Eric Nieminen ’16 will ride his bicycle this summer during the Pan-Mass Challenge, a fund-raising event for the Dana-Farber Cancer-Institute. Nieminen will be raising money specifically for the Cancer Immunology and Virology (CIV) department at Dana-Farber, where he is a research technician.
Nieminen studies activation of innate immunity in the Kranzusch lab, which works to understand the molecular mechanisms of and determine the structures of proteins in the innate immune response in order to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases.
Prior to graduating from Hamilton, Nieminen investigated the microbial community driving anaerobic methane oxidation in Antarctic marine sediments in a geomicrobiology lab.
Majors: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
The Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC) is an annual bike-a-thon that crosses the state of Massachusetts. Nieminen will bike to raise money for life-saving cancer research and treatment.
The goal of the PMC is to “attain maximum fundraising efficiency” and “provide Dana-Farber’s doctors and researchers with the necessary resources to discover cures for all cancers.” Nieminen will be riding the longest route, 192 miles from Sturbridge to Provincetown, Mass.
Nieminen says “I’m doing the PMC to raise money for my department simply because I believe in the ability of our research to save lives. These extra funds are vital for work in the department because it allows us to purchase large core pieces of equipment that all labs share because no single lab could afford things like this on our own.”
