Amy L. Stark Associate Professor of the Practice

Research Interests:

I have a passion and expertise for both genetics outreach and biomedical research. As the Director of the DNA Learning Center, I work to educate K-12 students and non-scientists in all areas of genetics. As a researcher, I lead students in research focusing on pharmacogenomics, particularly of oncology treatments. My research interests have focused on understanding gene expression signatures in response to drug exposure. A greater understanding of therapy-induced gene expression changes could be clinically beneficial and impactful by increasing treatment effectiveness through gene expression modification. I have also accepted numerous leadership opportunities in the American Society of Human Genetics, the premiere professional society for human geneticists including serving on the Program Committee 2020-2023.

Biography:

• Director of the DNA Learning Center 2014-Present
• Executive Director of the Northern Indiana Regional Science and Engineering Fair 2019- present
• Associate Professor of the Practice 2020-present
• Assistant Professor of the Practice 2014-2020
• Postdoctoral Scholar in the Dept. of Medicine, Section of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Chicago 2011-2014
• PhD in Human Genetics from University of Chicago 2011
• Lindau Nobel Laureate NIH Representative 2010

Recent Papers:

Selected from over 20 peer reviewed publications:

• Stark AL, Madian AG, Williams SW, Chen V, Wing C, Hause RJ, To LA, Gill AL, Myers JL, Gorsic LK, Ciaccio M, White KP, Jones RB, Dolan ME. (2017) Identification of novel protein expression changes following cisplatin treatment and application to combination therapy. Journal of Proteome Research 16:4227-4236.
• Eadon MT, Hause RJ, Stark AL, Cheng YH, Wheeler HE, Burgess KS, Bensen EA, Cunningham PN, Bacallao RL, Dagher PC, Skaat TC, Dolan ME. (2017) Genetic variants contributing to colistin cytotoxicity: Identification of TGIF1 and HOXD10 using a populations genomics approach. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 18:e661.
• Boonstra JL, Koneval ME, Clark JD, Schick M, Smith M, Stark AL. (2015) Milbemycin oxime (Interceptor®) treatment of amphipod parasites (Hyperiidae) from several host jellyfish species. Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 46:158-160.
• Stark AL, Hause RJ, Gorsic LK, Antao NN, Wong SS, Gill DF, Chung SF, Im HK, White KP, Jones RB, Dolan ME. (2014) Protein quantitative trait loci identify novel candidates modulating cellular response to chemotherapy. PLoS Genetics 10:e1004192.
• Hause RJ, Stark AL, Antao NN, Gorsic LK, Chung SH, Brown CD, Gill DF, Myers JL, White KP, Dolan ME, Jones RB. (2014) Identification and validation of genetic variants that influence protein expression and their association with mRNA levels and complex diseases. American Journal of Human Genetics 95:194-208.
• Moen EL, Stark AL, Zhang W, Dolan ME, Godley LA. (2014) The role of gene body cytosine modifications in MGMT expression and sensitivity to temozolomide. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics 13:1334-1344.
• Pinto N, Gamazon ER, Antao NN, Myers JL, Stark AL, Konkashbaev A, Im HK, Diskin SJ, London WB, Ludeman SM, Maris JM, Cox NJ, Cohn SL, Dolan ME. (2014) Integrating cell-based and clinical genome-wide studies to identify genetic variants contributing to treatment failure in Neuroblastoma patients. Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics 95:644-652.