“It’s Clearly a Winning Strategy”: V Foundation x StacheStrong

For Colin Gerner, Co-Founder and CEO of StacheStrong, the mission of funding brain cancer research is extremely personal. Colin and his brother, GJ, founded the organization in 2018 after GJ was diagnosed with glioblastoma. GJ was told his prognosis was 10-15 months and courageously lived for 25 months beyond his initial diagnosis. Since its founding, StacheStrong has funded over $7 million in brain cancer research in his honor, including three grants awarded through the V Foundation.

The newest grant supports a collaborative research project between Mario Suvà, M.D., Ph.D., Clinician at Mass General Hospital and Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, and Liron Bar-Peled, Ph.D., Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. The grant combines Dr. Suvà’s expertise in glioblastoma with Dr. Bar-Peled’s expertise in drug discovery. This funding is the largest single-grant award in StacheStrong’s history.

“Just like [Dr. Suvà and Dr. Bar-Peled] are leaders in [their] individual spaces coming together, that’s what it looks like when we partner with the V Foundation,” Colin said. “How can we best pool resources, expertise, knowledge, marketing, etc., to elevate glioblastoma and brain cancer research to get more attention and resources. I can’t change what happened to my brother, but I believe we can change what happens to the next set of brothers. This is the next step in doing so.”

Colin had the opportunity to interview Dr. Suvà and Dr. Bar-Peled to discuss their collaboration, the research the grant is supporting, the importance of foundational support, and the hope game-changing cancer research offers.

Advancing Glioblastoma Research

Glioblastoma is a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer that can be incredibly challenging to treat and research. Dr. Suvà’s lab has found that glioblastoma is composed of at least four different recurring cancer cell populations. But these populations are difficult to target with current therapeutic options. That’s where Dr. Bar-Peled’s expertise comes in. Dr. Bar-Peled focuses on diving into biological problems, like discovering pathways for medications to reach their targets.

“We had this idea to team up because we really have perfectly complementary expertise,” Dr. Suvà said. “We know what the nodes of interest are for the different sub-populations of cells. We just didn’t have a good way to go after them. I think in this partnership, we’re able to do just that.”

By combining areas of expertise and collaborating on big ideas, Dr. Suvà and Dr. Bar-Peled are able to unlock new options with a refreshed mindset.

“It’s clearly a winning strategy,” Dr. Suvà said. “We’re so much stronger when we work together because science is so complicated, it’s hard to figure out problems… There’s no way either of us in isolation would be able to do the project we’ve proposed. When we’re together, it’s still a lot of effort but it’s just so much more natural.”

“At the end of the day, I’m very impatient,” Dr. Bar-Peled said. “I know Mario is very impatient, and I think impatience is good here because people with glioblastoma don’t have time to waste. So, whatever the mechanism is to get things done faster, I think collaboration is the only viable approach.”

Local Impact: 2026 Boston Marathon

On April 20, Colin ran the 2026 Boston Marathon to fundraise for StacheStrong. This was the first time he’s run the Boston Marathon, and with this grant and the $1 million commitment, it felt even more impactful. Through his fundraising, Colin raised over $250,000 and finished in the top three fundraisers globally. The funds raised will cover more than a whole year of the grant funding for Dr. Suvà and Dr. Bar-Peled.

Colin may be the one who crossed the finish line on the course, but he ran for so much more than himself. He ran for GJ. He ran for StacheStrong and the V Foundation. He ran for the researchers. He ran for hope for all glioblastoma patients today and in the future.