Julie Forman-Kay is program head in molecular medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. She received her B.Sc. in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her Ph.D. in molecular biophysics andd biochemistry from Yale University. The major focus of her lab is to provide biological insights into how dynamic properties of proteins are related to function and methodological tools to enable better understanding of dynamic and disordered states. Most recently, her lab has probed the biophysics of protein phase separation and how it regulates cellular condensates and biological function.
Julie Forman-Kay
Program head
Hospital for Sick Children
From this contributor
How microscopic ‘condensates’ in cells might contribute to autism
A controversial idea about how cells compartmentalize their contents into droplets — like beads of oil in water — could be key to understanding autism, says Julie Forman-Kay.
How microscopic ‘condensates’ in cells might contribute to autism
By
Angie Voyles Askham
23 February 2021 | 7 min read
Explore more from The Transmitter
Dispute erupts over universal cortical brain-wave claim
The debate highlights opposing views on how the cortex transmits information.
Dispute erupts over universal cortical brain-wave claim
The debate highlights opposing views on how the cortex transmits information.
By
Claudia López Lloreda
12 December 2025 | 5 min read
Waves of calcium activity dictate eye structure in flies
Synchronized signals in non-neuronal retinal cells draw the tiny compartments of a fruit fly’s compound eye into alignment during pupal development.
Waves of calcium activity dictate eye structure in flies
Synchronized signals in non-neuronal retinal cells draw the tiny compartments of a fruit fly’s compound eye into alignment during pupal development.
By
Lauren Schneider
12 December 2025 | 0 min watch
Among brain changes studied in autism, spotlight shifts to subcortex
The striatum and thalamus are more likely than the cerebral cortex to express autism variants or bear transcriptional changes, two unpublished studies find.
Among brain changes studied in autism, spotlight shifts to subcortex
The striatum and thalamus are more likely than the cerebral cortex to express autism variants or bear transcriptional changes, two unpublished studies find.
By
Holly Barker
11 December 2025 | 5 min read