- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
CBP supports students engaged in pre-doctoral training at the chemistry-biology interface, preparing them for careers in the biomedical workforce. McReynolds is one of four students selected for the 2017-18 CBP training grant program.
“We are very proud of her,” said Hammock, distinguished professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, who holds a joint appointment with the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center.
A member of the Pharmacology and Toxicology Graduate Group, McReynolds focuses her research on “developing chemical tools to elucidate the biological relevance of chemical compounds (dihydroxy diols) in biological systems.”
Hammock is her major professor. "Cindy has more than 12 years of experience in research and project management, extensive research experience and advanced knowledge of drug development,” Hammock said.
Prior to enrolling in the doctoral program, McReynolds served as the program administrator of UC Davis/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Superfund Research Program, directed by Hammock. She is the project manager of EicOsis, a Davis-based company founded by Hammock to develop a small molecule inhibitor to treat pain in humans and animals.
A native of Louisville, KY, McReynolds received her bachelor of science degree in animal science from UC Davis in 1999, and her master's degree in animal science in 2001 from Washington State University, Pullman, Wash., where she was named Outstanding Graduate Student, Teaching Assistant of the Year and recipient of the Dr. Ralph Erb Outstanding Graduate Student Award. Her master's thesis involved how dietary carotenoids inhibit tumor growth.
McReynolds then joined a project development team at Celera Corporation--an Alameda-based company involved in genetic sequencing and related technologies--that led to the selection of Vorinostat, a cancer treatment. She served as a team leader of the Tumor Development Team at Celera, tasked with developing new models of drug-resistant cancer and analyzing newly generated data from the Human Genome Project to identify new cancer therapies.