Asking questions that lead to brilliant ideas is at the root of scientific discovery. Quantum leaps in science are made by this type of innovative thinking, but funding for the early pursuit of such initiatives is hard to obtain.
Since 2010, The James has awarded 206 Idea Grants by Pelotonia and other funding totaling $27.7 million to research teams representing more than 200 researchers from 9 of the 15 colleges along with Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
The awards are issued via a peer-review process conducted by scientists not competing for the grants. The grants cover an array of studies, from the genetics of triple-negative breast cancer to imaging of precancerous pancreatic lesions; from neurofibroma tumorigenesis and therapy to the molecular mechanisms of the body’s natural killer cells against multiple myeloma; from the role of the ATF3 gene in the development and treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia to genomic aberrations driving metastatic squamous cell carcinoma (a type of skin cancer).