Blocking WDR5 to Fight Cancer

April Weissmiller, Ph.D., is a scientist who wants to help kids with cancer.

Thanks to receiving grant funding from Rally Foundation during her time at Vanderbilt University and now at Middle Tennessee State University, she studied a tiny part of our cells called WDR5.

It turns out WDR5 helps cancer cells grow.

Dr. Weissmiller asked a big question: What if we block WDR5? Could that stop the cancer?

With help from Rally, she tested it, and it worked! When she blocked WDR5, the cancer cells stopped working. This worked in multiple types of childhood cancer.

Because of this discovery, new medicines could be made in the future to help kids.

Her work has even been published in science journals so other researchers can build on it.

“Rally’s commitment to early-stage, high-impact research has not only advanced this important area of inquiry but has also been instrumental to the trajectory of my scientific career,” said Dr. Weissmiller.

This is why early-stage research funding matters. 

This is the power of philanthropic seed investing. 

This is Rally.