The McKinley lab studies regeneration in the uterus and the biology of menstruation.

The McKinley laboratory studies the uterus to advance reproductive health and regenerative medicine. The human uterine lining (endometrium) undergoes dramatic tissue remodeling each month over the menstrual cycle, followed by shedding during menstruation and subsequent repair, ultimately regenerating ~400 times over the reproductive lifespan.

We use high-resolution live microscopy to watch and perturb regeneration in real time, and use a variety of genetic, molecular, and cell biological approaches to mechanistically dissect these processes over single-cell and tissue length scales. Our goals are to define the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the remarkable regenerative capacity of this organ, to understand how defects in these processes give rise to pathologies including cancers, endometriosis, and abnormal uterine bleeding, and to harness their regenerative mechanisms for the precise repair of old or damaged tissues.

Biosketch

Dr. Kara McKinley is an Assistant Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University and a Freeman Hrabowski Scholar of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She received her A.B. from Princeton University in 2010 and her Ph.D. from MIT in 2016. From 2016-2021 she was a Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow and NIH K99 Pathway to Independence Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research awards include the Harold M. Weintraub Award from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the Kaluza Prize from the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), the Merton Bernfield Memorial Award from ASCB, the Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation, and the Dale F. Frey Award for Breakthrough Scientists from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. She is also the founder of the Leading Edge Symposium, an initiative to promote gender equity among biomedical research faculty.