We are off to Sturbridge for the PMC. Thought I'd share my 2022 story....
Way back in 2020 Maddy and Grif planned to ride the PMC, joining me in my 35th year. No need to address why that didn't happen then, nor in 2021. But, both are registered, working on their fundraising and will be at the starting line on August 6th for my 37th PMC.
My note brings good news (in addition to Maddy and Grif riding) and unfortunately, some bad news. The good news, despite the "reimagined" PMC in '20 and '21, people remained committed to Cigall Kadoch's lab at DFCI. Our (your) support for Kadoch Lab continues to bear fruit in cancer research in a deeply meaningful way. Cigall called me last fall to tell me that she had been named a principal investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She told me that this was unequivocally the direct result of the unrestricted funds we (you) have provided to her and her colleagues at Kadoch Lab. With those unrestricted funds, they were able to pursue the science - wherever it led. And, the results caught the attention of HHMI. I've included an update from Cigall at the end of this message. If nothing else, take note of the sentence that I framed in asterisks (*****).
The not so good news is that my friend Todd's chordoma has returned - as chordoma is wont to do. Ironically, Todd's chordoma led directly to our association with Kadoch Lab in 2018. I'm not sure that qualifies as a silver lining, but between that and Todd's perseverance and advocacy, he's found a remarkable increase in treatments for chordoma since his diagnosis 8 years ago. Todd will again ride the PMC on his hand-crank trike, along with his son Henry (1st time PMCer!). He's in good spirits, fighting the good fight and will continue to do so.
I've always deeply appreciated my donor's support for the PMC and DFCI. But, I've really marveled at the increased giving since 2018 when we first supported Kadoch Lab. I can only assume that like me, you see and appreciate the leverage that comes from funds going direct to bench-side in a lab run by a .... well, a cancer research rock star.
So, I humbly ask again for your support of my 2022 PMC.
With love and appreciation,
Chris
Message from Cigall Kadoch (Kadoch Lab at DFCI):
From: Cigall Kadoch
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2022 9:08 AM
To: Chris McKeown
Subject: Kadoch Lab and Team FB/SS
Hi Chris,
I hope you're enjoying the summer. As the PMC approaches, my thoughts turn to what's been accomplished since your PMC team first supported my lab's work in 2018. $1.2M later, we've come a long way and I wanted to provide some updates.
Enabled by your team's support, we continue to make exciting progress in unmasking molecular mechanisms and new therapeutic opportunities in the context of rare, genomically well-defined cancers (various sarcoma subtypes, meningiomas and other brain tumors, chordomas, and highly aggressive forms of gynecologic cancers). We expect such studies not only to pave the way for new clinical trials for these cancers, but also to inform the underlying causes of many other more common cancers (breast, lung, prostate, colorectal, etc.) which often converge on defects in the BAF chromatin complexes. BAF complexes are the central molecular "players" of our lab - groups of proteins that sit along the 2 meters of DNA in each cell and dictate which regions of that DNA (i.e., which genes) are "open for business" and ready to be turned on. Our discoveries, largely enabled by your team's support, have increasingly refined our understanding of these molecular motors in human cells.
As I told you last fall, the high-risk, high-reward initiatives pursued in Kadoch Lab - again, enabled by your team's donors - led to me being named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. That's the highest distinction bestowed on U.S. scientists in the fields of biology, chemistry and physics. The funds, and the recognition, provided by the HHMI grant will propel the impact of your donor's support for our research ever further. But, much like the NIH grants, the HHMI funds also are not without "strings". We cannot simply follow wherever the science and a little intuition leads. That's why the impact of your team's support has been, and will continue to be, so important. Considering the types of transformative, bold new ideas the team's support has allowed me and my colleagues to keep pursuing, its importance to our work is more impactful now, then ever. Stemming from the work your team and donors have allowed, Foghorn Therapeutics now has three independent clinical trials ongoing spanning two new, first-in-class small molecules targeting BAF chromatin remodeling complexes as a strategy to attenuate cancer growth. These trials are currently addressing melanoma, leukemia, and synovial sarcoma with potential to include other tumor types in the near term.
I want to reiterate the importance of your team, and their donors, support for our basic science-centered research efforts. We take a lot of risks in the lab, encouraging creative thinking and bold hypotheses. *****This type of approach to science is not supported by conventional funding mechanisms, and hence our partnership and your team's belief in us is near singlehandedly propelling the exciting discoveries and advances I describe above.*****
We remain incredibly grateful and look forward to a stellar upcoming year. I hope you and your teammates have a wonderful PMC weekend. Hopefully, we can host an in-person update for the team and their donors, here at DFCI, in the fall.
All the best,
Cigall
We are off to Sturbridge for the PMC. Thought I'd share my 2022 story....
Way back in 2020 Maddy and Grif planned to ride the PMC, joining me in my 35th year. No need to address why that didn't happen then, nor in 2021. But, both are registered, working on their fundraising and will be at the starting line on August 6th for my 37th PMC.
My note brings good news (in addition to Maddy and Grif riding) and unfortunately, some bad news. The good news, despite the "reimagined" PMC in '20 and '21, people remained committed to Cigall Kadoch's lab at DFCI. Our (your) support for Kadoch Lab continues to bear fruit in cancer research in a deeply meaningful way. Cigall called me last fall to tell me that she had been named a principal investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She told me that this was unequivocally the direct result of the unrestricted funds we (you) have provided to her and her colleagues at Kadoch Lab. With those unrestricted funds, they were able to pursue the science - wherever it led. And, the results caught the attention of HHMI. I've included an update from Cigall at the end of this message. If nothing else, take note of the sentence that I framed in asterisks (*****).
The not so good news is that my friend Todd's chordoma has returned - as chordoma is wont to do. Ironically, Todd's chordoma led directly to our association with Kadoch Lab in 2018. I'm not sure that qualifies as a silver lining, but between that and Todd's perseverance and advocacy, he's found a remarkable increase in treatments for chordoma since his diagnosis 8 years ago. Todd will again ride the PMC on his hand-crank trike, along with his son Henry (1st time PMCer!). He's in good spirits, fighting the good fight and will continue to do so.
I've always deeply appreciated my donor's support for the PMC and DFCI. But, I've really marveled at the increased giving since 2018 when we first supported Kadoch Lab. I can only assume that like me, you see and appreciate the leverage that comes from funds going direct to bench-side in a lab run by a .... well, a cancer research rock star.
So, I humbly ask again for your support of my 2022 PMC.
With love and appreciation,
Chris
Message from Cigall Kadoch (Kadoch Lab at DFCI):
From: Cigall Kadoch
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2022 9:08 AM
To: Chris McKeown
Subject: Kadoch Lab and Team FB/SS
Hi Chris,
I hope you're enjoying the summer. As the PMC approaches, my thoughts turn to what's been accomplished since your PMC team first supported my lab's work in 2018. $1.2M later, we've come a long way and I wanted to provide some updates.
Enabled by your team's support, we continue to make exciting progress in unmasking molecular mechanisms and new therapeutic opportunities in the context of rare, genomically well-defined cancers (various sarcoma subtypes, meningiomas and other brain tumors, chordomas, and highly aggressive forms of gynecologic cancers). We expect such studies not only to pave the way for new clinical trials for these cancers, but also to inform the underlying causes of many other more common cancers (breast, lung, prostate, colorectal, etc.) which often converge on defects in the BAF chromatin complexes. BAF complexes are the central molecular "players" of our lab - groups of proteins that sit along the 2 meters of DNA in each cell and dictate which regions of that DNA (i.e., which genes) are "open for business" and ready to be turned on. Our discoveries, largely enabled by your team's support, have increasingly refined our understanding of these molecular motors in human cells.
As I told you last fall, the high-risk, high-reward initiatives pursued in Kadoch Lab - again, enabled by your team's donors - led to me being named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. That's the highest distinction bestowed on U.S. scientists in the fields of biology, chemistry and physics. The funds, and the recognition, provided by the HHMI grant will propel the impact of your donor's support for our research ever further. But, much like the NIH grants, the HHMI funds also are not without "strings". We cannot simply follow wherever the science and a little intuition leads. That's why the impact of your team's support has been, and will continue to be, so important. Considering the types of transformative, bold new ideas the team's support has allowed me and my colleagues to keep pursuing, its importance to our work is more impactful now, then ever. Stemming from the work your team and donors have allowed, Foghorn Therapeutics now has three independent clinical trials ongoing spanning two new, first-in-class small molecules targeting BAF chromatin remodeling complexes as a strategy to attenuate cancer growth. These trials are currently addressing melanoma, leukemia, and synovial sarcoma with potential to include other tumor types in the near term.
I want to reiterate the importance of your team, and their donors, support for our basic science-centered research efforts. We take a lot of risks in the lab, encouraging creative thinking and bold hypotheses. *****This type of approach to science is not supported by conventional funding mechanisms, and hence our partnership and your team's belief in us is near singlehandedly propelling the exciting discoveries and advances I describe above.*****
We remain incredibly grateful and look forward to a stellar upcoming year. I hope you and your teammates have a wonderful PMC weekend. Hopefully, we can host an in-person update for the team and their donors, here at DFCI, in the fall.
All the best,
Cigall
I have chosen to keep all of my donors' information confidential; therefore it is not displayed on my PMC public donor list.
