Deborah L Stenkamp

Deborah L Stenkamp serves as Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences within the College of Science at the University of Idaho. She maintains cross-disciplinary affiliations as Member of the Initiative for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Studies and Institute for Interdisciplinary Data Sciences, and Participating Faculty of the Institute for Modeling Collaboration and Innovation.

Her educational foundation includes a PhD in Neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University (1993) and BA in Biology from Whitman College (1987). These qualifications underpin her research program focused on molecular mechanisms of retinal development and regeneration.

Dr. Stenkamp's research centers on thyroid hormone regulation of photoreceptor plasticity in zebrafish models, with particular emphasis on cone opsin gene expression dynamics. Her work integrates endocrinology, molecular genetics, and regenerative biology to investigate how retinal circuitry rewires following injury. Current projects examine transcriptional heterogeneity in photoreceptor subtypes and develop scalable lesion models for regeneration studies.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a cohesive research trajectory exploring thyroid signaling in visual system development. Her lab has pioneered methods for analyzing opsin expression in 3D retinal organoids while maintaining zebrafish as the primary model for in vivo studies of retinal regeneration.

She directs the Stenkamp Lab which employs transgenic reporter systems, gene expression profiling, and functional assays to study retinal development. The lab's work bridges fundamental developmental biology with translational applications for retinal degenerative diseases, leveraging interdisciplinary collaborations across data science and bioengineering domains.