From Ghana to glioblastoma: Solving problems with science
A Ray A. Gaskins graduate fellowship will support translational biology, medicine, and health doctoral candidate Caleb Mensah in investigating new cancer treatments.
Translational biology, medicine, and health doctoral candidate Caleb Mensah’s research was inspired by the parallels he saw in how cancer cells, like pathogens, adapt to survive within a host. Photo by Clayton Metz for Virginia Tech
An undergraduate course in immunology and immunochemistry started Caleb Mensah on a path toward finding new ways to combat treatment-resistant glioblastoma, a deadly form of brain cancer.
“I have always been fascinated by the processes involved in making discoveries and, by extension, research,” Mensah said. The Virginia Tech translational biology, medicine, and health (TBMH) graduate student is the recipient of a Ray A. Gaskins ’64, Ph.D. ’72, graduate fellowship that will help him along that path.
Mensah’s studies began at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, where he earned a degree in biochemistry. One of his early research projects examined the microbial properties of bread made with different compositions of wheat and millet. He worked with scientists exploring substitutions that could offset the increasing cost of bread production, which heavily relied on imported wheat.
Another project used biochemical techniques to understand how storage conditions affect macronutrients in tiger nuts, a nutrient-dense edible tuber that can be made into a range of products.
“My bench-side and fieldwork experience made me appreciate scientific research as a powerful tool to help solve social problems,” Mensah said.
His interest in immunology inspired him to apply what he had learned to human health. After earning his undergraduate degree, he became a research assistant with Ghana’s Kumasi Center for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, where he used computational tools to study parasitic diseases such as a monkeypox and malaria. Mensah grew intrigued by how cancer cells, like pathogens, adapt to survive within a host. “These malignant cells are constantly devising strategies to survive and evade clearance.”
That drive to explore cancer mechanisms more deeply led Mensah to Virginia Tech. The Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health Graduate Program offered both strong interdisciplinary training and the opportunity to work with leading cancer researchers.
Graduate students in the program rotate through different labs before focusing on one project. In 2023, Mensah worked with Samy Lamouille in Roanoke and Kathleen Mulvaney in Washington, D.C. Both are assistant professors with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. In Lamouille’s lab, he investigated epithelial-mesenchymal transition, a cellular event that contributes to cancer metastasis. With Mulvaney, he looked at therapeutic targets for glioblastoma.
At the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, he spent time in Professor Irving Coy Allen’s lab investigating the microenvironment of pancreatic tumors before returning to the Lamouille lab in 2024 to study treatment resistance in glioblastoma stem-like cells.
Glioblastoma has a median survival following diagnosis of roughly 15 months. Standard therapy includes surgical resection, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. Mensah’s dissertation centers on the molecular mechanisms that allow glioblastoma stem-like cells to survive and evade current therapies. He is investigating how bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) signaling and the gap junction protein connexin 43 contribute to these therapy-resistant behaviors, with the goal of identifying vulnerabilities that could guide future treatment strategies.
“Ultimately, I aspire to become an independent career research scientist whose work uncovers new therapeutic strategies for managing and treating aggressive tumors,” Mensah said. “A cancer diagnosis should never feel like a death sentence. Through my work, I hope to contribute to discoveries that translate into more precise, effective, and less toxic cancer interventions that will greatly improve survival outcomes among cancer patients.”
The Gaskins fellowship will support Mensah’s dissertation project. Gaskins supports fellowships for students on Virginia Tech’s Health Sciences and Technology campus in Roanoke who are conducting doctoral research mentored by the institute’s primary faculty. Gaskins is a health and fitness enthusiast who retired from the faculty of Hampden-Sydney College.
