TBMH graduate student awarded two grants to advance brain cancer research
Joelle Martin, a doctoral candidate in Virginia Tech’s Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health (TBMH) Program, was awarded two grants to support her research on a deadly form of brain cancer, glioblastoma multiforme.
Martin, who will defend her doctoral dissertation in May, received the Zeta Beta Tau Cancer Research Award and a graduate fellowship provided by philanthropist, alumnus, and longtime Virginia Tech benefactor Ray Gaskins ‘64.
“The scholarships have allowed me to pursue my academic interests in a new way by buying products, cell lines, and kits that we haven’t used in the lab before to answer novel questions,” said Martin, who conducts research in the Sontheimer Lab at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC. “They’ve allowed me to take more of a creative approach to explore research questions.”
Members of the social fraternity’s Delta Xi Chapter at Virginia Tech created the $3,800 Zeta Beta Tau Cancer Research Award to advance cancer research in memory of brothers who have died from the disease.
“One of the things I have been most impressed with about Joelle is her tremendous grit and clear passion for her work,” said Harald Sontheimer, adjunct professor at Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and Martin’s mentor, in nominating her for the award. “I know that she comes to lab with the mindset that what she accomplishes has the potential to improve the life of someone suffering with glioblastoma multiforme in the future.”
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