
Bio
Amander Clark, Ph.D., studies germline cells, which are the cells that create eggs and sperm. Germline cells are the only cells in the human body capable of passing genes from parent to child. Clark aims to expand the understanding of human germline cell development, which could lead to new methods that identify and treat infertility and shed light on how congenital abnormalities and germ cell tumors develop.
The Clark lab uses pluripotent stem cells to recreate germline cells in the laboratory. This approach is used to understand how genetic information stored in the germline is protected and preserved during the reproductive life cycle. Through this work, Clark and her team strive to identify genetic abnormalities that could cause human infertility or diseases of the germline including germ cell tumors in young boys and primary ovarian insufficiency in young girls. Her research could also lead to the creation of new regenerative approaches through in vitro gametogenesis (IVG), the process of creating eggs and sperm from human induced pluripotent stem cells.
In 2015, Clark and her team developed the first genomics-based method to map the critical stages of human germline cell development. The resulting map allows Clark and other researchers to use genomic technologies to measure the quality of germline cells made from pluripotent stem cells in the laboratory. Ensuring that the germline cells made in the laboratory are equivalent to cells found in the body is critical for the development of cell therapies that could treat infertility, which affects an estimated 50 million couples worldwide and is common among cancer survivors whose eggs or sperm have been damaged by chemotherapy or radiation treatment.
Clark earned a doctorate degree in cell and developmental biology from the University of Melbourne and completed post-doctoral fellowships at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of California, San Francisco.
Publications
- Human Primordial Germ Cells Are Specified from Lineage-Primed ProgenitorsPublished in Cell Reports on Tuesday, December 24, 2019
- TFAP2C regulates transcription in human naive pluripotency by opening enhancersPublished in Nature Cell Biology on Wednesday, April 25, 2018
- PRDM14 is expressed in germ cell tumors with constitutive overexpression altering human germline differentiation and proliferationPublished in Stem Cell Research on Monday, January 29, 2018
- Deriving Dorsal Spinal Sensory Interneurons from Human Pluripotent Stem CellsPublished in Stem Cell Reports on Thursday, January 11, 2018
- Nuclear Localization of Mitochondrial TCA Cycle Enzymes as a Critical Step in Mammalian Zygotic Genome ActivationPublished in Cell on Thursday, January 12, 2017
- Human Embryonic Stem Cells Do Not Change Their X Inactivation Status during DifferentiationPublished in Cell Reports on Thursday, December 15, 2016
- Human Naive Pluripotent Stem Cells Model X Chromosome Dampening and X InactivationPublished in Cell Stem Cell on Thursday, December 15, 2016
- Naive Human Pluripotent Cells Feature a Methylation Landscape Devoid of Blastocyst or Germline MemoryPublished in Cell Stem Cell on Thursday, February 4, 2016
- DNA Demethylation Dynamics in the Human Prenatal GermlinePublished in Cell on Thursday, May 21, 2015
- MORC1 represses transposable elements in the mouse male germlinePublished in Nature Communications on Friday, December 12, 2014
- Stage-Specific Roles for Tet1 and Tet2 in DNA Demethylation in Primordial Germ CellsPublished in Cell Stem Cell on Thursday, February 14, 2013
- The ontogeny of cKIT+ human primordial germ cells proves to be a resource for human germ line reprogramming, imprint erasure and in vitro differentiationPublished in Nature Cell Biology on Sunday, December 16, 2012
- From skin biopsy to neurons through a pluripotent intermediate under good manufacturing practice protocolsPublished in Stem Cells Translational Medicine on Wednesday, December 7, 2011
- Derivation of new human embryonic stem cell lines reveals rapid epigenetic progression in vitro that can be prevented by chemical modification of chromatinPublished in Human Molecular Genetics on Friday, November 4, 2011
- Female human iPSCs retain an inactive X chromosomePublished in Cell Stem Cell on Friday, September 3, 2010
- Relationship between nucleosome positioning and DNA methylationPublished in Nature on Sunday, May 30, 2010
- Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells and Embryonic Stem Cells Are Distinguished by Gene Expression SignaturesPublished in Cell Stem Cell on Thursday, July 2, 2009
- Directed Differentiation of Human‐Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Generates Active Motor NeuronsPublished in Stem Cells on Monday, February 23, 2009
- Generation of human induced pluripotent stem cells from dermal fibroblastsPublished in PNAS on Tuesday, February 26, 2008
- UHRF1 Plays a Role in Maintaining DNA Methylation in Mammalian CellsPublished in Science on Thursday, August 2, 2007
Honors & Affiliations
Honors
- Young Investigator Award, International Society for Stem Cell Research, 2003
Affiliations
- International Society for Stem Cell Research
- American Society for Reproductive Medicine
- Society for the Study of Reproduction
- The Hinxton Group
- UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Program
- UCLA Molecular Biology Institute
Funding
Clark’s work is funded by the National Institutes of Health, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, STOP Cancer, the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Center.