Finn & Grandma, a few years back
The Fred
Hutch newsletter is out, and it contains lots of interesting articles for those
of you who, like me, are dedicated to wrestling cancer into complete and abject submission. The lead Hutch article concerns a new way to block metastases
in breast cancer. Another important
offering is an essay on “liquid biopsies”, the detection and diagnosis of
cancer by DNA-sequencing of tumor fragments floating in the blood stream. The
latter is somewhat discouraging, because it transpires that small (early stage,
more easily eradicated) tumors don’t shed as much molecular debris , hence are
harder to detect.
Other
articles of note in the Hutch newsletter include the announcement of the death
of Dr. Robert Hickman, at the age of 92.
Dr. Hickman was the inventor of the Hickman catheter, used for feeding,
blood-sampling, and administering chemotherapy on the case of cancer. Linda had one, installed by Dr. Hickman
himself; he showed me how to check if it was okay.
Yet another
article relates the excellent news that Dr. Kristin Anderson has received a
grant to continue her work on immunotherapy.
I have been in touch with Dr. Anderson; she is a live wire!
If you mess
around with the Hutch Newsletter you can find loads of interesting stuff. I was particularly taken by a small blurb
relating that Dr. Phillip Greenberg, Hutch immunologist, has been awarded an
important honor. (Kristin Anderson works
in his lab.) What I liked most about that article was his picture. Dr.
Greenberg has precisely the beard, mustache, and haircut that I aspire to – but
I simply can’t grow enough hair!
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