Clark, Karl Associate Professor of Precision Gene Editing

My research is built upon my interest and long history of technology development and genome engineering. I collaborate with a large array of scientists with whom I work to develop new methods of gene editing. At Texas A&M my primary interests are applying gene editing technologies to improve agriculture by improving animal welfare and production in response to new environmental challenges including climate change and pathogens. In addition to work in agricultural species, my lab uses the zebrafish model to aid in development of new genome engineering technology. We apply these molecular and genetic tools to dissect and discover the interactions between genes and the environment that affect both short and long-term changes in physiology and behavior. We have developed zebrafish assays and genetic tools to identify modifiers of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (interrenal) stress responses looking at both rapid (non-genomic) and delayed (genomic) responses to stressors.