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. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constitut ...

geneticist and

epigenetics In biology, epigenetics is the study of stable phenotypic changes (known as ''marks'') that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence. The Greek prefix '' epi-'' ( "over, outside of, around") in ''epigenetics'' implies features that are "o ...

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 it being stronger, faster or more Fine motor skill, dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or sim ...

and the direction of

hair whorl A hair whorl 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. Hair whorls, also known as crowns, swirls, or trichoglyphs, can be either ...

Early life and education

Klar was born on April 1, 1947 in

Lyallpur Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur ( Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pak ...

, which was then part of

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, but is now part of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. 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 e ...

in 1967 and his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an 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 practice.

in 1969, both from

Punjab Agricultural University The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) is a public funded agricultural university located in Ludhiana district of Punjab. It is a state agricultural university in India. It was established in 1962 and is the nation's third-oldest agricultura ...

. In 1975, he received his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

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

from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

, 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). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Career

In 1978, after getting a phone call from

James Watson James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist. In 1953, he co-authored with Francis Crick the academic paper proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. Watson, Crick and ...

, 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, plant biology, genomics, and quantitative biology. It is one of 68 institutions supported by the Cancer Centers ...

(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 Nobility Anhalt-Harzgerode *Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) Austria * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198 * Frederick ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. 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 The ''Journal of Biosciences'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bengaluru, India. The current editor-in-chief is Prof. B J Rao (IISER Tirupati, Tirupati). According to the ''Journal Citation Rep ...

'' 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