Kelli Adeleye, a 5th-year graduate student in Dr. Wei Li’s lab, was awarded the Alma Hal Reagan Fellowship for the second year in a row!
With the award money, Adeleye plans to advance her research on SP-1-39, a promising colchicine-binding site inhibitor. This funding will support further studies to assess its efficacy in drug-resistant and metastatic breast cancer. She has previously collaborated with Dr. Tiffany Seagroves’ lab and discovered the compound’s unique ability to cross the blood-brain barrier to treat breast cancer brain metastasis. In the future, she intends to investigate the synergistic effects of combining SP-1-39 with anti-PD-L1 therapies to enhance the immune response against tumors.
The Alma and Hal Reagan Endowment Fund allows the College of Graduate Health Sciences to award one or more fellowships, depending on available funds, to outstanding graduate students working in the area of cancer research. The award is for one year in the amount of $13,000 per year ($12,000 stipend plus $1,000 for travel, books, and supplies) with the potential for renewal for one year.
Congrats Kelli!