Laufer Center Seminar - Matthew Ryan King

Matthew Ryan King, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Associate at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

February 12, 2026 at 1:00 PM

Laufer Center Lecture Hall 101

Title: Organize to Optimize: How intrinsically disordered proteins and condensates coordinate biochemical reactions in a partitionless nucleus

Matt King's research explores how intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) on proteins and local chemical properties within cellular condensates drive distinct biochemical reactions. During his postdoc, he established that nuclear bodies harbor distinct physicochemical microenvironments. He also co-developed a proteome-spanning resource that helps predict IDR-based functional interactions and cancer-related IDR disruptions. His ongoing work interrogates how disease-associated IDR modifications affect chromatin remodeling and ribosome biogenesis. As an independent investigator, he aims to determine how IDRs facilitate specific interactions between nuclear proteins to spatially organize that organelle. His work will also chart a chemical atlas of the nucleus and work to establish how physicochemical properties of nuclear bodies potentiate biochemical reactions like phosphorylation and chromatin remodeling.