Agnes L. Karmaus, PhD, has been elected by the SOT voting members as an SOT Councilor.
Passionate about toxicology, Dr. Karmaus has grown into her career through engagement with SOT. Dr. Karmaus is currently a Senior Computational Toxicologist and Human Safety Project Expert at Syngenta Crop Protection LLC, specializing in the integration of in vitro and computational toxicology in risk assessment context. Her expertise lies in high-throughput screening and predictive toxicology, and her work focuses on developing, evaluating the performance, and integrating alternative approaches to animal testing.
Dr. Karmaus has a diverse research background. Having completed a dual PhD degree in biochemistry/molecular biology and environmental/integrative toxicology at Michigan State University in the laboratory of Dr. Tim Zacharewski, her early research included evaluating species-comparative metabolomic and toxicogenomic hepatotoxicity of dioxin both in vivo and in vitro. Meanwhile, her dissertation comprised in vitro assay development, establishing the BLTK1 murine Leydig cell line as an assay system for identifying steroidogenesis-disrupting compounds.
In addition to laboratory-based research, Dr. Karmaus was the recipient of the 2012 SOT Colgate-Palmolive Award for Student Research Training in Alternative Methods as well as the ILSI North America Food and Chemical Safety Summer Fellowship Award, both of which she used to begin her training in computational toxicology by immersing herself in the Tox21 and ToxCast programs, focusing her work on the evaluation of food-use compounds. Subsequently, as a postdoctoral fellow within the US Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Computational Toxicology, Dr. Karmaus formally contributed to the Tox21 and ToxCast high-throughput screening programs. Her work has culminated in 42 peer-reviewed publications as well as two book chapters across multiple disciplines with a broad network of collaborators and research interests.
Dr. Karmaus has been an active member of SOT since joining in 2007 and has attended every Annual Meeting and ToxExpo since the junior year of her undergraduate degree. Dr. Karmaus devotes significant time to volunteering with SOT, serving as Chair of the SOT Education and Career Development Committee and Councilor for the SOT In Vitro and Alternative Methods Specialty Section, and is a strong advocate for the success of SOT programs encouraging diversity and early career scientists. She has participated in several sessions to promote SOT activities, encouraging graduate student membership to pursue internships and fellowships and supporting international members with navigating opportunities offered by SOT.
Goals for SOT
I am grateful for any opportunity to give back to the organization that inspired and supported me in establishing myself as a toxicologist. Given my ongoing engagement with SOT, I am knowledgeable in the strategic priorities and objectives for the Society and the many ongoing initiatives and programs. My goals encompass supporting and promoting engagement of early and mid-career scientists with the Society through networking, education, and engagement opportunities. I believe SOT serves a central role in serving as a venue to support career growth and development by learning from one another within the diverse toxicology community. I also understand the tremendous value in leveraging the knowledge and experience of established scientists, especially when it comes to supporting current and potential members and collaborations. I aspire to help SOT continue to be an impactful, welcoming organization working to create a safer and healthier world through education and communication—I feel this is critical to help engage our membership and promote all the resources that SOT provides because there is so much more here than an Annual Meeting!
Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog is based on the biosketch provided by Dr. Karmaus for use as part of the election ballot. This citation is being shared under the Secretary’s name as part of their official duties and should not be interpreted as their personal or professional opinions.
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