Cancer research is receiving a boost from bicyclists who have raised funds to move promising research proposals forward. A total of $352,000 in funding raised by more than 1,250 participants in The Ride in September, 2017 have been distributed to 14 projects. 

One of the scholarships was awarded to Joshua Lang, MD, MS, assistant professor, Hematology, Medical Oncology and Palliative Care. Dr. Lang and colleagues will use the $25,000 award for a pilot research project to develop new biomarkers of epigenetic alterations in prostate cancer.  

The overall focus of his work is to understand how circulating tumor cells, which are cancer cells that have shed from primary tumors and entered into the bloodstream or lymph to be carried to other locations in the body, can be used to detect cancer at an early stage. Dr. Lang's team hopes to develop new treatment approaches for cancers that have become resistant to therapy.

Thirteen other research teams received funding for studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison aimed at a wide variety of cancer projects.

The Ride first began in fall of 2016. In the first two years of the event, it has raised over half a million dollars for cancer research at UW-Madison.

The Ride 2018 will occur on September 23.   

Resources: 

• "The Ride Funds $352,000 in Cancer Research at Carbone Cancer Center," February 12, 2018
• The Ride - Event information and registration

Photo caption: Dr. Joshua Lang (pictured at right) listens to hematology/oncology fellow and researcher Dr. David Kosoff (left). Photo credit: Clint Thayer/Department of Medicine