Marathon Oil Gifts $15,000 to Children’s Hospital Foundation for Pediatric Cancer Research

OKLAHOMA CITY – Marathon Oil awarded a grant for $15,000 to Dr. J. Kimble Frazer, Children’s Hospital Foundation E.L. and Thelma Gaylord chair, to fund his research study investigating the development and impact of B cell lymphoblasts in the thymus that affect the body’s immune system. The study qualified for funding under Marathon Oil’s third goal: good health and wellbeing.

“Recently, due to Marathon Oil support, we’ve undertaken a new line of research,” said Dr. Frazer. “Studying how one type of lymphoblast, B lymphoblasts, develop in the thymus. Our project is relevant to two types of B cell lymphoma that arise in the thymus, but also to the normal immune system.”

Since 2018, Marathon Oil has directed $40,000 in funding to support Dr. Frazer’s ongoing research about acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children. Specifically, this grant will be applied toward the purchase of an -80°C freezer, microscopic equipment and lab essentials necessary to preserve and evaluate thymic cell samples.

“Since starting my lab at OUHSC in 2012, Children’s Hospital Foundation has been a crucial pillar of support for our research,” said Frazer. “We’ve published several papers about acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common cancer in children, and I feel we’ve made important contributions to the field. Having said that, despite our successes, since we’re a discovery-based enterprise and not a money-making one, it’s a never-ending challenge to find funds to support our work.”

Due to recent technological and treatment advances throughout the past 40 years, the survival rate for pediatric cancer patients have greatly improved. Research studies like Dr. Frazer’s acute lymphoblastic leukemia studies have played a critical role in this marked increase.