Leah McKinney

Position title: Grad Student

Email: lkmckinney@wisc.edu

Phone: (608) 263-1072

Leah McKinney

I first became interested in bacteria in elementary school, incubating plates in the water heater closet for science fair projects. I rediscovered that love as an undergraduate at MIT, in Alan Grossman’s lab. In the Wang lab, I am interested in characterizing how the stress signaling nucleotide (p)ppGpp regulates bacteria genome integrity and evolution through direct interactions with DNA replication and repair enzymes. Outside of lab, I like to run, to cook and bake unhealthy goodies, to play games, and to snuggle with my cat Macie, who loves to ‘help’ me work at home.

Publications

  • Krypotou E, Ruff KM, McKinney LK, Townsend GE, Wang JD, Pappu RV, Groisman EA (2026) Short autoinhibitory sequences control phase separation of an essential bacterial transcription termination factor. EMBO J. · Pubmed · DOI
  • England KA, Trinquier A, McKinney LK, Wang JD, Feaga HA (2026) Starvation-independent alarmone production inhibits translation through GTP depletion. bioRxiv · DOI