Churko Joins UA to Direct Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSC) Core

The University of Arizona iPSC Core is a collaborative effort, funded in part by the BIO5 Institute and the UA Center for Innovation in Brain Science. It is located in the UA Sarver Heart Center.

Jared Churko, PhD, assistant professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and director of the University of Arizona Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSC) Core, joined the University of Arizona and the Sarver Heart Center in April 2018. Previously he was with Stanford University’s Cardiovascular Institute where he was an instructor.

Dr. Churko’s laboratory, located within the Sarver Heart Center where he studies cardiovascular disease, is involved in the study of heart muscle disease, combining systems biology, stem cell biology, cardiac biology, genetic engineering and bioinformatics to understand mechanisms leading to heart disease.

His appointment as director of the UA iPSC Core is a collaborative effort, funded in part by the BIO5 Institute and the UA Center for Innovation in Brain Science. Human induced pluripotent stem cells can be differentiated into many cell types, including beating heart muscle cells, with potential for developing targeted and individualized, or “precision” treatments.