Karen Pollok, PhD
Faculty appointments
- Caroline Symmes Scholar in Pediatric Cancer Research
- Professor of Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, IU School of Medicine
- Adjunct Professor of Medical & Molecular Genetics, Department of Medical and Molecular Biology, IU School of Medicine
- Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Department of Pediatrics, IU School of Medicine
- Full member
, Experimental and Developmental Therapeutics
Headlines & highlights
- Unlocking the Power of AI (Dec. 2024)
- Karen E. Pollok named co-leader of Experimental and Developmental Therapeutics Research Program at IU (July 2023)
- IU researchers update progress made in Tyler Trent stem cell research (May 2023)
- Pediatric researchers receive two new grants to support work based on Tyler Trent's tumor cells (Nov. 2022)
- Precision Health pediatric sarcomas researchers share updates and goals with golfers at inaugural Tyler Trent charity outing (July 2021)
- Tyler Trent Foundation supports research with donation (July 2022)
- Tyler Trent’s living legacy (Jan. 2021)
- IU School of Medicine researchers discover emerging combination therapy that halts tumor growth based on Tyler Trent’s cell lines (Jan. 2020)
- IU School of Medicine researchers publish first scientific article dedicated to Tyler Trent’s donated tumors, his legacy (Dec. 2020)
- IU researchers defining new target to kill glioblastoma (Feb. 2019)
- IU Simon Cancer Center researchers perfecting one-two punch for challenging adversary: glioblastoma (Aug. 2017)
Biography
Karen E. Pollok, PhD, drives innovative cancer research that unites basic discovery with clinical application, advancing therapies for some of the most aggressive pediatric and young adult cancers.
She is associate director of basic science and director of the Preclinical Modeling and Therapeutics Core at the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, where she fosters cross-disciplinary collaborations, mentors junior investigators, advances programmatic funding, and accelerates the translation of laboratory discoveries into patient care. She leads the cancer center’s Sarcoma Working Group is PI of the American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant, and served as co-leader of the Experimental and Developmental Therapeutics research pProgram (2023–2025).
Federally funded for more than two decades, Pollok has authored or coauthored more than 130 manuscripts, reviews, and book chapters. She serves on international, federal, and foundation review panels, including the NCI Cancer Center Support Grant parent and site visit review committees, and on external advisory boards for the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Cancer Stress Biology Program and the Purdue Institute for Cancer Research.
Her research integrates expertise in targeted combination therapy, immunology, and bone marrow transplantation to develop and evaluate novel therapeutic strategies for sarcomas. Through leadership in both 3D and in vivo model development—and in close partnership with the Pediatric Cancer Precision Genomics Program at Riley Hospital for Children—she has built a repository of more than 60 patient-derived xenograft models from pediatric, adolescent, and young adult cancer patients. These models, comprehensively characterized through multi-omics profiling, are used to identify therapeutic vulnerabilities, elucidate immune–tumor interactions, and guide rational treatment combinations for aggressive solid tumors.
Pollok earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from the College of William & Mary and her PhD in immunology from the University of Kentucky, followed by postdoctoral fellowships in immunology and oncology at the IU School of Medicine. She is an active member of AACR, ASH, ASGCT, and AAI, and is dedicated to training the next generation of scientists, from high school students to dual-degree trainees. Her contributions have been recognized with the Merv Yoder Research Mentoring Award (2024) and the Glenn W. Irwin, Jr., MD Experience Excellence Award (2018).
