The September issue

Although I physically left Fred Hutch a while back some unfinished business remained after departing, such as my two last articles for Science Spotlight. Readers, I give you:

BSCL therapy for ocular GVHD - a sight for sore eyes
An improved method to detect low levels of methylated DNA

In the first piece you can learn about a neat way of treating graft-versus-host disease in the eyes, using bandage soft contact lenses. The second story is of slightly more technical nature, describing an improved method for detection of methylated genes, which in turn may be used as biomarkers for colorectal cancer.

Writing for Science Spotlight this past year has been a wonderful learning experience—challenging at times, but incredibly worthwile. As faculty mentor, Dr. Julian Simon supported the team of editors in the best possible way, and beyond that served as a personal mentor for me concerning all things related to science writing (and science [and life] in general).

In short: this was great. I'm very happy that I was able to do this for a year, and would not have hesitated to apply for a second term, had I stayed at the center.

I hope you enjoyed getting a glimpse of the research that is performed at Fred Hutch—I certainly enjoyed writing about it!

Last days of disco

Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear... I can't believe how quickly August has flown by, and now I'm down to one single day left at the Hutch.

I don't know how to...I can't even...when did this...why am I...

...wait, what?

So I guess I'm leaving then.

My desk is cleaned, the drawers emptied. Files are transferred and notebooks archived. On Tuesday I gave my last lab meeting presentation, summing up my three years as a postdoc in about an hour—not an altogether easy task, but I felt really happy and proud afterwards. Satisfied.

What a great time I've had in the Press Lab! How wonderful everyone has been, and how lucky I am to have had such fun projects to work on. Not all results have gone my way, but I leave with two first-author publications and a number of co-authored articles in my portfolio. (A third first-author paper is currently underway, and will hopefully be finalized by the end of the year.)

There are not enough words in the world to describe my gratitude towards Ollie, who not only took me in as his mentee but also invited me without hesitation into the warmth of his family. Nancy expressed it very nicely at the official farewell party at their house, which was held after my presentation: ”Remember that you will always have a mother in Seattle.” How could I forget? In addition, my other mentor, Brenda, has been equally supporting and terrific, and it feels unreal to think that I won't be able to pop down to her office and have a chat about life and science and anything that comes to mind (my dating resume, mainly) from now on.

This is me giving a toast at said party—apparently whilst waiving. A royal touch?

Besides throwing me this wonderful soiree, Ollie and Nancy had also picked out an incredibly thoughtful parting gift: a silver feather pendant, handcrafted by a Native American artist in Oregon. I can't imagine a more suitable token to remind me of the Pacific Northwest and the amazing years I've spent here. Thank you so very, very (very) much—for everything!

Back home in Fremont, ordered chaos rules. My beloved chair is sold and gone, three bags of clothes and gear were dropped off at Goodwill this morning, and the rest of my things are either packed, waiting to be packed, or being left behind for the girl that's moving into the unit after me (an excellent solution, by the way!).

Tomorrow I go to the Hutch for the last time to send some emails, bid farewell to friends and colleagues, give and receive lots of hugs (I hope), and, reluctantly, hand over my keys and badge.

After that? Party time, folks. (She's going out with a bang!)

The August issue

Third Monday of the month means a spanking new issue of Science Spotlight. Finally!

I recommend clicking on the links below to read about: i) a new method for reducing chronic graft-versus-host disease by specifically removing certain immune cells (naïve T cells) from stem cell transplants; and ii) the development of a sophisticated measure of emotional distress for improved care of transplanted cancer patients.

HCT improved - less naïve, more useful
A more meaningful, less stressful, distress measure

Awesome stuff, as always! If you don't read it you're clearly out of your mind.

Obliteridin'!

I'm all oranged up and ready to go go go!

Boo cancer, hurray research!

PS. It's not too late to donate. Go for it!

The July issue

The latest issue of Science Spotlight went live as I was piloting my little silver Kia Rio from Anchorage to Talkeetna, but as we all know, good things come to those who wait. Here are the links to this month's two stories from the Clinical Research Division:

CGAT: a vital instrument in the prognostic toolbox for AML
Replacing the western: an improved way to measure cell signaling

The first article gives some interesting insights into the world of chromosomal anomalies, and their impact on outcomes for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

The second was initially entitled ”99 problems but 69 western blots ain’t one”, but although the investigator claimed to appreciate the Jay-Z reference he gracefully suggested something more ”descriptive”. I gave it some thought and reluctantly agreed. Sometimes my self-perceived wittines is just that: self-perceived, as in ’not necessarily perceived by others’.

Enjoy, folks!

Poster girl (sort of)

Wait, what's this? Click on the link and scroll down for a surprise:

What diamonds, a bicycle and one man’s mission have to do with curing cancer

Ok, I guess I sort of spoiled the surprise... But still, do it!

Photo by Robert Hood/Fred Hutch News Service

Ride with me!

While we're on the topic of two-wheeled undertakings...

Suddenly, it happened: a couple of weeks ago I finally bought a pair of legitimate cycling shoes and upgraded my loaner bike with clipless pedals that my dad got me for Christmas.

No, not this Christmas—the Christmas of 2013.

The thing is, I've been secretly terrified of the whole idea of locking in my feet while riding, envisioning one knee-mutilating, elbow-scrubbing accident after another caused by a dreaded inability to "lock-out" of the pedals once my feet are in place. But alas, no more! I have grown, mentally and... Well, okay—just mentally, I guess. (If even that.)

One might wonder what inspired this sudden act of courage. A charitable donation to Obliteride did.

For you non-Hutchers, Obliteride is an organized cycling event that raises money for lifesaving cancer research at Fred Hutch. 100% (yes, that means every cent) of every dollar collected goes toward developing better treatments and more cures for those in need. A supportive Fred Hutch faculty member wanted to sponsor a team through Hutch United, and I couldn't resist the offer of being one of the riders. Thus, here I am—preparing for a 50-mile ride (80 km), proudly representing HU and our generous donor on August 9th.

However, just pedalling my butt off (and possibly falling over in a ditch because of potential bike shoe-related awkwardness) isn't enough—I want you to be engaged as well. Join the cause by making a donation to our team—big or small, it doesn't matter

If you need more incentives to contribute, please have a look at these 10 reasons to support Fred Hutch. When you're ready to make your donation—as I'm sure you will be—then click on the link to my personal page and show the world that you want to beat cancer too. From there, simply hit the "Donate To My Ride" button and follow the instructions.

We can do this! I promise to conquer my shoe/pedal demons and finish the race with all of you on my imaginary luggage carrier. Ride with me! (It's super safe—for you, at least.)

The June issue

Summer reading for everyone! In this month's edition of Science Spotlight I have contributed the following pieces:

CIVO: drug development in the fast lane
Timing of MDS relapse: a multifaceted case to crack

As you can tell by the titles, I've had a thing for colons lately. No, not that kind of colons—the punctuation mark, obviously. Sigh. You're so immature. So very, very immature.

Anyway, read them and educate yourselves! All your friends will think you're cool.

The May issue

Europe came between me and my normal Science Spotlight update, but better late than never: here are your new favorite online articles!

The first demonstrates a tremendous improvement in detection capability of rare mutations in individual cancer cells. Cooler yet, the method can be used for analyzing other samples where cells are rare, for instance in forensics or studies of dinosaurs and other extinct organisms. Pretty awesome!

A ground-breaking method for distinguishing needles from hay

Next, a group of Fred Hutch researchers accidentally stumbled on a gene that may be useful as a predictive marker for characterization of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), potentially advancing the development of individualized treatment plans. I love how seemingly random the initial finding was—I find it quite uplifting, to be honest. You just never know where your research will take you...!

An unpredicted predictor of outcome in pediatric AML

You know the drill by now—if you have questions, just hit me up!

Building momentum

If you're wondering what I'm up to these days, the answer is simple: working, and fretting over not working enough (or rather, not being efficient enough). Next week will be awesome; I'm flying to Warsaw for a targeted alpha therapy symposium, which I've been looking forward to for months. I will be presenting my latest research, but also meeting with old colleagues, new colleagues, and some prospective future collaborators. All in all, it will be great. However, before I get to the point where I can feel confident and happy about the talk I'm giving I have some serious work to do. Slightly less thrilled about that part.

Still, I'm super excited about what happens after the symposium as well. It just happened that the airfare was way cheaper—about $1000 cheaper, in fact (yes, for real)—if I agreed to stay in Amsterdam for a few nights on the way back to Seattle. We-e-ell... What can I say? I'm not one to spend precious travel funding if I can save a dollar or two, so I graciously agreed to stay in Europe over the weekend and fly back on Memorial Day. Better yet, my parents are taking the train down from Sweden to meet me there, so we get to spend the entire weekend together. Yay and hurray!

But first: work and work. And fret and panic. Then work some more. Then give up, before getting back on the horse. Then work and fret and work and panic. Then? Tour de force.

The April issue

My favorite Science Spotlight story this month describes a study that aimed to increase the influenza vaccination compliance of healthcare staff at a large cancer care center (guess which one). Two approaches were explored; one incentive-based ($$$) and one penalty-based (we're going to make it very, very cumbersome to decline the flu shot—why not just go ahead and accept it?). Not surprisingly, folks don't like having to do extra work. Read it! It's a fun study.

For flu shot compliance, stick beats carrot

The next one is exciting in a different way; more biology, more hi-tech futuristic stem cell awesomeness. Intimidating? Perhaps, but give it a try!

A vascular niche for boosted blood stem cell production

Feel free to bombard me with questions about my Science Spotlight articles—I'm writing them, in part, for you.

Sky high

After 2.5 years of living in Seattle I finally made it to the top of the Space Needle; another tick on my bucket list. Frankly, I've been to cheap to pay the twenty bucks it costs to get up there, but last week the J-1 visa holders at Fred Hutch were generously treated to another social get-together courtesy of our HR department.

The needle and the moon.

Mt Rainier wasn't shy.

Lake Union, with Fred Hutch's red brick buildings to the far right.

The needle, mirrored in one of the glass globes at Chihuly Garden and Glass museum, which we also visited on this magnificently sunny spring afternoon.

Thanks, HR! I'm much obliged.

The March issue

From me, to you: two more Science Spotlight articles. In the current edition I'm using my (limited) powers to promote targeted alpha particle therapy - an experimental treatment modality with great potential for curing a range of cancer forms. Yes, I might be slightly biased, because yes, this is the field I'm working in. ...and yes, I happen to be a co-author of the featured paper. Yes, yes, yes. That certainly doesn't make it less interesting, however.

A for alphas: radioimmunotherapy scores high

The second article offers a sneak peek into the world of cancer genetics. This write-up required a bit of background research on my part, as the topic is quite far off from my normal stomping ground. I learned a lot in the process, though - and so will you if you read it.

From specific to general, and back again

Enjoy!

The February issue

For once, I'm not discussing my seasonal affective disorder; that's getting a little old, don't you think? Instead, I'm referring to the latest edition of Science Spotlight. This time I present the following exciting titles:

Plastic fantastic! Biopolymers efficiently boost T cell therapy
Settling the (risk) score for CGVHD patients

Naturally, both are fascinating in their own way, but if you only have time and energy to peruse through one of them I would recommend the topmost one. I'm not gonna lie: that study is pretty darn spectacular. In fact, our lead editor of the month found it so intriguing he chose to highlight it as our featured article this month. And as if that wasn't enough to make me blush, the story has received a little bit of Twitter attention:

Breaking! @fredhutch scientists work to make T Cell therapy efficient for inoperable #tumors. http://t.co/8TmIPO9fhQ pic.twitter.com/QG5BVAot1W
— STTR Cancer (@sttrcancer) February 17, 2015

IO meets drug delivery: T-cells in biopolymer scaffold! “@sttrcancer: @fredhutch #tumors. http://t.co/LBRzqYkRzn pic.twitter.com/R88ImaEySk”
— CancerProgress by DH (@CPbyDH) February 18, 2015

Oh, stop it... It's not that interesting...

Bah! Who am I kidding? Of course it is; now go ahead and read it!

Super pumped for Super Bowl

Someone asked me if Seattle is excited about Super Bowl coming up, you know, with Seahawks defending their title and all.

Short answer: Yes.
Long answer: YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAH!

It's kind of like this, all the time:

And like this:

Celebrating @Seahawks on a beautiful #BlueFriday w/@SeattleCCA @project_violet @Obliteride @helpEndHIV #WeAre12 #SB49 pic.twitter.com/qj9lBOiQop
— Fred Hutch (@fredhutch) January 30, 2015

And like this:

There are lots of 12th men and women out there, that's for sure!

Overall, Super Bowl is everywhere. For instance, Cake Wrecks is giving us Super Bowl Showdown, and Cute Overload lets Teddy Bear the Porcupine predict the winner (he/she/it better be right!).

Whatever happens, Sunday will be off the charts. Go Hawks!

The January issue

This month's Science Spotlight articles could just as well have been titled ”International postdoc has to study up on kidneys” and ”Freaking out: The unexpected pressure of writing about something one actually understands”, but I chose to go with the more conformist

A potential new marker of post-HCT kidney injury
RIT-NMAT: A new hope for high-risk lymphoma patients

Start the year by learning something new! (I had to.)

Geared up!

January 18, 12:05 pm PST, CenturyLink Field, Seattle, WA:

Green Bay Packers Vs. Seattle Seahawks. 

I'll be watching the playoff game at the bar next door, dressed up properly in my new favorite jersey. If they don't win this one, it sure enough ain't my fault!

Like last year, Fred Hutch showed its love and support with another Blue Friday shot. This time, I'm a little tricker to find but I can assure you that I'm there.

.@Seahawks fans showed #BlueFriday spirit on the #FredHutch campus ahead of Sunday's #NFCChampionship pic.twitter.com/A7ot9ZAId9
— Fred Hutch (@fredhutch) January 16, 2015

Enough chitchat, more cheering: Go Hawks! Also, YAY SPORTSBALL!

Flash! Action! Wow!

A very brief report, just to let you know that I have not succumbed to some premature February heavyheartedness; I know that it's merely January, and the worst has yet to come. The sun is actually shining and I am actually getting some work done, although I must confess that I had some trouble snapping out of the holiday mode.

Heavyheartedness, that's an excellent word, by the way; describes the feeling exactly. But not yet! Not yet.

Anyway.

Q: So, what am I doing?
A: I keep staring at tiny pieces of lymph nodes, trying to 1) understand what I'm looking at, and 2) describe it.

Did you fall off your chairs out of excitement? Did you drop your tea mug to the ground, hot liquid splashing everywhere? Well, you should have; it's awesome. Yesterday I snapped some pictures of a very van-Goghian section, complete with squiggly lines, bold colors and post-impressionist vibes. The Starry Night has got nothing on this one:

I'm thinking about calling it The Blobby Goo, or perhaps The Shaky Nerves. Regardless, it's a fairly accurate description of my current innermost feelings. Any takers?

A tiny world of wonders

Work, work, work. I'm looking at a lot of these right now:

Scanned microscope slides with sections of irradiated lymph nodes, showing various kinds of damage and other radiation-induced effects. Neat, huh? I get easily lost in this world of microscopic beauty.

Other than that, there is little news to share. I got my hair done yesterday.

(I hope you're taking notes.)

(If you are, focus on the microscope stuff.)

(Yeah, because that's, like, science.)

(Totally.)

...

(Ok, bye!)

(No, you hang up.)

(No, YOU!)

...

The December issue

Whoa! Already? Yup. (Christmas comes early this year.)

How to breed a rare bird: Endogenous T cell therapy made possible
Settling for second best - not so bad, after all

Now: inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale...