Fred Hutch/University of Washington Cancer Consortium Catchment Area Expanded to Serve Entire State
Starting Jan.1, the Cancer Consortium’s catchment area grew to include the entire state of Washington, an addition of 26 counties, 2.3 million people, including several Indigenous tribes. Scientists within the National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center will now, in addition to their many national and international research collaborations, begin to expand their regional research, engagement and outreach to include all residents of the state.
Consortium Programs Welcomes Kris Blair, PhD, Research Development Specialist
The Consortium Programs team welcomed Kris Blair, PhD, Research Development Specialist this month. Kris is returning to Fred Hutch in his new role supporting research development initiatives and training. He earned his BS in Microbiology from Indiana University in Bloomington (1998) and eventually went on to get his PhD from the UW/Fred Hutch Molecular and Cellular Biology PhD Program in Nina Salama’s lab in 2018. Following that, Kris completed a postdoc in the Microbiology and Immunology Department at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. According to Kris “I have been a microbiologist and bench scientist for as long as I can remember and am completely ready to expand my horizons in this new endeavor. I cannot wait to get to know and learn from my new colleagues”.
In Kris’ new role he will be providing project management, scientific writing, and grant development services to support large collaborative grant submissions to Consortium Program investigators. Kris returns to Seattle with his family that includes his spouse, two young children, and their dog. They can’t wait to get settled in and begin re-exploring their new home and taking in all the beauty the PNW offers on hikes and adventures to the ocean. Welcome Kris!
Upcoming Events
Research Administration Open House
The Research Administration Employee Engagement Committee is excited to host its 2022 Open House on Tuesday, March 22nd on the Fred Hutch Campus in the Arnold Building Atrium from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Stop to by to say hi to the Cancer Consortium and Arnold Library teams and learn more about other teams in Research Administration. We’ll be giving out Consortium-branded swag to the first 30 people. Please note that this event is subject to change, COVID-19 restrictions permitting.
Cancer Basic Biology Seminars These seminars are open to basic science researchers interested in cancer research, at all levels (student, postdoctoral, staff and faculty) in Seattle-area laboratories. All seminars will be held virtually on Zoom from 4-5 pm PST. No pre-registration is required. More information can be found here.
Cancer Basic Biology Program Post-doctoral Research Symposium Date: April 25th, 2022 2pm - 6pm (including happy hour) Location: Pelton Auditorium, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Click here for more information
The ACS and Lisa Dean Moseley Foundation are collaborating to create a research consortium that will advance the translation of cancer stem cell discoveries to accelerate the impact on patients. The consortium will offer grants (Postdoctoral Fellowships, Clinician-Scientist Development Grant, Research Scholar Grant, Interdisciplinary Team Award and Consortium Lead Award) to the most promising research proposals. Individuals and teams should design their research proposals to advance the understanding of cancer stem cells and leverage that knowledge to develop and test innovative strategies that help prevent cancer stem cells’ contribution to treatment resistance, metastasis, disease recurrence, cancer mortality, or a combination of these issues.
Apply: Fred Hutch investigators please contact Katie Smolnycki, MS (ksmolnyc@fredhutch.org) if interested in applying. Investigators at the Seattle Children's and UW, please check with your institution's philanthropy team and/or office of sponsored research for further guidance.
In this issue of the Cancer Consortium Newsletter, we are profiling Gordon Roble, DVM, MBA, Senior Director, Comparative Medicine and Translational Resources. Dr. Roble completed his veterinary degree at Tufts University School of Medicine and his postdoctoral fellowship in Laboratory Animal Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He received his Master of Business Administration from the New York University Stern School of Business. He is a member of the Hutch’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and serves as the attending veterinarian for Fred Hutch. He has more than 15 years of experience in comparative medicine, with special interest and expertise in large and small animal models of cancer, animal welfare in translational research, disaster preparation and animal imaging. See our interview with Gordon below.
What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not at work?
If it’s not spending time with the kids, it’s running. I like being outside and staying in shape. 2 little girls – well, not so little anymore. Running the New York and Boston marathons are probably my top stories. I ran 2 marathons in the space of about a month, and one of them, which was about a week after my daughter was born, was my best time ever.
Where was the best vacation you've ever taken?
About 5 years ago, we went with three other families to Italy for two weeks. We Airbnb a villa outside of Rome for about a week and drove around the countryside and ate really well, then rented a flat in Rome’s Campo de Fiori and dragged everyone all over the city. We got to do a lower-level tour of the Colosseum, and it was just surreal to imagine what it was like back then with all the animals and thousands of people there. Other than that, the best part was probably just all the food– the grownups managed to get away and have some amazing multi-course meals and wine tastings. One of them in particular was over near the Vatican, so we were just sitting outside eating and drinking wine and looking up at the Vatican all lit up.
Do you have any pets?
I have a Fred Hutch-adopted beagle named Henry. We adopted him early in COVID, so he’s completely dependent on human interaction. We also have two cats, named Constance and Cece. One of them I rescued after treating her. She’d knocked over a lava lamp and started having seizures, and her family just decided they didn’t want her anymore. She never had another seizure. In retrospect, they probably abandoned her because she was just one of the meanest things ever, but I wasn’t going to euthanize a young, healthy animal. We’ve had her for 16 years now, and she’s self-cured from heart failure and eating several feet of string.
Any other fun facts about you?
One of the Boston Marathons I ran was the marathon that was bombed (I was nowhere near it). I was also one of the responding veterinarians at NYU after Hurricane Sandy. Those aren’t very “fun” facts…I guess the older you get the more disastrous they become.
FROM THE OFFICE OF COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT
Save the date! The 2022 Pathways to Equity Symposium will be held on Thursday, May 19, 2022 from 8:30 AM – 12:30 PM. Our keynote speaker will be Dr. Donald Warne (Oglala Lakota), Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as well as the Director of the Indians Into Medicine and Public Health Programs, and Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of North Dakota. Stay tuned for registration details!
Also, don’t forget to submit your nominations for the 2022 Beti Thompson Community Health Trailblazer & Cancer Health Equity Research Awards! You can access information about nomination criteria as well as the link to submit nominations by going here. Awards will be presented at the Pathways to Equity Symposium.
“Cancer Health Equity NOW” Podcast
As the Office of Community Outreach & Engagement has pivoted from in person to virtual outreach and education, they have launched a monthly podcast series entitled, “Cancer Health Equity NOW”, hosted by Community Health Educator Danté Morehead.
January: The impact of patient and community advocacy in health equity and cancer care (Featuring Bridgette Hempstead from Cierra Sisters, Ben Young from Communities of Color Coalition, and writer Diane Mapes)
January – special episode: Indigenous Relationality in Research, Pt. 2 (Featuring CHE Craig Dee (Diné), Dr. Marc Emerson (Diné), and doctoral candidate Dornell Pete (Diné))
February: Community Health Workers for Cancer Health Equity. (Featuring CHE Dillon van Rensburg and Rana Amini from the Washington State Community Health Workers Association)
Reminder: CCSG Catchment Area Health Pilot applications are due on March 11th! Details here.
FROM THE CONSORTIUM SHARED RESOURCES
Genomics & Bioinformatics Resource
In partnership with Twist Biosciences, the Genomics and Bioinformatics Shared Resource has customized and optimized a new whole-exome sequencing panel, 'the Human Comprehensive Exome +UTR'. The new panel has many advantages, including low PCR duplication rates and fully automated prep on the SciClone NGS workstation. For more details, please contact genomics@fredhutch.org .
Coming in May of 2022, the Genomics & Bioinformatics Resource will be obsolescing our Illumina iScan system. After May, we will no longer be supporting Infinium array processing, including genotyping and whole genome methylation (EPIC) arrays. For alternative support options, please reach out to us, genomics@fredhutch.org .
Antibody Technology Core Has Moved
The Antibody Technology core has moved from E1-410 Eastlake to E1-307 Eastlake. The new space has a separate room for molecular biology and tissue culture, enabling a significantly better workflow. In addition, there is a shared office so that no one needs to sit in the lab. We thank team members for managing the move without any pause in production and thank all of those involved in equipping the room for our use. We welcome any visitors who are interested in seeing the new workspace.
Fred Hutch Data Core - Data Portal
Advances in next-generation sequencing, machine learning, and cloud computing have presented unparalleled opportunities and challenges for research organizations. To realize the potential of these new technologies, most laboratories rely upon bioinformaticians. With the bioinformatics service industry growing at a compound rate of 15.8% for the foreseeable future, we must find new ways to deal with the demand.
In May, the Fred Hutch Data Core & Brotman Baty Visualization Center will be releasing a beta version of a cloud-based platform for integrated data analysis and management called "PubWeb." The platform promises to simplify how sequencing data is cataloged, analyzed, visualized, and shared. Senior Fred Hutch Bioinformatics and Genomics Core staff will certify all data pipelines to ensure high-quality analysis. Key features of the PubWeb Data Portal will include:
Automated ingestion and analysis of high-throughput '-omics' data from the Fred Hutch Genomics Core and Brotman Baty Advanced Technology Lab
Multiple interfaces for synchronizing data via the Web, SFTP, CLI, and Python API
Ingestion of public datasets from the SRA, ENA, or GEO databases
Ability to execute bioinformatics analysis pipelines programmatically or via a point and click web interface
Complete data lineage tracking to ensure reproducible results
Canned and ad-hoc data visualization dashboards
Decentralized data access control to enable data owners to securely and selectively share data with collaborators across organizations
Use Teams for the latest Cellular Imaging updates:
Join “Cellular Imaging Users” on Teams for current equipment status, general information about Cellular Imaging, and a list of items in the Reagent Repository. To request access to Teams, please email imaging@fredhutch.org.
iLab Interlock launched in Cellular Imaging:
Starting January 2022, users need to check into the online iLab Kiosk at the start and end of their equipment use times. The iLab Kiosk can be accessed using the designated Cellular Imaging workstation in DE-512, acquisition computers, or on your personal phone/device (QR codes provided next to each monitor). Detailed Kiosk instructions are posted in DE-512 and DE-341.
The iLab interlock is implemented on all microscope acquisition computers and image analysis workstations. There will not be an interlock for the IncuCytes. The gel/blot scanners (Odyssey and Typhoon, located in rooms DE-341) can still be used for Walkup sessions.
Staffing Updates
Bioinformatics At the start of 2022, Fred Hutch Shared Resources welcomed Harini Srinivasan to the Bioinformatics Team. Harini earned a MS in Bioinformatics from Northeastern University in Boston and joins us from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where she assisted colleagues with analysis of bulk RNA-seq, CUT&RUN, ATAC-seq, single-cell RNA-seq, and other assays of critical interest to the researchers working with the Genomics & Bioinformatics shared resource. We are happy to have her join the Hutch to support researchers with genomic data analysis needs through our resource bioinformatics@fredhutch.org .
Shared Resources Welcomes New Flow Cytometry Director Please join us in welcoming Michele Black back to Fred Hutch as the new Director of the Flow Cytometry Shared Resource as of March 1. Michele was originally a member of the Fred Hutch flow core for 7 years, leaving in 2003 to take over leadership of the Cell Analysis Facility in the Department of Immunology at UW Medicine. As the facility’s director, Michele has spent the last 19 years expanding her flow cytometry expertise and core lab management skills, which will serve her well in supporting the needs of the Flow Cytometry Shared Resource user-base. She continues to enjoy meeting the core’s users and learning about their needs.
FROM SEATTLE TRANSLATIONAL TUMOR RESEARCH (STTR)
Specimen Acquisition Network
Among many challenges faced by the translational research community, the ability to find and access human-derived specimens and datasets is common and often leads to research bottlenecks and delays. These hurdles are not limited to one institution but common across all research centers. To help investigators with these challenges, the Specimen and Data Acquisition Network (SAN) was formed in 2019 as a collaborative network of research and healthcare institutions in the PNW.
SAN is a multifunctional resource with a mission to help researchers and regional partners to remove barriers and work toward the goal of accelerating innovation in patient care. SAN currently has 8 network partners with the Coordinating Center based at Fred Hutch. You can read more about our network in our most recent newsletter article or visit our website here. No matter where you are in the process, we can help you remove roadblocks and advance your science!
and training. He earned his BS in Microbiology from Indiana University in Bloomington (1998) and eventually went on to get his PhD from the UW/Fred Hutch Molecular and Cellular Biology PhD Program in Nina Salama’s lab in 2018. Following that, Kris completed a postdoc in the Microbiology and Immunology Department at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. According to Kris “I have been a microbiologist and bench scientist for as long as I can remember and am completely ready to expand my horizons in this new endeavor. I cannot wait to get to know and learn from my new colleagues”. 
