July 12, 2016, Filed Under: 2016, cancer, texas4000Letter to Texas4000 Rider: Matthew Schneider Dear Matthew, Hey Matthew, my name is Dylan Beam and I just finished my first year studying Biological Engineering at The Ohio State University. I am in complete awe of what you guys are all accomplishing this summer. I am from Oregon, so I fly about 2500 miles pretty regularly to and from college and I couldn’t imagine riding a bike that far, much less the 4000 miles that you are all biking this summer. Everyone’s life has been touched by cancer at one point or another–mine was touched when a close family friend was diagnosed with breast cancer–but I could not imagine what it is like to have one of my parents afflicted by this horrific ailment. It’s inspiring to me that you have taken on the journey to raise funds and awareness for cancer by participating in Texas 4000. Dylan, 2016 Summer Scholar I have been interested in research because of the intellectual stimulation it provides, but through this connection to Texas 4000 I have gained better insight on the impact that research can have on individuals. I remember back to how when I was a kid and everyone wanted to be a hero. This program has helped me to understand that heroes come in all types. You are a hero, just like every other member of Texas 4000 and everyone else dedicating their life to fighting cancer. I’ve lived my whole life on the west coast between visiting my family in the San Francisco Bay Area and living in Oregon. It’s a beautiful area and I hope you enjoy your journey through the west. Sincerely, Dylan Beam, The Ohio State University Matthew Schneider is a UT Austin student studying Computer Science and currently riding to Alaska on the Sierra team.
July 8, 2016, Filed Under: 2016, cancer, reflections, research, texas4000Engaging the Fight Against Cancer with Texas 4000 “Cancer begins and ends with people. In the midst of scientific abstraction, it is sometimes possible to forget this one basic fact.” –June Goodfield. Before this summer, I viewed the fight against cancer solely as a scientific race to find a cure. As I began my participation in the BME CUReS REU program, my perspective of the fight against cancer has been changed and expanded. Through my research in the lab and reading of Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, I have come to realize that the complexity of the nature of cancer as a disease and its variance among its victims prevents there ever being one single drug that provides a universal cure. Yet, in order to achieve the ultimate goal of eliminating the disease of cancer, it is going to take several different effective treatments. In consequence, winning the war against cancer requires an entire army – a community. A community of researchers to share findings to better the understanding of cancer as a disease and to find more effective treatments. A community of doctors to communicate the needs of patients and the successes and failures of treatments. A community of people to raise the public’s awareness and funds for the fight against cancer. In a community, there are several different groups of individuals who hold various roles, all of which are vital to the functionality of the community. Just as in any functioning body, one part of a community cannot thrive without the other. In the cancer community, doctors and researchers could not collaborate and create effective treatments without funding. It is the individuals of the cancer community that dedicate their time to share their personal encounters with cancer, to host fundraising events, to campaign for government funding, to raise public awareness who come up with the funding. Thus, these are the individuals who fuel the fight against cancer. A great example of such individuals are those who make the Texas4000 happen. These individuals dedicate two years of their life to raise $4,500 total funds for cancer research and to train physically, emotionally, and mentally to ride a bike 4000 miles. The strenuous 4000 mile bike ride from Austin to Anchorage mirrors the exhausting fight cancer patients face every day. While some may ride in memory of someone who encountered cancer as others ride because they personally are a survivors, all ride for the sole purpose of raising hope and public knowledge in the fight against cancer. Without the funds raised by the Texas4000 riders, research programs like BME CUReS would not be happening. Every day in the labs, I use numerous pipet tips, reagents, cell lines, and fancy other equipment – all to better understand cancer. Yet, all these tools wear high price tags. Due to dedication of the Texas4000 individuals, this summer, I can contribute research that will bring the cancer community one step closer to fighting off cancer. -Rachel Hegab, Louisiana Tech University On Friday, July 1, four Texas 4000 riders from the 2017 visited the REU weekly seminar to talk about why they ride: Marc, Margo, Luis, and Valerie. We also made cards for the 2016 Sierra team and will be sending them to the Portland Day 45 mail drop! BME CUReS Cancer Summer Scholars and 2017 Texas 4000 Riders on July 1, 2016 Cards for 2016 Sierra Team!
June 30, 2016, Filed Under: 2016, cancer, learning, reflectionsMindset and Emperor Readings This summer I’ll be reading Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck, where author recognizes there are two types of mindsets after conducting a study on children trying to figure out puzzles that increase difficulty. The mindsets she finds discovers are the fixed and growth. The fixed mindset represents the individuals that only go through life on their genetically given abilities and intellect. In comparison, the growth mindset are the individuals that rise to a challenge and don’t necessarily care if they get something wrong but want to learn from their failures. Photo by Alston Feggins of the trees by Moore Hill Dormitory. I had parallels to my own life from the suggested situations that resulted with either a fixed or a growth mindset to my own life. I wonder if someone can have a varied mindset that is situational rather than having one or the other. I have as any other college students have experienced failure if it was from grades to projects to life. I know that I cope with failure knowing that it’s a part of life but the little voice in my head is my own devil’s advocate that always reminds that it would be alright to sit in my own self-pity and eat ice cream all day because I experienced failure. Though I do crave and have ice cream, but I do pick myself up and make a plan on how to correct the situation. Does that mean in the moment I allow myself to sit in my self-pity is because I have a fixed mindset? When I read the section on failures, the fixed mindset was fixated on the failure itself and wanting to self-destruct. The growth mindset was learning from their failure and wanting to know what they did wrong so they can correct it for next time. The growth mindset is how innovation occurs where individuals see a problem and think of ways to solve such problem. This problem-solving method draws parallels in The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee, a historical journey from first discovering cancer to the developments of better equipment and treatments. The book flips from situations of a doctor treating a patient that was just diagnosed with cancer to a doctor testing new experimental drug on live patients with childhood leukemia. There is one front but played in different sections around the world of researchers, medical physicians, families and patients all working together to fight against cancer. -Alston Feggins, Florida Institute of Technology
