After earning her B.S. in Chemistry from UC San Diego in 2009, Dr. Lisa Olshansky completed her Ph.D. in Chemistry at MIT in 2015 as an NSF Graduate Research and Presidential fellow under the mentorship of Profs. Daniel Nocera and JoAnne Stubbe. She then went on to work with Prof. Andy Borovik at UC Irvine as an ACS Irving S. Sigal Postdoctoral fellow. In 2018, Lisa began her independent career as an Assistant Prof. of Chemistry at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign where her team is working to mimic and exploit mechanisms in which macroscopic structural control is used to control the properties of metal centers. During her early career, Olshansky has been recognized with Searle, Cottrell, and Vallee Scholars awards, Carver Trust and DOE Young Investigator awards, and an NIH Early Stage Investigator award. Olshansky was recently named an NAS Kavli Fellow, received the Paul Saltman Young Investigator Award for her research on Metals in Biology, and was recently named a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awardee. Finally, since joining the faculty at Illinois, Olshansky has spearheaded an initiative called C² that aims to foster inclusivity and diversity in the School of Chemical Sciences.

Bioinspired inorganic chemistry, synthesis of metal complexes capable of undergoing triggered conformational changes, preparation of switchable artificial metalloproteins, applications in biomedical research and renewable energy.

Research in the Olshansky lab is focused on mimicking the way that biological systems use structural changes as a vehicle for the interconversion of different forms of energy (e.g. converting binding energy, protein-protein interactions, sunlight, or pH gradients into chemical energy). This mechanistic paradigm is prevalent in biology and represents a powerful means with which to direct energetically demanding reactions without the need for excessive energy input.

We are inspired by the countless enzymatic systems that, upon stimulation, use macromolecular changes to gate reactivity. Biomimetic metallocofactors are prepared both synthetically and through the generation of artificial metalloproteins. In both cases stimulus-responsive conformational changes target changes in metal ion coordination geometry and secondary sphere interactions to affect changes in the intrinsic properties of the metallocofactor (E°', pKa, spin state, substrate activation). In turn, these changes are leveraged to do work, with applications ranging from biomedical imaging and targeted drug delivery to solar fuels production.

We are a multidisciplinary group and use a combination of synthetic, physical and biochemical methods to achieve these goals. Students from all areas are encouraged to apply.

2024 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award

2024 Paul Saltman Young Investigator Award

2023 National Academy of Sciences Kavli Fellow

2022-2027 Department of Energy Early Career Research Award

2022 San Diego City College Working in Industry Alumni Award

2022-2025 Cottrell Scholar Award

2021-2025 Vallee Scholars Award

2021-2023 Lincoln Excellence for Assistant Professors Award UIUC

2020-2023 Searle Scholars Award

2020-2023 Carver Trust Young Investigator Award

2020-2025 National Institutes of Health Maximizing Investigators' Research Award for Early-Stage Investigators (R35) 

Department of Chemistry
University of Illinois
A326 CLSL, MC-712, Box 58-6
600 South Mathews Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801

(217) 300-8126