Lea Starita
| Lea Starita | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| 🎓 Alma mater | Harvard Medical School (PhD) Rutgers University (BA) |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| 🌐 Website | https://staritalab.org/ |
Lea Starita is an American geneticist at the University of Washington. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine and the Co-Director of Brotman-Baty Advanced Technology Lab. Her research focuses on developing technology to practice genome-guided medicine. She is known for her contributions in developing COVID-19 testing assays for community wide tracing at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Scopus, Starita has a h-index of 27 as of June 2022.[1]
Education and early career[edit]
Starita graduated from Rutgers University in 1999 with Bachelors of Arts in molecular biology and biochemistry[2]. While at Rutgers University, Starita took a molecular biology lab class where she "fell in love with the puzzle posed by molecular biology"[3]. She continued her education at Harvard Medical School and received her PhD in biochemistry in 2005[2]. Starita researched the biochemistry of the BRCA1 gene during her time at Harvard Medical School.
Starita then joined the University of Washington as a senior fellow to continue her training in functional genomics with Stanley Fields in 2006 and with Jay Shendure in 2015[4]. In 2017, she was promoted to Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine[5]. In the same year, Starita was appointed as the Co-director of Brotman-Baty Advanced Technology Lab in the Brotman-Baty Institute[2]. In 2021, Starita was promoted to Assistant Professor at the University of Washington.
Research[edit]
The Starita Lab[edit]
Starita serves as the Principal investigator of the Starita Lab at the University of Washington. Named after herself, the Starita Lab is focused developing technology to practice genome-guided medicine[6]. In an interview with The Seattle Times, Starita said “as a field, we are really good at reading DNA sequences of people, but we are really bad at understanding the health risks or benefits associated with any given DNA change” [3]. Starita and her research team is developing technology to understand genetic variation in human genomes at the single nucleotide level. They have developed and applied Multiplexed Assays for Variant Effect, which uses next-generation sequencing to test single nucleotide variants in a single experiment[7]. Starita’s research team have used these assays to analyze clinically relevant genes such as BRCA1 and TPMT[6][8].
Seattle Flu Study[edit]
The Seattle Flu Study was first founded in 2018 by the Chu Lab to better understand and research the spread of respiratory viruses[9]. This study was created to help inform Seattle, WA and other metropolitan areas to make the decisions on the development of new infrastructure to prevent the spread of pandemics[10]. The Seattle Flu Study was a "multi-institutional, community-wide pandemic surveillance platform" formed from collaboration between the Brotman-Baty Institute in association with UW Medicine, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Children’s, and the Institute for Disease Modeling[11]. An at-home test kit was developed for the flu study for individuals to self-test at home and send the swab back to the lab for testing. Starita worked with the Seattle Flu Study and developed assays to test, detect, and sequence 27 different viral pathogens.
Contributions to the COVID-19 Pandemic[edit]
On January 20, 2020, the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the United States was discovered in Washington state[11]. The Seattle Flu Study realized the need for COVID-19 testing and quickly decided to start developing COVID-19 test to detect transmission in the Seattle Area[12]. The Starita Lab developed these assays by adapting the flu study test. Her lab team runs the tests using RT-qPCR to detect whether COVID-19 viral RNA is contained within the nasal swab samples[13][14][15]. Additionally, the Starita Lab sequences the COVID-19 viral RNA to study the SARS-CoV-2 genome to detect the emergence of new variants. On February 24, 2020, the Seattle Flu Study began testing banked samples using the newly developed assays[9]. On February 27, 2020, the first positive result for COVID-19 was discovered in a sample from an individual in the Seattle-area. Since the research lab was not certified for COVID-19 clinical testing, the lab was not allowed to report the results of COVID-19 tests[12]. The Seattle Flu Study decided to go ahead and inform the individual of the positive COVID-19 results despite this violating their research protocols. On March 19, 2020, the Seattle Flu Study became a clinically certified laboratory for testing coronavirus[12]. As a result, the Seattle Flu Study developed the greater Seattle Coronavirus Assessment Network and Husky Coronavirus Virus Testing Study to better test and detect community transmission of COVID-19 in the Seattle area[16]. Currently, the Starita Lab continues to develop technologies to better detect and sequence respiratory viruses[17]. Starita's contributions to the pandemic have been covered in the 2020 AWA Studios graphic novel COVID Chronicles by Ethan Sacks and Dalibor Talajic.[18]
Awards[edit]
Starita is the Principal Investigator of a National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) Center that will apply multiplexed assays of variant effect to understand coding variation in 32 clinically relevant genes [19].
Select publications[edit]
- Boeckh, Michael; Chu, Helen Y.; Englund, Janet A.; Lockwood, Christina M.; Nickerson, Deborah A.; Shendure, Jay; Starita, Lea (2022-01). "The Seattle Flu Study: when regulations hinder pandemic surveillance". Nature Medicine. 28 (1): 7–8. doi:10.1038/s41591-021-01587-0. ISSN 1546-170X [12]
- Chu, Helen Y.; Englund, Janet A.; Starita, Lea M.; Famulare, Michael; Brandstetter, Elisabeth; Nickerson, Deborah A.; Rieder, Mark J.; Adler, Amanda; Lacombe, Kirsten; Kim, Ashley E.; Graham, Chelsey (2020-05-01). "Early Detection of Covid-19 through a Citywide Pandemic Surveillance Platform". New England Journal of Medicine. doi:10.1056/NEJMc2008646. PMC 7206929. PMID 32356944. [9]
- Findlay GM, Daza RM, Martin B, Zhang MD, Leith AP, Gasperini M, Janizek JD, Huang X, Starita LM, Shendure J. Accurate classification of BRCA1 variants with saturation genome editing. Nature. 2018 Oct;562(7726):217-222. doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0461-z. Epub 2018 Sep 12. PMID: 30209399; PMCID: PMC6181777. [8]
- Gelman, Hannah; Dines, Jennifer N.; Berg, Jonathan; Berger, Alice H.; Brnich, Sarah; Hisama, Fuki M.; James, Richard G.; Rubin, Alan F.; Shendure, Jay; Shirts, Brian; Fowler, Douglas M. (2019-12-20). "Recommendations for the collection and use of multiplexed functional data for clinical variant interpretation". Genome Medicine. 11 (1): 85. doi:10.1186/s13073-019-0698-7. ISSN 1756-994X.[20]
- Srivatsan, Sanjay; Heidl, Sarah; Pfau, Brian; Martin, Beth K.; Han, Peter D.; Zhong, Weizhi; van Raay, Katrina; McDermot, Evan; Opsahl, Jordan; Gamboa, Luis; Smith, Nahum (2021-04-29). "SwabExpress: An end-to-end protocol for extraction-free COVID-19 testing". bioRxiv: 2020.04.22.056283. doi:10.1101/2020.04.22.056283. PMC 7263496. PMID 32511368. [13]
References[edit]
- ↑ "Scopus preview - Starita, Lea M. - Author details". Scopus. Retrieved 2022-06-02.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "About | Brotman Baty Institute". brotmanbaty.org. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Lea Starita, Seattle-based genome scientist, gets to 'play with DNA' | Produced by Seattle Times Marketing". The Seattle Times. 2020-01-29. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
- ↑ "Dr. Lea Starita". CADASIL Eradication Project. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
- ↑ "UW Genome Sciences: Lea Starita". www.gs.washington.edu. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Starita Lab". staritalab.org. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
- ↑ Gelman, Hannah; Dines, Jennifer N.; Berg, Jonathan; Berger, Alice H.; Brnich, Sarah; Hisama, Fuki M.; James, Richard G.; Rubin, Alan F.; Shendure, Jay; Shirts, Brian; Fowler, Douglas M. (2019-12-20). "Recommendations for the collection and use of multiplexed functional data for clinical variant interpretation". Genome Medicine. 11 (1): 85. doi:10.1186/s13073-019-0698-7. ISSN 1756-994X. PMC 6925490 Check
|pmc=value (help). PMID 31862013. - ↑ 8.0 8.1 Findlay, Gregory M.; Daza, Riza M.; Martin, Beth; Zhang, Melissa D.; Leith, Anh P.; Gasperini, Molly; Janizek, Joseph D.; Huang, Xingfan; Starita, Lea M.; Shendure, Jay (October 2018). "Accurate classification of BRCA1 variants with saturation genome editing". Nature. 562 (7726): 217–222. doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0461-z. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 6181777. PMID 30209399.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Chu, Helen Y.; Englund, Janet A.; Starita, Lea M.; Famulare, Michael; Brandstetter, Elisabeth; Nickerson, Deborah A.; Rieder, Mark J.; Adler, Amanda; Lacombe, Kirsten; Kim, Ashley E.; Graham, Chelsey (2020-05-01). "Early Detection of Covid-19 through a Citywide Pandemic Surveillance Platform". New England Journal of Medicine. 383 (2): 185–187. doi:10.1056/NEJMc2008646. PMC 7206929 Check
|pmc=value (help). PMID 32356944 Check|pmid=value (help). - ↑ "Interactive World Map | University of Washington - Department of Global Health". globalhealth.washington.edu. Retrieved 2022-05-09.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "90 Days on the Front Line". uwmedicine-coronavirus-90days.shorthandstories.com. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Boeckh, Michael; Chu, Helen Y.; Englund, Janet A.; Lockwood, Christina M.; Nickerson, Deborah A.; Shendure, Jay; Starita, Lea (January 2022). "The Seattle Flu Study: when regulations hinder pandemic surveillance". Nature Medicine. 28 (1): 7–8. doi:10.1038/s41591-021-01587-0. ISSN 1546-170X. PMID 34937879 Check
|pmid=value (help). - ↑ 13.0 13.1 Srivatsan, Sanjay; Heidl, Sarah; Pfau, Brian; Martin, Beth K.; Han, Peter D.; Zhong, Weizhi; van Raay, Katrina; McDermot, Evan; Opsahl, Jordan; Gamboa, Luis; Smith, Nahum (2021-04-29). "SwabExpress: An end-to-end protocol for extraction-free COVID-19 testing". bioRxiv: 2020.04.22.056283. doi:10.1101/2020.04.22.056283. PMC 7263496 Check
|pmc=value (help). PMID 32511368 Check|pmid=value (help). - ↑ "How a Group of Seattle Scientists Revealed Covid-19's Stateside Spread". Seattle Met. Retrieved 2022-05-09.
- ↑ Sacks, Ethan. "Covid Chronicles, Vol. 10: Three scientists race to track deadly pathogen in their city". www.nbcnews.com. Retrieved 2022-05-09.
- ↑ Daily, Nuria Alina Chandra The. "Omicron surges at UW: Researchers estimate 10% of the population currently has COVID-19". The Daily of the University of Washington. Retrieved 2022-05-09.
- ↑ Panpradist, Nuttada; Wang, Qin; Ruth, Parker S.; Kotnik, Jack H.; Oreskovic, Amy K.; Miller, Abraham; Stewart, Samuel W. A.; Vrana, Justin; Han, Peter D.; Beck, Ingrid A.; Starita, Lea M. (2021-02-01). "Simpler and faster Covid-19 testing: Strategies to streamline SARS-CoV-2 molecular assays". EBioMedicine. 64: 103236. doi:10.1016/j.ebiom.2021.103236. ISSN 2352-3964. PMC 7878117 Check
|pmc=value (help). PMID 33582488 Check|pmid=value (help). - ↑ Sacks, Ethan (2020-12-15). COVID Chronicles. AWA Studios. Search this book on
- ↑ "Impact of Genomic Variation on Function (IGVF) Consortium". Genome.gov. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
- ↑ Gelman, Hannah; Dines, Jennifer N.; Berg, Jonathan; Berger, Alice H.; Brnich, Sarah; Hisama, Fuki M.; James, Richard G.; Rubin, Alan F.; Shendure, Jay; Shirts, Brian; Fowler, Douglas M. (2019-12-20). "Recommendations for the collection and use of multiplexed functional data for clinical variant interpretation". Genome Medicine. 11 (1): 85. doi:10.1186/s13073-019-0698-7. ISSN 1756-994X. PMC 6925490 Check
|pmc=value (help). PMID 31862013.
External links[edit]
- Lea Starita publications indexed by Google Scholar
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