of cellular stress responses in relation to human diseases, with a specific interest in cell death and cancer biology research. Her work established the actin cytoskeleton and actin-binding proteins as essential regulators of cell death and identified the importance of actin in coordinating the progression of apoptosis pathways. These discoveries bridged a longstanding gap between the cytoskeleton and apoptosis fields and provided new avenues for studying tumorigenesis. In addition to her academic research, Lyle cultivated effective leadership experience by mentoring junior scientists, teaching multiple courses in both laboratory and classroom settings, and volunteering for nonprofit educational programs that work to address the communication gap that exists between the general public and scientific communities.

Congratulations Dr. King!