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Sarah Justice, Ph.D.

Sarah Justice, Ph.D. Headshot
Assistant Professor of Biology
Department of Biology
Marian Hall, Room 062
Phone: (317) 955-6274

Biography

My name is Dr. Sarah Justice and I joined Marian’s Biology Department in the fall of 2023. I am a molecular biologist, and my research group uses molecular biology, bioinformatics, genomics, and
proteomics tools to study fundamental processes of life across a variety of organisms. I am an academic advisor for Saint Luke and for 21st century scholars who are pre-meds. I am on the advisory board for the Saint Luke Scholars program and the Faculty Fellow for Marian’s Center for Teaching and Learning. 
 
Courses:
  • BIO212: Principles of Biology II         
  • BIO220: Data Skills for Biologists (and lab)       
  • BIO307: Cell and Molecular Biology (and lab)   
  • BIO336L: Biochemistry Lab          
  • BIO398: Directed Guided Research          
  • BIO444L: Medical Physiology Lab           
  • BIO498: Directed Senior Research
  • SEM300: Seminar for Health Professions          
 
I earned a B.S. in Biomedical Sciences from Colorado State University and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Indiana University School of Medicine. My undergraduate research used genetics and molecular biology techniques to study the IGF2BP1 promoter in canine osteosarcoma. My graduate work focused on the regulatory mechanisms involved in RNA Polymerase II transcription. While transcription is taught as if it is a fully understood process, there are still many unknowns in regard to proteins involved and their recruitment. In my later graduate work, I helped develop a novel method for investigating how mutations within a protein can affect the rest of the cell and lead to disease. Since starting at Marian, I have worked to find ways to apply my research to an undergraduate research lab to allow for authentic research experiences in these important -omics areas.
 
Publications: 
  • Avery M. Runnebohm, H.R. Sagara Wijeratne, Sarah A. Peck Justice, Aruna B. Wijeratne, Gitanjali Roy, Naveen Singh, Paul Hergenrother, David A. Boothman, Edward A. Motea, Amber L. Mosley. “Unraveling Systemic Responses to NQO1-Activated IB-DNQ and Rucaparib Single and Dual Agent Therapy in Triple-Negative Breast Cancers.” 2026. Journal of Proteome Research.
  • M. Mackenzie Flynn, Trisha A. Staab, Sarah A. Justice, Robyn Fuchs. “Enhancing the Pre-Health Curriculum Through a Team-Based Problem-Solving Virtual Cadaver Case Study.” 2026. HAPS Educator.
  • Scott Takeo Aoki, Lindsay Lewellyn, Sarah Justice, Sarah Mordan-McCombs, Neetu Tewari, Jorge Cantu, Robert Seiser, Ahmed Lakhani, and Jennifer R. Kowalski. “Effectiveness of a network Open House model to recruit trainees to post-baccalaureate STEM programs.” 2026. Biochem Mol Biol Educ.
  • Timothy J Stanek, Wilson Leung, Christopher D Shaffer, The Genomics Education Partnership (…Sarah A. Peck Justice, Damon A. Montgomery*, Grace Reynolds*, Hailey Chang*, Kayla A. Britt*, Landon Kehr*, Rebecca Hatcher*, Sam L. Ranger*, Tia Watkins*, Yordanos S. Belachew*…), Ishtar Olaveja, Annabelle Laughlin, Jaquelyn Hester, Darwin Garrido, Emily K Oh, Maria Volski, Nistha Panda, Mia Mo, Ethan Cordes, Martin Dalling, Kacie Kershaw, Malcolm Arnott, Stephen Daly, Silvia Garcia Valenzuela, Paige Thompson, Kayla L Hastert, Destiny Sabb, Kathryn Karpinski, Meher Naaz Arora, Nicholas Rius, Larissa LoBello, Sebastian Jaramillo, Omkar Sonavane, Alice Herrmann, Laura K Reed, Sarah C R Elgin, Cindy Arrigo, Christopher E Ellison. “Recombination Suppression Drives Expansion of the Drosophila Dot Chromosome”. 2025. Molecular Biology and Evolution.
  • Boning Chen, Raghuvar Dronamraju, W.R. Smith-Kinnaman, Sarah A. Peck Justice, Austin J. Hepperla, Heather K. MacAlpine, Jeremy M. Simon, Amber L. Mosley, David M. MacAlphine & Brian D. Strahl. “Spt6-Spn1 interaction is required for RNA Polymerase II association and precise nucleosome positioning along transcribed genes.” 2025. J Biol Chem.
  •  Lopatto D, Silver Key SC, Van Stry M, Siders J, Leung W, Sandlin KM, Rele CP; Genomics Education Partnership; Reed LK. Supporting the democratization of science during a pandemic: genomics Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) as an effective remote learning strategy. 2023. J Microbiol Biol Educ.  
  •  Sarah A. Peck Justice, Neil A. McCracken, Guihong Qi, Jose F. Victorino, Aruna B. Wijeratne, and Amber L. Mosley. “Boosting detection of low abundance proteins in thermal proteome profiling experiments by addition of an isobaric channel to TMT multiplexes.” 2021. Anal. Chem.
  •  Neil A. McCracken, Sarah A. Peck Justice, Aruna B. Wijeratne, and Amber L. Mosley. “Inflect: Optimizing Computational Workflows for Thermal Proteome Profiling Data Analysis.” 2021. J. Proteome Res.
  •  Sarah A. Peck Justice, Monica P. Barron, Guihong Qi, H.R. Sagara Wijeratne, Jose F. Victorino, Ed R. Simpson, Jonah Z. Vilseck, Aruna B. Wijeratne, and Amber L. Mosley. “Mutant thermal proteome profiling for characterization of missense protein variants and their associated phenotypes within the proteome. 2020. J. Biol. Chem.
  • Jose F. Victorino, Melanie J. Fox, Whitney R. Smith-Kinnaman, Sarah A. Peck Justice, Asha K. Boyd, Megan A. Zimmerly, Rachel R. Chan, Gerald O. Hunter, Yunlong Liu, and Amber L. Mosley. “RNA Polymerase II CTD phosphatase Rtr1 fine-tunes transcription termination.” 2020. PLoS Genetics.
  • Sarah A. Peck, Katlyn D. Hughes, Jose F. Victorino, and Amber L. Mosley. “Writing a Wrong: Coupled RNA Polymerase II Transcription and RNA Quality Control” 2019. WiRES RNA.
  • Raghuvar Dronamraju, Jenny L. Kerschner, Sarah A. Peck, Austin J. Hepperla, Alexander T. Adams, Katlyn D. Hughes, Sadia Aslam, Andrew R. Yoblinski, Ian J. Davis, Amber L. Mosley, and Brian D. Strahl. “Casein Kinase II Phosphorylation of Spt6 Enforces Transcriptional Fidelity by Maintaining Spn1-Spt6 Interaction.” 2018. Cell Rep.
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