Spiders, Violets, Sunflowers, Potatoes and Snakes. Oh My!

Jim Towne

Two nights in a row, I went to events to learn more about finding a cure for cancer.  Last night Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Washington State University teamed up to produce an event entitled A Partnership for Our Pets targeted at pet owners who are interested in finding a cure for cancer.  Chairwomen of the Volunteer Committee, Bonnie Towne was nursing a broken toe, so her husband Jim Towne stepped in to replace her and try to fill her small shoes.  He actually did just fine in keeping us on track and leading the evening.



Maggie Dorsey, Shelley Hovind and Patty Barrier look on.

Other Volunteer Committee members attending were Patty Barrier, Nancy Pellegrino and me.  We invited guests to join us and first had the opportunity to hear from Dr. Jim Olson, who is not only a Professor of Pediatric Oncology at the University of Washington, but also an attending Physician at Seattle Children's Hospital as well as a member of the Clinical Research Division of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and focuses on studying brain tumors in children.  His resume is impressive, but most impressive was his abiltity to communicate clearly and make the topic of cancer research totally approachable.

Norman in the Lab.

One of his most impressive findings (in my layperson's opinion) is that he was able to discover that a specific Israeli scorpion toxin sticks to cancer cells but not regular brain cells and serves as a molecular flashlight that causes the cancer cells to light up.  This is of course a huge aid to a brain surgeon trying to figure out how much of a brain tumor needs to be removed in order to get all the cancer cells.

We also had the opportunity to go on a lab crawl and meet the brilliant researchers who are looking for answers everyday.  My favorite part was meeting Norman the golden retriever, who was happily ensconced in one of the labs with his researcher owner, Sally.  In another lab, we saw his very ugly tumor the size of a grapefruit that had been removed from his intestine and how bits of the tumor are sliced off to study on slides and placed in a machine affectionately named the "mosquito" that sticks tiny pins into dye and deposits them on the samples that are being studied.

Leading the fundraising evening from Fred Hutch were Nancy Greenwood Vehrs, Alex O'Neill and staff team who were thrilled to announce that we raised a total of $61,000 last night towards our total goal of $80,000.

Other friends also attending that I was happy to see joining us were Shelley Hovind, Maggie Dorsey and Roberta & Jim Weymouth.

You ask why the name of this blog post is Spiders, Violets, Sunflowers, Potatoes, and Snakes?  These are all plants or animals that contain knotted mini proteins that act as drug scaffolds and have been discovered to help address cancer and are being used to develop new drugs.  We can all stay tuned for future breakthroughs!