Sarah Lusk

Sarah Lusk is a graduate student in the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. She received her Bachelor's degree in Biology from the University of Oregon.

During her training, Sarah's research has focused on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying embryonic development and how disruptions lead to human disease. As a post-baccalaureate research assistant in Alex Nechiporuk's lab at Oregon Health and Science University (2013-2015), Sarah conducted research on axonal transport in a zebrafish model of Goldberg-Shprintzen syndrome. Currently, Sarah is a PhD candidate in Kristen Kwan's lab at the University of Utah, where she continues to study developmental biology using zebrafish as a model, however she is now interested in tissue morphogenesis and the elegant process of optic cup morphogenesis. Sarah's graduate research focuses on understanding the morphogenesis of a crucial structure in the eye known as the optic fissure, and how disruptions to its development result in coloboma, a congenital eye disorder.

Sarah received an F31 pre-doctoral fellowship from the NEI/NIH and is currently searching for a post-doctoral position.