Many of us walk, run or take part in activities to benefit research, and it feels good to do so. But often, that’s the last we hear or think about it. Research is, pardon the pun, a marathon. The finish line is a long way off.
But those who took part in the last few editions of the Lincoln Marathon, and its half-marathon, can know that their run for research already has made a difference, thanks to work being done at UNMC.
Since 2014, the Lincoln Marathon has partnered with Project Purple, a nonprofit supporting patients and funding research in pancreatic cancer. In 2015, the marathon and Project Purple established the Jayne Snyder Pancreatic Research Fellowship.
“The Lincoln Marathon is so proud to be a part of Project Purple,” said marathon co-director Nancy Sutton. The fellowship funds a postdoc at the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center — specifically, in the lab of Tony Hollingsworth, Ph.D.
Dr. Hollingsworth recently reported that work done by that fellow, Kamiya Mehla, Ph.D., produced preliminary data that helped UNMC secure a $500,000 grant from the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Hollingsworth and team are using the funds to study the immunosuppressive aspects of the pancreatic tumor microenvironment.
Project Purple founder and CEO Dino Verrelli was thrilled to hear the fellowship is paying off.
“That’s really exciting,” said Verrelli, who founded the nonprofit after he lost his father, Giovanni, to pancreatic cancer. “I told Tony, now the pressure’s on.”
Verrelli laughed. He was joking. But he wasn’t joking. “That’s why we did this,” he said. “We want to push this. Hopefully, what we are doing together, that impact, will push other groups.”
The partnership with the Lincoln Marathon was a natural one. “Several members of the Lincoln Track Club have succumbed to this disease,” Sutton said. Snyder, the fellowship’s namesake, was a marathoner who served on the club’s board. She died of pancreatic cancer in 2011.
Verrelli and Project Purple have become close not only with the marathon, but with Dr. Hollingsworth and UNMC.
“Things just really clicked,” Verrelli said. “I’ve been there 12 times in three years. Nebraska’s become like a second home for me, personally.”
Last year, more than 100 ran on Project Purple’s official team. Verrelli marvels at a $52,000 fellowship grant leveraged into a half-million dollars. “That’s a return on investment,” he said.
Congrats, Dr. Mehla and Dr. Hollingsworth!