(Story courtesy Georgia Cancer Center)
Each year, area residents bike, walk or run to raise money for cancer research through PaceDay event. On July 28, PACELINE officials announced grant recipients from the 2025 event.
Sejong Bae, PhD – Feasibility study: Nurse Patient Navigator Intervention to Improve Cancer Survivorship in Rural Greensboro, Georgia
Many cancer survivors in rural Greensboro, Georgia have a hard time getting the care they need after treatment. Traveling long distances, fewer local services, and confusing follow-up instructions can make it even harder. In a later phase, this project will help survivors receive guidance from a specially trained nurse; a specially trained nurse who helps people understand their care, find local services, and keep up with their health. Programs like this have helped people get better care, especially in underserved areas. This study will help understand if this approach is feasible and acceptable for people in this community and if it can be expanded to help more survivors in the future.
Yukai He, PhD – AI-Driven de novo Design of Miniproteins Targeting AFP peptide/HLA-A2 Complex for Liver Cancer Immunotherapy
Tumor-specific T cells hold immense potential for cancer immunotherapy, but most patients lack them. Engineering a patient’s own T cells with specific T-cell receptor (TCR) genes provides a solution, yet current TCR identification methods remain slow and expensive. Funded by this Paceline award, He and his research team are leveraging Nobel Prize-winning AI protein design programs to develop TCR mimics, drastically accelerating production while cutting costs. If successful, this AI-driven design platform can expand to target any tumor antigen, vastly broadening the reach of cellular immunotherapies.
Nahid Mivechi, PhD (Dimitrios Moskofidis, MD, PhD) – Determine the Therapeutic Potential of Targeting Heat Shock Factor HSF2 and HSP110 axis for Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has a poor 5-year survival outcome with a limited therapeutic opportunity. There is a critical unmet need for novel therapeutic approaches to overcome key barriers in management of pancreatic cancer. In this project, a collaborative team of experts will investigate whether targeting the HSF2-HSP110 axis to modulate transcription can sensitize tumor cells to x-irradiation and enhances anti-tumor immune responses, providing a new avenue for pancreatic cancer therapy.
Zainab Tiamiyu – The Role of Suv39h1 and Suv39h2-H3k9me3 in Myeloid Cell Differentiation, Tumor Microenvironment and Immune Evasion
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and it can often hide from the immune system, making it difficult for the body to fight this deadly disease. Tiamiyu’s research investigates two proteins (SUV39H1 and Suv39h2) that may act like “off switches” which prevent certain immune cells from developing the ability to help attack tumors. By understanding how this process works, Tiamiyu hopes to find new ways to reactivate these immune cells and make cancer treatments, especially immunotherapy, more effective. This could lead to better outcomes for people diagnosed with colorectal cancer and potentially other types of cancer as well.
Gerald C. Wallace IV, MD – Predicting Recurrence and COagulopathy in Gliomas (PRECOGlio)
The PRECOGlio trial will explore the associations between clotting risk and disease state in patients with malignant gliomas. These patients are at significantly increased risk for blood clots which can be life threatening or otherwise disrupt treatment. That risk may be related to tumor size and disease progression. By measuring thrombin generation in glioma patients, PRECOGlio may serve as a biomarker indicating adequacy of surgical resections, risk of current and future clot formation, and disease progression or response to therapy.
David Wolff, PhD – Targeting guanylate biosynthesis to prevent therapy resistance in melanoma
Malignant melanoma is a lethal skin cancer which often responds to current standard-of-care therapies before acquiring resistance and progressing despite the treatments. Dr. Wolff’s laboratory studies mechanisms by which melanoma tumors accomplish this, with the long-term goal of identifying new potential therapy options which improve the current standard-of-care. The current project will explore whether blocking a specific metabolic process within melanoma cells disrupts energy production to overcome therapy resistance.
“It’s for a good cause, it’s for good health, and it’s really a fun event everybody will enjoy,” said Al Dallas, chief of staff and administrator for Research Operations at the Georgia Cancer Center. “I think we all should make an effort. Cancer research is very competitive. Less than 10 percent of grants submitted get funded. Having additional resources and funding would be great for all the researchers and patients who suffer from cancer.”
This is a fight that not only involves a portion of people. A lot of people will be eventually impacted by cancer during their lifetime or have family members suffer from this disease, so it’s a fight that needs everyone’s involvement.
As the official cancer center for the state of Georgia, the Georgia Cancer Center is focused on a path of rapid growth and development, with the goal of achieving National Cancer Institute designation through NCI’s Cancer Center Support Grant program. Community involvement and funding for research to support the Georgia Cancer Center’s efforts is needed to achieve this goal.
One opportunity for every Georgian to join in these efforts is though PACELINE, a community movement based in Augusta,where 100% of all fundraising fuels innovative cancer research at the Georgia Cancer Center.
“For the hundreds of thousands of Georgians whose lives have been affected by cancer, PACELINE is a year-round movement of communities and organizations, Setting the Pace to End Cancer” said Martyn Jones, executive director for PACELINE. “PACELINE culminates each year in a big annual fundraising event called PaceDay where everyone is welcome to participate
in a non-competitive, family friendly Walk, Run or Ride for Cancer Research.”
Every day, researchers and staff at the Georgia Cancer Center continue to reduce the burden of cancer in the state of Georgia and across the globe. The PACELINE community has already funded thirty-nine grants, fueling innovative cancer research. Together, we set the pace to end cancer.
PaceDay 2026 is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. Visit the PACELINE website
to get connected and involved in this year’s event.
Augusta Good News is an award-winning member of the Georgia Press Association, receiving a second place General Excellence in 2025 and 2026 Sign up for our free weekly newsletter here.
