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Cheryl Jorcyk to Guide Clinical Translational Research at Boise State

Cheryl Jorcyk to Guide Clinical Translational Research at Boise State

BY: KATHLEEN TUCK   PUBLISHED 10:49 AM / MARCH 23, 2016

Cheryl Jorcyk, professor of biological sciences, has been named director of clinical translational research by the Division of Research and Economic Development. Translational research applies findings from scientific inquiry to clinical and community practice to benefit individuals and the community. Her new role is to build partnership with area health providers while moving Boise State’s work forward in this area.

Her responsibilities include:

  1. Providing networking opportunities with regional medical professionals and facilities
  2. Helping with research “concept development”
  3. Offering mentorship and an experiential pipeline
  4. Helping to organize grant writing workshops
  5. Providing Institute of Translational Health Science (ITHS) and Clinical Translation Research Infrastructure Network (CTR-IN) information

Jorcyk will speak about translational research at the Coffee and Donuts forum from 9-11 a.m. April 7. The event is hosted by the Office of Information Technology’s Research Computing Services Department in the MakerLab on the first floor of Albertsons Library. From 9-10 a.m., the Boise State research community is invited to chat with colleagues about opportunities to collaborate on projects.

Jorcyk’s presentation will follow at 10 a.m. She will be joined by Calvin Allan from Acutus Medical. For more information on this event, contact researchcomputing@boisestate.edu.

Jorcyk is a professor in both the Department of Biological Sciences and in the Biomolecular Research Ph.D. Program. Through collaboration with the Boise VA Medical Center, she started studying the inflammatory factor Oncostatin M (OSM) and its function in tumor progression. Currently, her lab focuses on studying the role of OSM in breast cancer invasion and metastasis, and translational studies to develop a novel therapeutic to block OSM are underway.

Jorcyk is chair of the Boise State University Biomedical Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects committee and a member of the Regional Advisory Workgroup for University of Washington ITHS. She has received clinical/translational research training at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston through the American Association for Cancer Research.

She earned her Ph.D. in biology from Johns Hopkins University and her undergraduate degree, also in biology, from Pennsylvania State University. She did her postdoctoral fellowship at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health.