Pelotonia is a grassroots bike tour with one goal: end cancer. In eight years Pelotonia has raised $130 million in new research funding for The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center at Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC-James).
Michael Caligiuri, MD, director of the OSUCCC and CEO of the Hospital and Institute stated in The James News site, “With the dollars generated through Pelotonia, we have funded more than 100 innovative new idea grants, three statewide cancer research initiatives … launched early-stage drug development efforts through our …Drug Development Institute, brought digital pathology to Columbus and provided more than 400 scholarships to students with an interest in cancer.”
(Image of Ohio State's James Cancer Hospital courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
A total of $1.8M will be awarded to the winners of the Winter/ Spring Pelotonia Idea Grants. This two year research funding went to 11 breakthrough cancer research projects, including:
Understanding Potential Protective Effect of Female Hormones in Melanoma
Research shows that men are more susceptible to, and die more frequently of, melanoma than women. Scientific data suggests the hormone estrogen protects against melanoma in women. In this study, researchers will assess the role of a estrogen receptor in melanoma onset and progression to identify estrogen-dependent gene targets.
Personalized Combination Drug Therapy for Melanoma
The majority of melanoma patients eventually become unresponsive to treatment. New combination drug therapies could improve response rates of existing therapies. Researchers will seek to validate a computational drug-repurposing approach that integrates personal genomics profiles of patients with multiple scales of drug data for thousands of FDA approved drugs to predict potentially effective drug combinations tailored to individual patients.
Genomic Drivers of Race Disparity in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Triple-negative breast cancer has a high rate of mortality due to a lack of established biomarkers and effective targeted therapy. The objective is to understand specific molecular crosstalk between numerous genetic pathways and inflammatory markers, and how that interaction influences cancer development and spread.
Decision Making and Communication Among Breast Cancer Patients Choosing Preventive Mastectomies
More women with breast cancer without a mutation or family history, who do not need the procedure for medical reasons, have been undergoing contralateral preventive mastectomies. This study will evaluate treatment decisions in early-stage breast cancer patients to assess how communication with their providers affects their decision-making.
Therapy to Restore Breathing, Swallowing in HPV+ Head and Neck Cancer Patients
Head and neck cancer patients with HPV+ tumors are often treated with chemoradiation. While the treatment results in a high level of cancer control, its debilitating side effects can include the inability to eat or swallow. This project will evaluate the use of expiratory muscle strength training (EMST) in patients treated with chemoradiation.
Other Idea Grant winners cover a wide range of cancer research: investigating the relationship between non-melanoma skin cancer and second primary cancers; using rapid research autopsies to obtain samples of cancer cells from different organs of patients and studying their genomes to determine how cancer cells acquire resistance; developing a novel and effective therapeutic approach for as yet incurable multiple myeloma; finding a new way to treat advanced prostate cancer; and tackling two genetic mutations associated with Leukemia. Finally, researchers at Ohio State will investigate the role of a specific DNA damage repair pathway -- DNA base excision repair (BER) -- in cancer development and progression. This basic science study could yield many breakthroughs in cancer research and lead to new targets for cancer treatments.
Ohio State Researchers meet with Laboratory Product Suppliers at Bioresearch Product Faire:
On Thursday, July 27, 2017, Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. will host the 18th Annual BioResearch Product Faire™ Event at Ohio State University, Columbus. This event allows lab suppliers to meet face to face with science professionals and demonstrate their lab products. Laboratory product suppliers who wish to increase lab equipment sales should call (530) 272-6675, or visit the link below for more information.
Researchers are invited to attend this free event and can save time by preregistering through the link below.
