Since the program began in 2010, it has awarded 525 fellowships for projects undertaken by 244 undergraduates, 154 graduates, 121 postdoctoral fellows and six professional students. It also has provided international research experiences for a number of Ohio State undergrads in India and Brazil, and it has brought students from those nations to contribute to cancer research at Ohio State.
Students apply competitively for the fellowships, which are peer-reviewed and issued by a committee of faculty cancer researchers chaired by Pelotonia Fellowship Program director Rosa Lapalombella, PhD. Lapalombella is an associate professor in the Division of Hematology at Ohio State and a member of the Leukemia Research Program at the OSUCCC – James.
Below are profiles of three Pelotonia fellowship recipients, including an undergraduate, a graduate and a postdoctoral fellow.
Rohan Makhijani, an undergraduate majoring in biomedical sciences at Ohio State, admits he was “exhausted and ready to give in” at the 40-mile rest stop of his inaugural Pelotonia ride in 2018.
“I was cramping in both legs and slowly falling to the ground next to my bike,” recalls Makhijani, who was riding the 55-mile New Albany to Gambier route as part of the Buckeye Student Riders (BSR) – Pelotonia Fellows team.
But another rider helped him up and said, “We’ve almost made it!” As the rider walked away, Makhijani saw the word “Survivor” on the back of his shirt.
“He gave me the inspiration to drink some pickle juice, stretch out and finish the final 15 miles,” says Makhijani, the recipient of a Pelotonia fellowship that enabled him to conduct cancer research in the lab of Steven Clinton, MD, PhD, a professor in the Division of Medical Oncology at Ohio State and leader of the Molecular Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program at the OSUCCC – James.
For Makhijani, that burst of inspiration was the most memorable moment of his ride, an experience throughout which he “felt the rush of support and excitement” from other riders and the many roadside spectators along the way. “The ride experience surpassed my expectations. I realized the power and impact of the Pelotonia community and what it represents.”
Makhijani’s Pelotonia-funded research focused on preventing or reversing the effects of cachexia, a skeletal muscle-wasting condition experienced by some patients with certain cancers. Although his Pelotonia fellowship has expired, he remains in the Clinton Lab as he progresses through his senior year.
“Dr. Clinton is still my mentor,” Makhijani says. “My work, in collaboration with the (Christopher) Coss and (Mitch) Phelps Lab in the College of Pharmacy, now addresses the adverse effects of androgen-deprivation therapy experienced by patients with prostate cancer on skeletal muscle physiology. Different project, similar goal.”
After he graduates, he plans to attend medical school and to someday work at an academic hospital. “I hope to practice medicine as a teaching physician and also leverage new technology to innovate patient care,” he says.
For his ride in Pelotonia 2019, he followed the same route and rode in the same peloton as last year. And this year he had a better idea of what to expect.
“Leading up to Peloton weekend last year, I was beyond nervous,” Makhijani says. “I had never ridden more than 18 miles in a single ride and had never ridden on hilly roads. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. But I knew thousands of people successfully finish every year, and that everyone at the event supports each other.”
In June of this year, he started training on a stationary bike. After he obtained a bicycle through the Team Buckeye lease program, he rode trails around his home area of Dayton in preparation for Pelotonia 2019 weekend.
“I was most looking forward to seeing the community of riders and volunteers in action again,” Makhijani says. “At the beginning, throughout the ride, at the rest stops and at the finish, the feeling of community and pride is overwhelming. I remembered my first ride vividly, and I was excited to recapture those special feelings this year."
A Pelotonia fellowship award is helping Marcos Corchado extend his deep interest in developmental biology — the study of how organisms grow and develop — to cancer research that he hopes will lead to new treatments.
“I’m really interested in developmental biology, and there’s a lot of overlap between this discipline and cancer research,” says Corchado, a PhD candidate who works in the lab of Helen Chamberlin, PhD, a professor in Ohio State’s College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Molecular Genetics. Chamberlin’s work focuses on understanding molecular processes underlying organogenesis, or the development of organs — aspects of which can provide insight into human disease.
“I like to think of a tumor as an organ that is growing without any control, and a lot of the mechanisms that work in developmental biology are the same mechanisms that go wrong in cancer,” Corchado says. “So cancer research is interesting to me because I’ve already had a passionate interest in developmental biology.”
Corchado, who was born in New York and moved to Puerto Rico when he was 8 years old, is using his Pelotonia fellowship to study the role of the tumor microenvironment, or the area surrounding a tumor, in cancer maintenance.
“Generally when we think about cancer, we think of pathological signals that the tumor itself produces,” says Corchado, who holds a dual undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering and biology from the University of Puerto Rico – Mayagüez. “My research is studying signals that come from outside the tumor, or the tumor microenvironment, which is derived from
mesodermal tissue.
“Much less is known about these signals, which makes them interesting to study. We screen the mesoderm (a part of the tumor microenvironment) to see which genes, when turned off, can actually reduce cell proliferation."
Specifically, he is studying the LPR-3 protein, which is required for over-proliferation of mutated cells. “By studying LPR-3, I aim to uncover mechanisms by which surrounding tissues contribute to cancer, with the long-term goal of identifying new treatments,” he explains.
Corchado is working toward a PhD in molecular genetics and plans to pursue a career in biomedical research at a medical institution. He is grateful to have received a Pelotonia fellowship to help him on his way. “It gives me the resources to do my research for the next couple of years, which is a big relief for me.”
He was a virtual rider in Pelotonia 2019 with the Buckeye Student Riders (BSR) – Pelotonia Fellows team, but he experienced the event with the same team in 2018 as a 200-mile rider, although illness prevented him from riding on Pelotonia weekend.
“What I most enjoy about the Pelotonia experience is the opportunity to contribute to cancer research both in the lab and outside the lab by fundraising,” he says.
As a basic-science biologist, Safiya Khurshid, PhD, spends each day at work striving to understand the biological processes that transform cells from normal to cancerous.
“I strongly believe that with extensive research and technological breakthroughs, we can make this world cancer-free,” says Khurshid, who works in the lab of Dawn Chandler, PhD, at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Chandler is an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Ohio State and a member of the Molecular Biology and Cancer Genetics Program at the OSUCCC – James, where her work focuses on the regulation of pre-mRNA molecular splicing and how its disruption can lead to pediatric diseases such as cancer.
Khurshid attributes much of her early-career success to her mentor. “Dr. Chandler has played a huge role in my life as a cancer biologist,” she says. “She has taught me scientific as well as life lessons, without which I would hardly be successful.”
With Chandler as her mentor, Khurshid — a native of Kashmir who earned her PhD at the University of Cologne in Germany — received a Pelotonia fellowship for a project on targeting insulin receptor alternative splicing to treat pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of soft tissue sarcoma that most typically affects children and adolescents.
“My project deals with alternative splicing and how we can use this process or mechanism to target this cancer in its earliest stages,” Khurshid says. “If we can stop cells from producing isoforms (variants) that make them cancerous, perhaps we can stop the transformation process of the cell at a very early stage.”
She was thrilled to receive a Pelotonia fellowship for this work. “These fellowships have had a lot of impact on cancer research and have helped a lot of postdocs and other students further their careers,” she says. “I think I got mine at just the right time. I needed it and was very excited to get it.”
She became even more determined to study cancer when it struck her family. “I was brought to my knees when my father was diagnosed with colorectal cancer,” she says. “Being a cancer researcher, I understand the complications of this disease, but I also believe that research can help us find ways to eradicate it.”
A member of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital peloton (riding group), Khurshid rode with her husband, Mohsin, on the 25-mile Columbus to Pickerington route to celebrate the life of her father, who is now a cancer survivor.
“More than ever before, I am proud to be his daughter,” Khurshid says, adding that she also was riding “for the life, strength and resilience of a dear friend’s mom who is battling lung cancer,” and for “all the kids and their families at Nationwide Children’s Hospital who trust us to give them hope.”
“I have been working in cancer biology for the last several years, and there is nothing that inspires or interests me more,” she says, noting that she hopes to someday hold a faculty position “so I can run my own lab and continue working to cure cancer.”