My two short weeks at Fred Hutch were two weeks that I will always remember. Joining the Explorers program has opened the door to so many new opportunities. I’ve learned about new technology, immune-based cancer treatments, bioethics, and various other things that I’ve never even heard of. Going into the program with little to no knowledge on the topic of cancer was a little intimidating. But, this is a completely introductory level course, so there’s no reason to feel discouraged. You will have the chance to work with others of different educational and ethnic backgrounds, learn from multiple experienced professionals, conduct fun experiments, and meet new people with similar interests. I encourage everyone who has the opportunity to be an Explorer, to go for it.
(Results from DNA extraction)
The highlight of my time as an Explorer was the immunology session with Alicia Morales where she discussed different types of immunotherapy. Immunotherapy is using one’s own body to fight cancer within its own system. Alicia gave us a crash course on how our immune system normally detects and destroys infection, bacteria, and viruses. Then, she spoke about how cancer cells can adapt mechanisms to avoid being found and killed by the immune system. She later demonstrated how different immunotherapy methods can be used in supporting the immune system to battle cancer. These include tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILS), CAR T-Cell therapy, and her own research on transgenic TCR’s. After one of Alicia’s sessions, I had already learned so much and gained new insight on cancer biology. Her details and explanations are different from other speakers, but in a good way, and I really appreciated it. Learning specifically about how a patient’s own body can be used to fight cancer was the most intriguing information I learned from the Hutch.
During this program, we focused on immunotherapy used in an Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia patient, named Kristin. (Kristin’s Story). Kristin’s type of cancer (ALL) is a cancer of the stem cells in the bone marrow that produce lymphocytes. The term “acute” means the cancer cells multiply rapidly and crowd out the healthy cells in the bone marrow. When there is an overproduction of unhealthy lymphocytes in the bone marrow/blood, there are less red blood cells and platelets being produced. If the body can’t produce enough healthy functioning lymphocytes, the body will be unable to fight off infections. Kristin received an experimental infusion of CAR-T cells to fight her ALL. Chimeric Antigen Receptor or CAR-T cell therapy is a way to get T-cells (taken from a patient’s blood) to fight cancer by genetically engineering them in a lab so they can detect and destroy cancer cells. This helps them better identify specific cancer antigens. These T-cells are programmed to produce receptors that recognize and target a certain protein called CD19, which is a protein that is often found in cancers.
Fred Hutch’s CAR T-cell clinical trial has put Kristin in complete remission after her previous relapse. The Explorers program is just a glimpse of the research that goes on at Fred Hutch, but you can gain a good understanding of careers in science and get a gist of this line of work.
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