Laura Schnackenberg Ph.D.

Director — Division of Systems Biology

Laura Schnackenberg, Ph.D.
(870) 543-7121
NCTRResearch@fda.hhs.gov

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Background

Dr. Laura Schnackenberg received a B.S. degree in chemistry from the University of Arizona and a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Following this she was hired as a postdoctoral fellow in the Division of Chemistry—later the Division of Systems Biology (DSB)—at FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) within the metabolomics group. In 2005, she was converted to a staff fellow and in 2007 was competitively selected as a research chemist. As a chemist within the metabolomics group, Dr. Schnackenberg used primarily nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to evaluate metabolite changes due to drug or chemical insults or changes in health status. In 2019, Dr. Schnackenberg became the branch chief of the DSB’s Innovative Safety and Technologies Group, which utilizes in vitro and in vivo models to address regulatory concerns.

In 2006, Dr. Schnackenberg was part of the FDA Intercenter Renal Biomarkers Group that was recognized with an “NCTR Scientific Achievement Award.” The same group received the “FDA Outstanding Intercenter Scientific Collaboration Award” in 2007 and 2012. She also received the “NCTR Outstanding Junior Investigator Award” in 2007. She received a “Friends of the Department Award” from the Department of Chemistry, University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2010, 2011, and 2013. In 2011, Dr. Schnackenberg was part of the Melamine and Cyanuric Acid Toxicity Investigative Group that received the “FDA Group Recognition Award (Agency Cross-Cutting)” in 2011. She also received the “FDA Group Recognition Award (Non-Agency Cross-Cutting)” for In Silico Modeling Approaches to Polypharmacy in 2011. In 2020, she was part of a group award for FDA Excellence in Laboratory Science related to the work to identify early biomarkers of doxorubicin cardiotoxicity-induced cardiotoxicity. Dr. Schnackenberg served as chair or co-chair of the NCTR Summer Student Research Program (SSRP) since 2015 from 2015–2022. In 2021, Dr. Schnackenberg was honored to be named an Arkansas Research Alliance (ARA) fellow. Dr. Schnackenberg was competitively selected as the director of the Division of Systems Biology in October 2022.

Research Interests

Dr. Schnackenberg’s broad research interests include biomarkers and mechanisms of toxicology and susceptibility to adverse effects, systems and organ toxicities, toxicological effects on reproduction, development, and fertility, predictive toxicology, models for regulatory sciences, omics (including metabolomics, proteomics, and transcriptomics), and toxicokinetics. Specifically, she has expertise in the use of NMR-based metabolomics to address drug-induced toxicity and investigate biomarkers of disease. She has also contributed to the development of the imaging mass spectrometry program, which allows for the evaluation of drug-induced metabolic changes and spatial localization of drugs, drug metabolites, lipids, neurotransmitters, etc., in organs of interest. Most recently, she has been involved in the development of new alternative methods (NAMs) to determine their utility in regulatory science. Multiple efforts are ongoing to establish organ-on-a-chip models including a liver-chip model and engineered heart tissue model. Additionally, she is contributing to ongoing efforts to evaluate individual patient-derived cells to determine whether they can represent population heterogeneity and reflect differential drug responses noted clinically.

Professional Societies/National and International Groups

American Chemical Society
Member
1996 – Present

Metabolomics Society
Member
2020 – Present

Society of Toxicology
Member
2012 – Present

Imaging Mass Spectrometry Society
Member

Selected Publications

Predicting Oncology Drug-Induced Cardiotoxicity with Donor-Specific iPSC-CMs – A Proof-of-Concept Study with Doxorubicin.
Pang L., Cai C., Aggarwal P., Wang D., Vijay V., Bagam P., Blamer J., Matter A., Turner A., Ren L., Papineau K., Srinivasasainagendra V., Tiwari H.K., Yang X., Schnackenberg L., Mattes W., and Broeckel U.
Toxicol. Sci. 2024, 200(1):79-94. doi: 10.1093/toxsci/kfae041.

Co-Culture of Human Primary Hepatocytes and Nonparenchymal Liver Cells in the Emulate® Liver-Chip for the Study of Drug-Induced Liver Injury.
Shi Q., Arefin A., Ren L., Papineau K.S., Barnette D.A., Schnackenberg L.K., Hawes J.J., Avigan M., Mendrick D.L., Ewart L., and Ronxhi J.
Curr. Protoc. 2022, 2(7):e478. PMID 35790095.

MALDI Imaging Mass Spectrometry: An Emerging Tool in Neurology.
Schnackenberg L.K., Thorn D.A., Barnette D., and Jones E.E.
Metab Brain Dis. 2021, Online ahead of print. PMID 34347208.

Metabolomics Test Materials for Quality Control: A Study of a Urine Materials Suite.
Bearden D.W., Sheen D.A., Simon-Manso Y., Benner B.A. Jr., Rocha W.F.C., Blonder N., Lippa K.A., Beger R.D., Schnackenberg L.K., Sun J., Mehta K.Y., Cheema A.K., Gu H., Marupaka R., Nagana Gowda G.A., and Raftery D.
Metabolites. 2019, 9(11):270. PMID 31703392.

Stability of the Human Plasma Proteome to Pre-analytical Variability as Assessed by an Aptamer-Based Approach.
Daniels J.R., Cao Z., Maisa M., Schnackenberg L.K., Sun J., Pence L., Schmitt T.C, Kamlage B., Rogstad S., Beger R.D., and Yu L.
J Proteome Res. 2019, 18(10):3661-3670. PMID 31442052.

An Integrated Analysis of Metabolites, Peptides, and Inflammation Biomarkers for Assessment of Preanalytical Variability of Human Plasma.
Cao Z., Kamlage B., Wagner-Golbs A., Maisha M., Sun J., Schnackenberg L.K., Pence L, Schmitt T.C., Daniels J.R., Rogstad S., Beger R.D., and Yu L.
J Proteome Res. 2019, 18(6):2411-2421. PMID 31074987.

Aptamer-Based Proteomics Identifies Mortality-Associated Serum Biomarkers in Dialysis-Dependent AKI Patients.
Yu L.R., Sun J., Cao Z., Schnackenberg L, Choudhury D., Palevsky P.M., Ma J.Z., Beger R.D., and Portilla D.
Kidney Int Rep. 2018, 3(5):1202-1213. PMID 30197987.

Multiple microRNAs Function as Self-Protective Modules in Acetaminophen-Induced Hepatotoxicity in Humans.
Yu D., Wu L., Gill P., Tolleson W.H., Chen S., Sun J., Knox B., Jun Y., Xio W., Hong H., Wang Y., Ren Z., Guo L., Mei N., Guo Y., Yang X., Shi L., Chen Y., Zeng L., Dreval K., Tryndyak V., Pogribny I., Fang H., Shi T., McCullough S, Bhattacharyya S., Schnackenberg L, Mattes W, Beger R.D., James L., Tong W., and Ning B.,
Arch Toxicol. 2018, 92(2):845-858. PMID 29067470.

Metabolomics Analysis of Urine Samples from Children after Acetaminophen Overdose.
Schnackenberg L.K., Sun J. Bhattacharyya S., Gill P., James L.P., and Beger R.D.
Metabolites. 2017, 7(3):46. PMID 28878168.

Dose-response Analysis of Epigenetic, Metabolic, and Apical Endpoints after Short-term Exposure to Experimental Hepatotoxicants.
Miousse I.R., Murphy L.A., Lin H., Schisler M.R., Sun J. Chalbot M.G., Sura R., Johnson K., LeBaron M.J., Kavouras I.G., Schnackenberg L.K., Beger R.D., Rasoulpour R.J., and Koturbash I.
Food Chem Toxicol. 2017, 109(Pt 1):690-702. PMID 28495587.

Early Metabolomics Changes in Heart and Plasma During Chronic Doxorubicin Treatment in B6C3F1 Mice.
Schnackenberg L.K., Pence L., Vijay V., Moland C.L., George N., Cao Z., Yu L.R., Fuscoe J.C., Beger R.D., and Desai V.G.
J Appl Toxicol. 2016, 36(11):1486-95. PMID 26934058.

Translational Biomarkers of Acetaminophen-Induced Acute Liver Injury.
Beger R.D., Bhattacharyya S., Yang X., Gill P.S., Schnackenberg L.K., Sun J., and James L.P.
Arch Toxicol. 2015, 89(9):1497-522. PMID 25983262.

Identification of a Metabolic Biomarker Panel in Rats for Prediction of Acute and Idiosyncratic Hepatotoxicity.
Sun J., Slavov S., Schnackenberg L.K., Ando Y., Greenhaw J., Yang X., Salminen W., Mendrick D.L., and Beger R.
Comput Struct Biotechnol J. 2014, 10(17):78-89. PMID 25379137.

Metabolomics Evaluation of the Effects of Green Tea Extract on Acetaminophen-Induced Hepatotoxicity in Mice.
Lu Y., Sun J., Petrova K., Yang X., Greenhaw J., Salminen W.F., Beger R.D., and Schnackenberg L.K.
Food Chem Toxicol. 2013, 62:707-21. PMID 2480264.

Evaluating Effects of Penicillin Treatment on the Metabolome of Rats.
Sun J., Schnackenberg L.K., Khare S., Yang X., Greenhaw J., Salminen W., Mendrick D.L., and Beger R.D.
J Chromatogr B Analyt Technol Biomed Life Sci. 2013, 932:134-43. PMID 23831706.

Metabolomics Evaluation of Hydroxyproline as a Potential Marker of Melamine and Cyanuric Acid Nephrotoxicity in Male and Female Fischer F344 Rats.
Schnackenberg L.K., Sun J., Pence L.M., Bhattacharyya S., Gamboa da Costa G., and Beger R.D.
Food Chem Toxicol. 2012, 50(11):3978-83. PMID 22902825.

The Liver Toxicity Biomarker Study Phase I: Markers for the Effects of Tolcapone or Entacapone.
McBurney R.N., Hines W.M., VonTungeln L.S., Schnackenberg L.K., Beger R.D., Moland C.L., Han T., Fuscoe J.C., Chang C.W., Chen J.J., Su Z., Fan X.H., Tong W., Booth S.A., Balasubramanian R., Courchesne P.L., Campbell J.M., Graber A., Guo Y., Juhasz P., Li T.Y., Lynch M.D., Morel N.M., Plasterer T.N., Takach E.J., Zeng C., and Beland F.A.
Toxicol Pathol. 2012, 40(6):951-64. PMID 22573522.

¹³C NMR-Distance Matrix Descriptors: Optimal Abstract 3D Space Granularity for Predicting Estrogen Binding.
Slavov S.H., Geesaman E.L., Pearce B.A., Schnackenberg L.K., Buzatu D.A., Wilkes J.G., and Beger R.D.
J Chem Inf Model. 2012, 52(7):1854-64. PMID 22681591.

Serum Metabolomic Profiles from Patients with Acute Kidney Injury: A Pilot Study.
Sun J., Shannon M., Ando Y., Schnackenberg L.K., Khan N.A., Portilla D., and Beger R.D.
J Chromatogr B Analyt Technol Biomed Life Sci. 2012, 893-894:107-13. PMID 22429878.

Lab Members

Contact information for all lab members:
(870) 543-7121
NCTRResearch@fda.hhs.gov

Jessica Hawes, Ph.D.
Deputy Director

Richard Beger, Ph.D.
Branch Chief, Omics, Modeling Imaging and Chemistry (OMIC)

Warrick Farr
Management Analyst

Ernice Blann
Research Biologist

Contact Information: Laura Schnackenberg; (870) 543-7121

Expertise: Expertise

Approach

Domain

Technology & Discipline

Toxicology