As I write this post, I’m just over halfway to my donation target to participate in this year’s Ride To Conquer Cancer. Many many thanks to those of you who have donated already. If you plan to donate, please do - I need to reach a minimum level before the ride in October.
In this update I thought I’d share some information on how your dollars are spent in cancer research by Peter Mac, give an example of one of the more exotic areas of research going on in the world, and finish with a bit of cycling.
A few weeks ago Peter Mac shared a summary of how the money donated through the Ride to Conquer Cancer goes towards their research programs. This is the summary they sent me:
- Ride dollars are providing Peter Mac’s researchers with access to state-of-the-art genomic technology platforms, and providing experts to help conduct genomic experiments. Genomic technologies allow researchers to decode or count DNA and RNA molecules to find differences that exist between normal and diseased cells. As cancer is a genetic disease caused by mutations that are either inherited or acquired during life, genomic technologies are extremely powerful tools to discovering mutations in genes implicated in cancer.
- Peter Mac invests funds raised through The Ride to help support the Bioinformatics Facility, which processes massive volumes of data produced by our Molecular Genomics facility.
- Ride dollars are giving researchers access to high-powered microscopes which significantly magnify a single cancer cell to determine causes and treatments.
- Ride dollars support the Peter Mac fly lab, which allows researchers to refine their most promising research into human trials through the use of tiny Drosophila melanogaster (fly) models as pre-clinical models.
The Elephant is in the room and surprisingly healthy:
I am lucky enough to count one of Peter Mac’s worldwide Cancer Research Specialists as a close friend and riding buddy. Our ride discussions are a mix of cycling chatter, coffee and cafe choices, family and work experiences, and occasionally an interesting aspect of the research world. I thought I’d share one example…On one recent ride I was introduced to Peto’s paradox: if every cell in an animal has an equal chance of developing cancer we would have no large, long lived animals, like elephants and whales. The observation is that animals with long lifespans and large numbers of cells (like elephants) have very good cancer prevention mechanisms, much better than ours. The tantalising opportunity is that if we can learn how, perhaps we can mimic the approach. Other than being a likely question for ‘QI’, this is one example of the lengths and breadths that research scientists are exploring to find ways to find preventions and cures for cancer.
Riding
In terms of my riding, I’ve been cutting back to a less demanding weekly schedule since my 3 Peaks epic. I’m doing a local group ride quite frequently (the “Maling Room Ride”) and not doing as many long rides - still means something like 100 - 250 km per week, so I guess that’s still quite a lot for most normal people!
Stay well, till the next time,
John
