UR junior determined to one day cure cancer
As a high school freshman, Ted Corl set a lofty goal: to cure at least one cancer in his lifetime.
His interest began when his biology teacher's wife passed away mid-semester from breast cancer. As a bystander, Corl recognized the importance of cancer research — and how the disease affects nearly everyone.
"If there's one thing that someone can do today to help the world tomorrow," he said, "it's in the world of cancer."
At UR, Corl is making good on that promise. In his first year, he landed a job working in the clinical diagnostic lab Genetworx, where he developed an assay to test for the flu, RSV, and COVID-19 using one nasal swab. He then leveraged that clinical lab experience to land a concurrent opportunity in chemistry professor Julie Pollock's lab during his second year, studying the Mediator of Cell Motility 1 (MEMO1), a protein present in many breast cancers.
"I sometimes look down at the tube in my hands and think how it is affecting all scales of the population," he said. "And the fact that, as a 20-year-old, I could actively help so many people get tested for COVID. That was my first glimpse into the healthcare industry."
The insight led Corl, now a junior majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology, to also add an entrepreneurship minor. Today, he is working as an analyst in the Strategy and Acquisitions department of Recovery Centers of America, Genetworx's parent company, working to get FDA pre-market approval for an at-home COVID-19 testing device.
The opportunities to explore the intersections of science and business at Richmond has opened up new possibilities. Corl plans to pursue medical school and become an oncologist, but he also wants to start his own healthcare practice. His entrepreneurship experience will help him navigate those waters.
"In clinical research, our findings can be used and implemented very quickly — sometimes almost immediately," he said. "It's nice to know that what I'm doing today might directly impact something tomorrow."
Students Sydney Robinson and Ted Corl worked with chemistry professor Julie Pollock on research that could help identify and tailor treatments for certain types of aggressive cancers. Their projects allow them to get varied, real-world research experience as undergraduates, including conducting DNA experiments and data analysis, which may some day lead to advances in new therapies for cancer patients.