Amar Jit Singh Klar (April 1, 1947 – March 5, 2017) was an Indian-American

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom (biology), kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are est ...

geneticist and

epigenetics In biology, epigenetics is the study of changes in gene expression that happen without changes to the DNA sequence. The Greek prefix ''epi-'' (ἐπι- "over, outside of, around") in ''epigenetics'' implies features that are "on top of" or "in ...

researcher. He received media attention for his research on the genetics of human traits, including

handedness In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more Fine motor skill, dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dext ...

and the direction of

hair whorl A hair whorl (also known as a crown, swirl, or trichoglyph) is a patch of hair growing in a circular direction around a visible center point. Hair whorls occur in most hairy animals on the body as well as on the head, and can be either clockwis ...

Early life and education

Klar was born on April 1, 1947, in

Lyallpur Faisalabad, formerly known as Lyallpur, is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, second-largest city and primary List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, industrial center of the Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan ...

, which was then part of

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, but is now part of

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. He earned his

undergraduate degree An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher ed ...

in 1967 and his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in 1969, both from Punjab Agricultural University. In 1975, he received his Ph.D. in

bacteriology Bacteriology is the branch and specialty of biology that studies the Morphology (biology), morphology, ecology, genetics and biochemistry of bacteria as well as many other aspects related to them. This subdivision of microbiology involves the iden ...

from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

, where he studied under Harlyn O. Halvorson. He then completed a

postdoc A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary academ ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

Career

In 1978, after getting a phone call from

James Watson James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is an American molecular biology, molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist. In 1953, he co-authored with Francis Crick the academic paper in ''Nature (journal), Nature'' proposing the Nucleic acid ...

, Klar began doing yeast research at

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) is a private, non-profit institution with research programs focusing on cancer, neuroscience, botany, genomics, and quantitative biology. It is located in Laurel Hollow, New York, in Nassau County, on ...

(CSHL). He continued to work there until 1988, and served as director of their Delbrück Laboratory from 1985 until then. In 1988, he left CSHL to join the

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

(NCI) Gene Regulation and Chromosome Biology Laboratory, which was affiliated with the ABL Basic Research Program in

Frederick Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Given name Nobility = Anhalt-Harzgerode = * Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) = Austria = * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria fro ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. In 1999, he joined the National Institutes of Health's Center for Cancer Research located in Frederick becoming a Principal Investigator. He studied genetics in yeast and applied his great skills and understanding of that complex system to the understanding of complex inheritance patterns of psychotic disease in individuals and families.

Scientific contributions

Amar Klar developed his career as yeast geneticist at

in a group of other geneticists that included James Hicks and Jeffrey Strathern. His prolific career produced numerous publications, many of which were published in premiere journals such as Nature and Science. The novel "The Marriage Plot" written by Pulitzer prize winner Jeffrey Eugenides was loosely based on Klar's sentinel yeast genetics research while at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Personal life and death

Klar grew up in a small village in India, born before the India/Pakistan partition in what is now called Pakistan. He emigrated to the United States on scholarship initially joining Brandeis University. He was married to Kuljit Klar, with whom he had two daughters: Nitasha and Amy. He died in Frederick, Maryland, on March 5, 2017, in a fall from a ladder at his home. His obituary in the '' Journal of Biosciences'' stated that he died from a " head injury".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klar, Amar Jit Singh 1947 births 2017 deaths Scientists from Punjab, India Indian geneticists Indian emigrants to the United States Punjab Agricultural University people University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Deaths from head injury People from Punjab Province (British India)