Since it began in 2010, the program has awarded 616 fellowships for projects undertaken by 278 undergraduates, 188 graduates, 142 postdoctoral fellows and eight medical students. It also has provided Ohio State undergrads with international research experiences in India and Brazil and has enabled students from those nations to help with 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, an associate professor in the Division of Hematology at Ohio State and a member of the Leukemia Research Program at the OSUCCC – James.
On this and the next three pages are profiles of Pelotonia student scientists who received Pelotonia fellowships, including one as an undergraduate, one as a graduate and one as a postdoctoral fellow. All three participated in Pelotonia 21 as a Rider or Challenger.
TRAINING THE NEXT GENERATION: HANNAH HYLTON
Hannah Hylton, a gifted Ohio State student from a small rural town, hopes to accomplish big things in cancer research. Hylton, who hails from Chesterville in north-central Ohio, recently graduated from the Ohio State Marion campus with a bachelor’s degree in biology premed summa cum laude with research distinction in molecular genetics. She has entered the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program at Ohio State to pursue a PhD with a dual focus on cancer biology and genetics— the next big step toward her goal of becoming a researching professor at a major academic university so she can “focus on identifying the underlying mechanisms of genetic diseases and furthering our understanding of cancer.” “Since I’m passionate about genetics and invested in cancer research, graduate school was the next natural step for me,” Hylton says. “I decided to go for my PhD in biomedical sciences because it provides an outlet for me to serve others while exploring questions that remain unanswered.”
She got a good jump on that as an undergrad when she earned a Pelotonia Fellowship to develop a genetic assay to interrogate DNA double-strand break repair pathways with her mentor Ruben Petreaca, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the Marion campus. Petreaca is in the Cancer Biology Program at the OSUCCC – James. Hylton explains that, although cancer is highly diverse, “The initial steps in disease progression are similar for nearly all forms of cancer. When cells replicate, they often make mistakes that accumulate over time to change the genetic makeup of a cell and can cause cancer.”
During DNA replication, which is a component of cell division, the genome is vulnerable to damage, but Hylton notes that natural mechanisms, or pathways, exist in the cell to repair such damage. Some DNA repair pathways are practically error-proof, she adds, but others are error-prone and do not fully restore the original DNA sequence. This accumulating DNA damage can lead to cancer. Working with Petreaca, Hylton developed an assay to examine error-prone pathways in hopes of understanding why cells sometimes choose those over pathways that are relatively error-proof. “Dr. Petreaca was the best mentor I could have asked for,” says Hylton, who completed her Pelotonia Fellowship in May 2021. “He encouraged me to put forth my best work.” Petreaca recently described Hylton as an ideal student who maintained a 4.0 GPA while also being heavily involved in research.
In addition, she contributed to two published papers while in the Petreaca lab—one in which she was the first author and one in which she was a co-author. Hylton first participated in Pelotonia in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated cancellation of the traditional Ride Weekend in favor of a personalized platform for participants. She reached her goal of running/hiking 120 miles and raised $1,250. This year she participated as a Challenger with a goal of running/hiking 121 miles—“100 miles to represent the classic bike ride of Pelotonia and an additional 21 miles for the age I am turning this year.” Hylton likes taking part in Pelotonia, which “allows me to experience the effects of cancer research beyond the doors of the lab. I enjoy connecting with survivors and families. It reminds me of the importance of our work.”
TRAINING THE NEXT GENERATION: BEN STROMBERG
The thought that his Pelotonia-funded study of a specific protein could be a pathway to a new treatment for lung cancer is exciting to Ben Stromberg, a fourth-year graduate student who is pursuing a PhD in biomedical sciences with a focus on experimental therapeutics.
During his first year in graduate school at Ohio State after earning a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology at the College of Wooster, Stromberg focused on understanding how the protein USP37 is regulated in normal cells. The more he studied it, the more he noticed its strong connection to lung cancer, the No. 1 cancer killer among men and women. After gathering preliminary data, he received a Pelotonia Fellowship to develop a translational project that examines USP37 in the context of lung cancer. His research found not only that USP37 is overexpressed (overactive) in lung cancer and some other types of cancer, but also that the cancer cells don’t do as well when the protein is inhibited or removed. “So by working on this project, we might be developing a novel therapy that inhibits this protein, which has never really been inhibited before,” says Stromberg, whose mentors are Matthew Summers, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Ohio State, and Jeffrey Parvin, MD, PhD, professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics.
Summers and Parvin also are in the Cancer Biology Program at the OSUCCC – James. Stromberg’s Pelotonia project aligns with his ambition to contribute to the field of cell biology and “discover something new about what is happening inside a cell.” This pursuit led him to cancer research, he says, “because cancer is a terrible example of what can happen if a cell stops functioning properly.” Stromberg’s career goal is to become both an educator and a researcher at a university or college “where I can split my time between the classroom and the lab.” He credits his mentors for fueling his aspiration. “I work primarily with Dr. Summers, a very patient and available mentor who is always willing to field questions, even when they are off topic. Dr. Parvin has been a terrific co-mentor who’s given me great career advice and always pushes scientifically.” Stromberg, who grew up in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, participated in Pelotonia for the first time in 2020.
For his personalized activity under the COVID19-altered My Pelotonia format, he and a friend rode 40 miles to Canal Winchester and back. Stromberg raised $2,065 for the cause. “It’s actually a cool story,” he says. “A friend of mine realized that I was around $700 short of my goal and decided to donate $700 so I could reach my goal! He had ridden in Pelotonia a few years ago and someone had done that for him, so he just wanted to pay it forward.” This year Stromberg chose a 100-mile route to Gambier, the home to Kenyon College, as a member of the Team Rays Peloton, which represents the Department of Radiation Oncology and is part of the Team Buckeye Superpeloton. “I’d never been able to be around during Ride Weekend, so I looked forward to being part of the full experience,” he says. “Also, I enjoy talking about my research, and Pelotonia gives me a chance to show and tell people what their donations go toward—in this case, a possible new therapy for a dread disease.”
TRAINING THE NEXT GENERATION: UMIDA DJAKBAROVA, PhD
Umida Djakbarova, PhD, feels privileged to be a postdoctoral cancer researcher at Ohio State, especially because “getting to my current position has been a battle.”
She was born and raised in a traditional Uzbek family in Kyrgystan (once part of the former Soviet Union), where the Uzbeks—a Turkic ethnic group native to central Asia—constitute that nation’s largest minority. According to Minority Rights Group International, the Uzbeks “have tended to be excluded from exercising political power since Kyrgystan’s independence” following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Djakbarova says Uzbek women “are discouraged from pursuing higher education or a career, because after graduating they have almost no prospects for employment.” But she had a strong role model in her mother, who had been an astrophysicist and distinguished university researcher in the Soviet Union but was later “forced to leave her job at the university and continue working as a high school teacher due to her Uzbek origin,” Djakbarova says.
She adds that her mother thereafter “lost her trust in the government and started to discourage the younger Uzbek generation from pursuing higher education, claiming that it would be a waste of time and effort.” Djakbarova was undeterred. “These obstacles have only motivated me to become a scientist, because I want to fight against inequality and prejudice,” she says. In 1995, she entered a private high school in Kyrgystan with the help of a full merit scholarship. After graduating with honors, she was accepted at Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey. “It was a struggle to persuade my family to let me pursue my undergraduate study abroad. Risking rejection by my people, I enrolled in the molecular biology and genetics department, a field that has always excited me,” she recalls. Djakbarova later pursued graduate studies at Fatih University in Istanbul, where she further explored cell cycle regulation in cancer cells and earned a PhD while also working as a teaching assistant and being the mother of two young children. She furthered her education as a visiting researcher at the University of North Carolina, and in 2018 she became a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Comert Kural, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Physics at Ohio State and member of the Cancer Biology Program at the OSUCCC – James.
With Kural as her mentor, she received a Pelotonia Fellowship in 2019 to study “Mechanisms of Cancer Cell Migration During Metastasis.” Djakbarova says some 90% of cancer deaths in the United States are associated with metastasis (spread), “partly due to the lack of drugs targeting metastasis. Current anticancer drugs target rapidly dividing cells but might also stimulate metastasis progression.” She says metastatic cells “go through detachment, migration, invasion and adhesion to new sites. Central to these steps is the regulation of cell adhesion to the tumor microenvironment. We are analyzing multiple aspects of cell adhesion remodeling during metastatic cell migration. Our experiments will provide a picture of cell adhesion regulation during metastasis that may help scientists develop anti-metastatic drugs.” Djakbarova says Kural is a strong mentor who has widened her perspective on metastasis. “He enjoys helping us achieve our goals. He is highly intelligent, a great communicator and very easy to work with.” 2020 marked Djakbarova’s first Pelotonia. Despite restrictions imposed by COVID-19 and not knowing many people in this country, she and her family worked with churches and schools on projects such as cookie deliveries to raise over $500. She also met her personal daily ride commitment of 10 miles, a commitment she maintained in 2021. This year she rode 25 miles with the Pelotonia Fellows Peloton and planned to raise at least $2,000. Contributing to this goal, her 13-year-old daughter has knitted and sold toys, raising over $500. Djakbarova embraces the Pelotonia experience. “I’d seen pictures of previous rides and read stories of survivors and fundraisers, so I was excited to see this in person. Every mile I rode had meaning.”