Dr. Karen Schindler is a Professor in the Department of Genetics at Rutgers University, New Jersey. She received a B.S. in Biology from Loyola University, Maryland and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology at Thomas Jefferson University. At Jefferson, her thesis work focused on understanding how a meiosis-specific protein kinase called IME2 controls sporulation in budding yeast and was mentored by Dr. Edward Winter. She then completed postdoctoral training with Dr. Richard Schultz at the University of Pennsylvania where she expanded her meiosis research into using mouse oocytes. At Penn, she was supported by F32 and K99 NIH training grants.
Dr. Schindler started her lab at Rutgers in 2012. Her laboratory investigates the mechanisms by which the Aurora protein kinases regulate meiotic chromosome segregation and how they contribute to other aspects of egg quality, is determining the underlying genetic causes of elevated egg aneuploidy in humans, is seeking to understand how Sirtuin 7 functions to control reproductive longevity and exploring contents and fate of meiotic midbodies. Her research is generously supported by funding from the NIH (NIGMS and NICHD) and the ASRM Research Institute. Dr. Schindler was the recipient of 2018 SSR Virendra B. Mahesh New Investigator Award and the 2020 FASEB Excellence in Science Early Career Investigator Award.
Dr. Schindler is actively involved in the reproductive biology community. She currently is the “Gametogenesis and Embryogenesis” section director for the Frontiers in Reproduction course, a six-week intensive course held annually at the Marine Biological Laboratories. She serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Reproduction journal, and is past chair of the Women in Reproductive Sciences committee for SSR. At Rutgers, Dr. Schindler established and directs “RU Repro”, a group of scientists who meet twice a month to learn and discuss reproductive biology research. Dr. Schindler has trained 30 undergraduate researchers, 6 PhD students, and 10 postdocs.