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NOVEMBER 2023
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IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
- From the Cancer Consortium
- CCSG Updates
- In the Spotlight
- Consortium Kudos
- In Case You Missed It...
- Current Funding Opportunities
- From the NCI
- From the Office of Translational Research
- From the Office of Education and Training / Consortium Cancer Research Training & Education Component
- From the Consortium Shared Resources
- From the Integrated Research Centers
- Consortium Leader Close Up: Dr. Sara Hurvitz
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FROM THE CANCER CONSORTIUM
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CCSG Updates
With less than two months until our submission deadline, we're kicking into high gear!
Final drafts of CCSG narratives and other required materials are rolling in, and the Consortium Admin team will spend the next month and a half reviewing, harmonizing, and formatting these. Once narratives have been finalized, we'll work to organize and compile the entire grant - and then, submission!
Once again, we'd like to extend a huge thanks to all the people who have been involved in writing and compiling this grant!
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In the Spotlight
The following inter-institutional Cancer Consortium collaborations were featured in the most recent edition of the Science Spotlight:
Please join us in congratulating these investigators!
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Consortium Kudos
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- Congratulations to Dr. Shivani Srivastava (Cancer Immunology), who recently received an NCI R37 MERIT award for her project, "Improving CAR-T efficacy against solid tumors by expanding lymph node reservoirs of 'stem-like' CAR-T cells." Her work seeks to address existing caps in CAR-T cell therapy, with the ultimate hope of improving patient outcomes. For more information, click here.
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In Case You Missed It...
The Consortium's Cancer Immunology Research Program and FHCC Immunotherapy Integrated Research Center (IIRC) successfully hosted a joint retreat on October 9-10 at Suncadia Resort. We're pleased to report that the retreat, which featured a keynote presentation from Dr. Crystal Mackall, was a success.
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CURRENT FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
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Pilot Award Applications Will Open in January 2024
The annual Cancer Consortium Pilot Funding application cycle will open in early January 2024. Please stay tuned for more information!
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FROM THE NCI
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The NCI-Sponsored ORBIT Institute: Developing Behavioral Treatments to Improve Health is now accepting applications for 2024!
Please note the application portal will close on November 30, 2023.
This course will be open to scientists with an interest in behavioral treatment development to improve health behaviors. While applied behavioral and social scientists are the focus, basic scientists and methods experts are encouraged to apply as well. Any post-graduate investigator (doctoral or terminal degree received) in the medical, behavioral, social, and statistical/methodology sciences who has a demonstrated, pre-existing interest in contributing to investigator teams in developing and testing behavioral treatments is eligible to apply to this course. Please visit our FAQ page and if you have additional questions, you may contact the ORBIT team at orbit.institute@med.fsu.edu or 850-644-2334.
If your application is accepted, you will be required to:
- Attend the in-person ORBIT Institute Workshop in Tallahassee, FL, on May 7-10, 2024 (non-negotiable)
- Attend bi-weekly webinars (i.e. virtual workshop training seminars) following the in-person meeting
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FROM THE OFFICE OF TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH
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Join Upcoming Focus Group to Address Research Community Needs
The Precision Oncology, Office of Translational Research and Data Science Lab teams at Fred Hutch are collaborating to improve our research and patient care through several initiatives to better understand how we approach universal/broad research consent, clinical data access and abstraction and specimen access. To gather input for these initiatives, focus groups are scheduled October 2023 through March 2024. The focus groups are scheduled and organized by disease, and all researchers, faculty and staff with an interest in these key topics are encouraged to attend the meetings.
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FROM THE OFFICE OF EDUCATION & TRAINING / CANCER RESEARCH TRAINING & EDUCATION COORDINATION (CRTEC)
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Save the Date! Seattle Diverse Research Opportunities for Postdocs (DROP) Virtual Recruitment Event
The FH/UW/SC Cancer Consortium is hosting a collaborative initiative to recruit postdocs on May 7, 2024, from 8:00am - 2:30pm. This virtual event is a great opportunity for postdocs to learn more about research opportunities in Seattle, hear from leading Consortium mentors with T32 grants, and enjoy a free lunch! All are welcome to attend; individuals from groups underrepresented in biomedical research are encouraged to attend.
Registration will open early in 2024; in the meantime, those interested can sign up to pre-register here. Pre-registered individuals will receive a notification email when registration opens.
**Investigators, please feel free to forward this message to any interested members of your lab or encourage them to sign up for the newsletter by emailing amiller2@fredhutch.org.**
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FROM THE CONSORTIUM SHARED RESOURCES
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News from the Therapeutic Products Program (TPP)
The Therapeutic Products Program (TPP) was well represented at the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy (ISCT) North America (NA) Regional Meeting 2023, which was held September 8 – 10 in Houston, Texas.
The conference was attended by professionals and experts within the cell and gene therapy field, making it a dynamic platform for knowledge exchange and process improvements. The conference featured a comprehensive program comprising keynote presentations, panel discussions and interactive workshops, addressing current challenges and novel developments in the field.
Under the guidance of Dr. Folashade Otegbeye, Facility Director, TPP; and Zita Mears, Sr. Administrative Director, TPP; five TPP members submitted abstracts for Oral and/or Poster presentations at this conference. All five abstracts were selected.
Oral Presentation:
- "Cell Therapy Manufacturing Analysis of Manual Centrifugation & Automated System for Leukapheresis Washing," by Vignesh Nadar, Process Development Manager, TPP.
Poster Presentations:
- "Virus Cleaning Validation within a Clinical Cell Processing Facility (CPF)," by Vi Nguyen, Sr. Process Engineering Manager, TPP.
- "Standardizing Enumeration of CAR-T Cells using T-cell Mimetic as Artificial Positive Controls, by Dr. Amina Kariminia," Quality Control Associate III, TPP.
- "Examining Matrix Quenching Effects in the 51Cr Release Potency Assay," by Caitlin McLaren, Quality Control Associate III, TPP.
- "Microbial Patterns and Trends Observed in a Cell Process Facility (CPF) over Three Years," by Darshan Patel, Sr. Quality Manager, TPP.
The conference provided an excellent opportunity for these TPP members to demonstrate the process improvement work done by TPP, engage with peers from other academic and research organizations, gain valuable insights on cell therapy manufacturing, and stay up to date with the latest developments in the field of cell therapy.
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Update from Collaborative Data Services
As of September 1, Nutrition Assessment shared resource (NASR) staff and services is now a part of Collaborative Data Services (CDS) Shared Resource.
NASR provides a variety of methods to collect and process dietary intake data from participants enrolled in observational and intervention studies including 24-Hour Dietary Recalls, Multiple-Day Food Records, Custom Questionnaire Design, Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQ) among others.
CDS provides customized programming services and data infrastructure solutions; project management beginning with consultation with researchers prior to study initiation, through project development, and implementation, and administrative support services including IRB submissions, a research call center staffed by a highly trained team of bilingual (Spanish/English) research interviewers; and Spanish-English medically certified translation and interpretation services.
By integrating NASR with CDS we expect to provide increased collaboration, efficiencies, and new services including Spanish language 24-hour dietary recall interviews and customized programming opportunities, all under a single shared resource.
For more details of services provided, please contact:
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Need a Translator?
Collaborative Data Services (CDS), a CCSG-funded Shared Resource at the Fred Hutch, provides customized programming, interviewing, project management and nutrition assessment services to Consortium investigators at Fred Hutch, UW, and Seattle Children's, as well as national and international research centers including Dana Faber, Uganda Cancer Institute and UCSF, among others.
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CDS Translation, Interviewing and Interpretation Services bridges the communication gap between Hutch researchers and clinicians, and individuals or communities with limited English proficiency. Our goal is to reduce health literacy barriers by increasing access to information about cancer research, cancer prevention, healthy lifestyles, and clinical trials. CDS works closely with the Consortium's Office of Community Outreach and Engagement (OCOE) and local community outreach organizations committed to health equity and inclusion.
We are native Spanish speakers and language professionals with over 15 years of combined experience. Our team also links researchers with external validated vendors to support the other top 5 languages in WA (Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian, Tagalog and Korean) and other languages as needed.
Our Services:
- Interpreter Services/Sight Translation: focus groups, group interviews and one-on-one interviews
- Translation: research materials; marketing materials; item banks; school curricula
- Localization: customization of apps, websites, documents, or products for specific audiences
- Multi-Media Translation: subtitling, voice-over
- Bilingual Transcription from audio and video recordings (mp3, Zoom, MS Teams, etc.)
- Assistance with study recruitment and retention
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FROM THE INTEGRATED RESEARCH CENTERS (IRCs)
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The IRCs are Hiring!
Please see the open positions below and consider passing them along to your network:
Immunotherapy IRC Physician Scientist Program
The Immunotherapy IRC’s Physician Scientist Program is still accepting applications on a rolling basis until this position is filled. This is a great opportunity to provide two years of mentorship, training and financial support to an MD or MD/PhD who seeks to advance their career in immuno-oncology research. Current recipients of this program are Lorenzo Lovino, MD, PhD, in the Dudakov Lab, and Francesco Mazziotta, MD, PhD, in the Chapuis Lab. CRD Assistant Professor, Jordan Gauthier, MD, MSc, and CRD Research Associate, Alexandre Hirayama, MD, are past recipients. For more information and to apply for this opportunity, click here.
Pathogen Associated Malignancies IRC Open Faculty Position
The Pathogen Associated Malignancies IRC invites applications for an open faculty position at the Assistant or Associate Professor level. We seek a laboratory-based scientist working in the area of pathogen-caused cancers or in the role of the microbiome in cancer. This person will have a primary appointment in the Fred Hutch Human Biology Division, sharing its goals to advance an understanding of the biological basis of cancer and to translate findings to the clinic. For more information and to apply for this opportunity, click here.
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Dr. Lawrence (Larry) Fong Has Been Recruited to Lead the Immunotherapy IIRC
We are pleased to announce that Lawrence (Larry) Fong, MD, has been recruited to serve as the scientific director of the IIRC. Dr. Fong is a genitourinary oncologist and currently leads the Cancer Immunotherapy Program at UCSF.
In addition to his role as the IIRC scientific director, Dr. Fong will also serve as a professor in the Translational Science and Therapeutics (TST) Division at FHCC, in addition to having appointments in the the Clinical Research Division (CRD) at FHCC and at UW Medicine. He will begin his new role on July 1, 2024.
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CONSORTIUM LEADER CLOSE UP: DR. SARA HURVITZ
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We love a fresh face here at the Consortium! This month's interview features Dr. Sara Hurvitz, senior vice president and director of the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutch and head of the Division of Hematology and Oncology at UW. Read on for the scoop on her career path, her plans for her role, and her beagle, Henry!
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How did you find your way to this career path? Was it what you thought you would do?
My life has sort of been characterized by unexpected twists and turns, and I think one of the most valuable things that I can pass on to mentees and people who are deciding what they want to do as early as high school all the way through leadership positions, is to be open to possibilities and change that you never thought were possible, and to not be limited. Growing up, I was sure I was going to be a choreographer, and then I began to toy with science and math, even though no one from my family had come from a medicine or STEM background. I kept putting my foot deeper and deeper into the pool until I was convinced I could probably do it. I had a lot of different times where I considered a career in law, but once I did get to med school, I was sure throughout med school and residency that I would do lymphoma research – that was my first love – and then doors just kept opening to different things. While I would initially fight the program or the opportunities that were offered to me, I have not regretted taking opportunities that didn’t fit in nicely with my preconceived notions of what my life would be like. Even taking this job was sort of a shot in the dark – I mean, I had never considered leaving UCLA, let alone taking on a leadership role this large, and didn’t even respond to the recruiter’s email for three months. I thought by the time I responded, the position would’ve already been filled. It’s been sort of a winding path of what I think I’m going to do and me controlling my destiny and then following new paths that show up in the road and being open to that possibility.
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What was it that finally made you respond to the recruiter’s email?
My husband said, “Why don’t you respond?” I hadn’t told him about it, and I mentioned it to him one weekend around the holiday season, we were in front of the fire and I just mentioned, “You know, I did get this email from Fred Hutch, it sounds like they have this new position.” He said, “Why would you not put yourself out there?” It’s like, “Well, we have this nice life, you have your practice and I’m doing fine." My daughter had not yet finished high school – she was going to be entering her senior year. It seemed kind of risky to put myself out there. He said, “Go for it. At least you’ll figure out if this is something you want to pursue in the future, even if it’s not this position.” You know – watch out, words to be careful with, right? I’m not sure that he’s fully happy he said that to me, but he’ll get there.
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How is the transition from California to Seattle going?
I grew up in the east bay of Northern California, and it had real seasons. I remember it being in the 20s and 30s when I’d go to school in the morning, and then warmer in the day, and then really cold at night. I remember a lot of rain and even a couple occasions of snow. I love the seasons in Southern California – it’s always mid-70s, and then it’s big news when there’s rain. So I’m okay with being here – it’s a big change, but I’m okay with having seasons again.
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Can you talk a little bit about future plans you have or exciting projects in the works?
I think we’re continuing to figure out how to optimally harmonize hematology and oncology on the UW side, and that’s kind of fun because I think planning and thinking about, for example, conferences and events where we come together as a group, rather than separately, is a lot fun. It’s a lot of fun to organize and think about how we can work together as a multidisciplinary group but part of the same family.
Similarly, we’re figuring out with the Clinical Research Division how to maintain the strong connection that many of our members have with the TST team and building more interactions with members from PHS, Human Bio, et cetera. So I think this is an incredibly exciting time just because all of this change is allowing for us to creatively think about how we want the future to look. So right now, although I’m not clear on exact plans, what I’m doing is a listening tour, a landscape assessment to really understand where the areas of strength are that we need to be really protective of and make sure not a whole lot of change happens, and where are those areas that we can grow or overcome challenges. My nine-hour work day is filled with interviews of the people at Fred Hutch and UW to really understand the landscape super well so that when I do start making decisions and plans they’ll be grounded in that context.
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In your opinion, what is the most indispensable aspect of leadership?
I think one thing that characterizes my leadership is listening. I think most people have to train themselves to listen. It’s easier to go in with your biases and react and institute changes just sort of based on gut instinct or prior experiences, and I am sort of forcing that listening aspect of my leadership to be dominant. Learning how to integrate what I am learning through listening and implement changes that make sense for the whole – I think that will come better just because of the listening that I’m doing. I also have to say, this job is daunting when you look at the complexities of two institutions and two completely different divisions, and the fact that I have faculty who are so heterogenous, not just in their research or their disease group and what they’re studying, but in all the different ways they’re appointed – some are primarily at UW, some are primarily at the Hutch, some are primarily at the Hutch but not in a division of mine – so understanding the unique aspects of each individual faculty member is really critical to me understanding the whole center and the work that needs to be done. So that’s one thing.
The other thing is that I couldn’t do this job without a supportive leadership above me, and I’ve never been in or seen a place that has the type of leadership that they have now. I was truly won over by Tom Lynch and Barbara Jung and people like Nancy Davidson and Jan Abkowitz, who are really shepherding me in and giving me the background information I need to develop into the type of leader that’s going to help make this a success.
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What’s something you know a lot about that is not related to medicine or your job at all?
Well – two things: beagles, because I’ve owned beagles, and I would say something that’s developed since 2020 that I now know a lot about is cooking.
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Do you have a beagle currently?
I do. Henry – or the French way of saying it, Henri – is four months old. He’s our second beagle. Our first one we had for 16 years and one day. She passed away in November. They are delightful. We wanted to get a dog when my son was born and my daughter was one, but my husband is a plastic surgeon and head and neck surgeon. On his call on the weekends, the emergency room would always see dog bites – little kids with dog bites on their faces. So he researched for months and months the gentlest dog – you could hit it or squeeze it or pull on its tail, things that a young child under five might do. They’re just so good-natured, they’ll never bite. We were all kind of looking at rescue dogs and mutts, but then decided no, with our young kids, we need to have a type of animal that’s really reliable and you can depend on their personality. They are incredibly sweet, just very good little companions.
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Do you have a favorite dish or cuisine?
My friend got me Milkstreet: Tuesday Nights at the beginning of COVID. Milkstreet is a cookbook, I think on PBS they have a cooking show [on Tuesdays], so it was called Tuesday Nights. I’m very comfortable with Italian cooking and Mexican cooking, but their recipes have a lot of Asian cuisine, Indian, Vietnamese, even Africa, Ethiopian cuisine – so I’ve really dabbled and I’ve grown my spice rack. It’s huge now, it’s overtaken half my counter so my daughter’s helping me organize it. Learning how to work with different spices and different flavors has been a lot of fun.
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Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving food or holiday tradition?
I make a yam recipe that my family always requests, even if I’m not in the mood for it. The yams are the family favorite, but I don’t care where we have Thanksgiving or what we do, I just love being together with family. Being relaxed, most of the day in pajamas, and then in the evening putting on something nice or having a really warm family dinner – doesn’t matter where, doesn’t matter what, just being together is the important thing for me.
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If you could see any band, alive or dead, who would you choose?
I went to the Eddie Vedder concert last week at the auditorium at UW, and that was phenomenal, just phenomenal. I didn’t realize how good it would be, so that was a surprise to me. Going forward, I would probably say Foo Fighters, with Taylor, at a small venue – when I went and saw them, it was enormous, and that’s just not as fun, being at a huge stadium.
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FRED HUTCH/UNIVERISTY OF WASHINGTON/SEATTLE CHILDREN'S CANCER CONSORTIUM
1100 FAIRVIEW AVE. N., SEATTLE, WA 98109
Award number P30 CA015704-48
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