Major – Nutrition

Project – Fish Oil as a Preventive Therapy to Reduce Anthracycline-Induced Cardiotoxicity

Mentor – Martha Belury, PhD

Idea Inspiration – In nutrition, we learn about the various biochemical pathways that are altered by the foods we consume. After a discussion on how chemotherapies can damage the heart, I noticed similarities with how omega-3 fats alter the heart. This led to the hypothesis that consuming omega-3 fats could protect the heart against chemotherapy-induced damage.

My Pelotonia 2020 – Run 20 miles and volunteer 40 hours at the Ronald McDonald House

Major – Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, PhD Studies

Project – Studying the Effect of Interstitial Flow Forces on the Breast Cancer Cell Migration

Mentor – Jonathon Song, PhD

Idea Inspiration – Cancer is a disease that affects many lives, as most families nowadays know someone who has been diagnosed with cancer. I believe that, as engineers, we have a lot to contribute to cancer research. In my research, we are aiming to use nanosensors to study how biophysical forces contribute to cancer spread. If successful, our findings could help in drug screening or in developing new treatments for cancer patients.

My Pelotonia 2020 – Raise $1,250, work out 30 minutes a day, walk/run 30 miles and do a Netflix marathon day

Watch as Peter shares more details about his research project.

Major – Biomedical Science

Project – Mechanism of Tumor Relapse After ERK Inhibitor Treatment in NSCLC

Mentor – Qi-En Wang, PhD

Idea Inspiration – My project focuses on non-small cell lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality not only in the United States but also around the world. We noticed that although an ERK inhibitor has been used in clinical trials to treat lung cancer, tumor recurrence still occurs after treatment.

My Pelotonia 2020 – Introduce information about cancer to my family and friends

Major – Molecular Genetics, PhD Studies

Project – Characterizing the Effects of the Ligand Binding START Domain on the Tumor Suppressor STARD12

Mentors – Aman Husbands, PhD, and Richard Fishel, PhD

Idea Inspiration – Our lab studies START domains in plant proteins, and we wanted to apply our knowledge to the START domains of a human protein involved in tumor suppression.

My Pelotonia 2020 – Ride 50 miles

Major – Cancer Immunology

Project – Targeting GARP-TGFbeta for Cancer Immunotherapy

Mentor – Zihai Li, PhD, MD

Idea Inspiration – To find the next checkpoint molecule for cancer immunotherapy.

My Pelotonia 2020 – Riding 25 miles

Watch as Anqi shares more details about her research project.

Major – Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology

Project – Investigating Post-Transcriptional Mechanisms Regulating Oscillatory Gene Expression

Mentor – Sharon Amacher, PhD

Idea Inspiration – I’ve always been inspired by the complexity of biology and how small changes in gene expression can lead to major and devastating impacts such as cancer. I want to understand how those changes occur and what we can do to correct them.

My Pelotonia 2020 – Run 50 miles in 50 days, and run seven miles on what would have been the ride day, August 8th.

Watch Monica's inspiring presentation

Watch as Monica shares more details about her research project.

Major – 5th Year PhD Candidate, Mechanical Engineering

Project – DNA Origami-Based Multifunctional Detection of Cancer Biomarkers in the Extracellular Matrix

Mentor – Carlos Castro, PhD

Idea Inspiration – I remember in my second year, one paper came out discussing a similar but much simpler idea. I loved it and thought we could enhance it much better with our platform as a follow-up to our first paper on this topic. Meanwhile, I learned more and more about the biological processes, permeability and intercellular interactions in tumor tissue, and I shaped the idea into my candidacy and grant idea.

My Pelotonia 2020 – Run 10K and make homemade yogurt for my donators

Major – Biomedical Sciences

Project – Understanding the Function and Therapeutic Potential of USP37 in Lung Cancer

Mentors – Matthew Summers, PhD, and Jeffrey Parvin, MD, PhD

Idea Inspiration – In my first year in graduate school, most of my projects focused on understanding how a specific protein, USP37, is regulated in normal cells. The more I read about this protein, I noticed it had a strong connection to lung cancer. After collecting some preliminary data, I was able to develop a more translational project that studies USP37 in the context of lung cancer.

My Pelotonia 2020 – Ride 40 miles with a friend

Watch as Ben shares more details about his research project.

Major – Neuroscience

Project – Targeting KIF11 to Radiosensitize Glioblastoma

Mentors – Monica Venere, PhD, and Nicholas Denko, PhD, MD

Idea Inspiration – I was inspired to propose this project because glioblastoma is such a devastating brain tumor, and we have no curative options to offer patients. I really wanted to work on something translational that I felt could be put into practice for patients.

My Pelotonia 2020 – To publish my first, first-author research article. I accomplished this in July!

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Major – Immunology and Pharmaceutical Science

Project – TET2/TP53 Cooperating Mutations and TLR2 Signaling Crosstalk in Progenitors During Leukemogenesis

Mentor – John Byrd, MD

Idea Inspiration – My inspiration is to discover a novel treatment strategy for drug-resistant acute leukemia.

My Pelotonia 2020 – Ride 25 miles

Watch Pu's inspiring presentation