Damian Gallina cares for the mice used in Mercyhurst’s cancer research program.
The path to ‘Mercytamin’ Sister Eymard had completed a fellowship in 1960 at the Institutum Divi Thomae, a graduate school for scientifc research in Cincinnati, and earned her Ph.D. in biology and experimental medicine there in 1965. The frst research projects her students conducted grew out of Sister Eymard’s work at the Institutum Divi Thomae, working alongside her mentors, Drs. George Sperti and John Fardon. The research focused on how a developing tumor afects cell division in normal body tissue surrounding the cancer cells. Each year, she shepherded her students through increasingly complex studies of cancer in mice. Eventually, projects began to focus on how cancer-fghting drugs afected other parts of the body, with an eye to mitigating some of their devastating side efects. Only later did the thought of fnding an actual cure for cancer emerge. Her students continued to do excellent work, but turnover was high as they graduated and moved on to graduate school or research jobs. So, in 1969, Sister Eymard expanded cancer research again, starting an evening course for adult volunteers. Seven community members completed the three years of training. It was one of those volunteers – local pharmacist Damian “Dan” Gallina – who frst proposed the concept that eventually became “Mercytamin.” Then Sister Eymard and her team went to work. The tests involved implanting cancerous tumors in laboratory mice, then injecting half of them with a combination of Vitamin C and Vitamin B12. They discovered that the tumors continued to grow rapidly in untreated mice, but cancer growth stopped completely in those exposed to
the vitamin compound. In addition, the treated animals lived longer than those that didn’t receive C and B12. Promising results occurred as early as 1973, but a cautious Sister Eymard kept up her diligent pursuit accruing positive data. In 1975, a newspaper report noted that the compound had already been created 86 separate times – and tested through 186 experiments. Once the National Cancer Institute corroborated her results, Sister Eymard was ready to share her work. In 1979, her paper appeared in the journal Experimental Cell Biology . Sister published more than a dozen papers in a variety of scientifc journals, but she also noted proudly, “This research gave Mercyhurst million-dollar publicity when the results of experiments done at Mercyhurst were aired from coast-to-coast on CBS under the title ‘Report on Medicine.’” Sister Eymard clearly hoped her work would lead to trials on larger animals and eventually on humans. But despite modifcations to the original Mercytamin compound, they weren’t able to develop a formulation that was consistently efective. The research program – funded for 20 years primarily with just $75,000 in grants from the NSF and American Cancer Society – had neither the money nor the resources to pursue it further. Still, Dan Gallina – now retired and living in Erie – wonders if they may have been on the right track. He says cancer researchers are now investigating some of the same cellular reactions, such as DNA methylation via vitamin B12, that Hurst researchers explored all those years ago.
’ from Mercyhurst College in 1943, earned a master s degree from the University of Pittsburgh, and received a Ph.D. in biology and experimental medicine from the Institutum Divi Thomae in 1965. ’ She was a member of the Mercyhurst faculty for 44 years, from 1947 to 1991, and chaired the biology department for much of that time. While shes best known for her pioneering cancer research, she had a broad interest in science. As a botany buf, she was responsible for planting many trees on the Mercyhurst campus. In 1969 she organized an Intersession trip to Florida where students studied marine biology. Sister Eymard found relaxation by painting, in both oil and watercolor. Her works were well-received; in summer 1971 she was able to tour Europe thanks to proceeds from a show of her art. She retired around 1991 and died in 1998 at the age of 87. Sister Mary Eymard Poydock Sister Mary Eymard Poydock graduated
Sister Eymard documented her career and the cancer research project in scrapbooks that have been digitized by the Mercyhurst University Archives. You can view them at archives.mercyhurst.edu . Were you involved with Sister Eymard’s cancer research project? We’d love to hear your story. Email Sue Corbran at scorbran@mercyhurst.edu . 7
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