Inaugural Oklahoma City CycleNation pedals with a purpose to support heart and brain health
The American Stroke Association, a division of the American Heart Association (AHA) - the leading voluntary health organization focused on heart and brain health for all, is inviting riders back for an in-person ride to stop the cycle of stroke and heart disease. Oklahoma City CycleNation will take place on Sept. 23 at Chisholm Creek.
CycleNation is a program empowering people to use road and stationary bikes to get brain and heart healthy — all while raising funds to end the cycle of stroke and heart disease. Cycling helps maintain strong brain function, processing speed and mental sharpness. Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death
in the United States and the leading cause of disability in older age. Each year about 800,000 people in the U.S. have a stroke.
To register for this high-energy, endorphin-pumping ride, go to CycleNation.org/okc.
OMRF receives grant for ovarian cancer research
The National Institutes of Health has awarded the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation $450,000 to research promising new ovarian cancer treatments.
OMRF scientist Magdalena Bieniasz, Ph.D., received the two-year grant to test combinations of drugs that may be more effective than current treatments for aggressive forms of ovarian cancer.
“There is a receptor protein that signals tumor cells to multiply faster and survive better,” said Bieniasz, who joined OMRF in 2016 from the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Utah. “We are studying drugs that could inhibit this signal.”
The presence of this receptor signal is one reason ovarian cancer often develops resistance to traditional therapies. After chemotherapy treatment, this signal promotes growth of any cancer cells that weren’t stopped, producing a new tumor resistant to the previous medicine.
Bieniasz’s lab team plans to pair the compound blocking receptor signaling with a chemotherapytype drug, which may slow or prevent this resistance.