Janice Parker-Thornburg, Ph.D., M.Ed.
Department of Genetics, Division of SVP Chief Academic Officer
About Dr. Parker-Thornburg
Dr. Parker-Thornburg is an Associate Professor in the Department of Genetics, and the co-Director of the MD Anderson Genetically Engineered Mouse (GEMF) facility. Originally from a small town in Michigan, she received her B.S. degree from Michigan State University, a Masters in Education from the University of Cincinnati, and her Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology from Indiana University. Upon completing postdoctoral training at the College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, she moved to Columbus, Ohio, where she established the successful Transgenic Animal Facility at The Ohio State University. She joined MD Anderson in 2002 as a research faculty member in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and manager of the GEMF. Dr. Parker-Thornburg has extensive expertise in generating genetically modified mouse models, and serves as a resource for MD Anderson faculty wishing to generate, import, and archive mouse models. In this role, she focuses not only on the production of genetically engineered mice, but in bringing in and optimizing cutting-edge procedures. She has tested and incorporated the use of cryopreservation procedures to optimize scheduling of projects, revised procedures for superovulation and IVF and conducted experiments to demonstrate the feasibility of using alternative anesthesia methods for embryo implant surgeries. She is currently involved in optimizing CRISPR/Cas9 procedures as well as bringing in new strategies to increase the rate of homology driven repair (hdr).
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Associate Professor, Department of Genetics, Division of Basic Science Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Research Interests
• CRISPR/Cas9 technology • Assisted Reproductive technologies • Mouse modeling
The GEMF at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center performs collaborative science that enables Center investigators to obtain critical animal models for their research. The animal models produced in the GEMF have contributed to many high-impact publications from Cancer Center faculty. In addition to collaborative projects, Dr. Parker-Thornburg performs research to refine the technology involved in the generation and archiving of genetically modified mice. A recent focus has been the use of CRISPR/Cas9 technology for animal model production. In collaboration with Dr. Richard Behringer to produce CRISPR/Cas9 mice, it was shown that significant mosaicism can be expected in the founder generation after CRISPR/Cas9 pronuclear injection. Dr. Parker-Thornburg also participated in the analysis of a new inbred mouse strain—SKHIN/Sprd—by demonstrating that this hairless strain could be used for pronuclear injection to create transgenic mice in a hairless background. Further technology refinements have included analyses of anesthesia modalities and their effects upon birth rate after implantation surgery, superovulation in six common mouse strains and how cryopreserved embryos can be used for blastocyst injection.
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 1990 | Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA, PHD, Mol,Cell,Dev Biol |
Postgraduate Training
| 1990-1993 | Post Doctoral Studies, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH |
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Norton WB, Scavizzi F, Smith CN, Dong W, Raspa M, Parker-Thornburg JV. Refinements for embryo implantation surgery in the mouse: comparison of injectable and inhalant anesthesias - tribromoethanol, ketamine and isoflurane - on pregnancy and pup survival. Lab Anim 50(4):553-9, 2016. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26566637.
- Gallardo M, Lee HJ, Zhang X, Bueso-Ramos C, Pageon LR, McArthur M, Multani A, Nazha A, Manshouri T, Parker-Thornburg J, Rapado I, Quintas-Cardama A, Kornblau SM, Martinez-Lopez J, Post SM. hnRNP K Is a Haploinsufficient Tumor Suppressor that Regulates Proliferation and Differentiation Programs in Hematologic Malignancies. Cancer Cell 28(4):486-99, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26412324.
- Venkatanarayan A, Raulji P, Norton W, Chakravarti D, Coarfa C, Su X, Sandur SK, Ramirez MS, Lee J, Kingsley CV, Sananikone EF, Rajapakshe K, Naff K, Parker-Thornburg J, Bankson JA, Tsai KY, Gunaratne PH, Flores ER. IAPP-driven metabolic reprogramming induces regression of p53-deficient tumours in vivo. Nature 517(7536):626-30, 2015. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 25409149.
- Yen ST, Zhang M, Deng JM, Usman SJ, Smith CN, Parker-Thornburg J, Swinton PG, Martin JF, Behringer RR. Somatic mosaicism and allele complexity induced by CRISPR/Cas9 RNA injections in mouse zygotes. Dev Biol 393(1):3-9, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24984260.
- Chakravarti D, Su X, Cho MS, Bui NH, Coarfa C, Venkatanarayan A, Benham AL, Flores González RE, Alana J, Xiao W, Leung ML, Vin H, Chan IL, Aquino A, Müller N, Wang H, Cooney AJ, Parker-Thornburg J, Tsai KY, Gunaratne PH, Flores ER. Induced multipotency in adult keratinocytes through down-regulation of ?Np63 or DGCR8. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 111(5):E572-81, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24449888.
- Zuo X, Peng Z, Wu Y, Moussalli MJ, Yang XL, Wang Y, Parker-Thornburg J, Morris JS, Broaddus RR, Fischer SM, Shureiqi I. Effects of gut-targeted 15-LOX-1 transgene expression on colonic tumorigenesis in mice. J Natl Cancer Inst 104(9):709-716, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 22472308.
- Perez C, Parker-Thornburg J, Mikulec C, Kusewitt DF, Fischer SM, Digiovanni J, Conti CJ, Benavides F. SKHIN, a new genetically defined inbred hairless mouse strain for UV-induced skin carcinogenesis studies. Exp Dermatol 21(3):217-220, 2012. PMID: 22379968.
- Xiong S, Parker-Thornburg J, Lozano G. Developing genetically engineered mouse models to study tumor suppression. Curr Protoc Mouse Biol 2(1):9-24, 2012. PMID: 22582146.
- Luo C, Zuniga J, Edison E, Palla S, Doing W, Parker-Thornburg J. Superovulation Strategies for 6 Commonly Used Mouse Strains. Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science 50(4):471-478, 2011. PMID: 21838974.
- Singh SK, Kagalwala MN, Parker-Thornburg J, Adams H, Majumder S. REST maintains self-renewal and pluripotency of embryonic stem cells. Nature 453(7192):223-7, 2008. PMID: 18362916.