Fred Hutch

08/03/2025

When most people think of cancer care, they rarely associate it with what goes on behind the scenes to create life-saving treatments. For starters, developing cell and gene therapies is pricey, and maintaining the manufacturing technology and environment is equally challenging.

Supervising the minutiae of the machinery that fuels the Therapeutic Products Program (TPP) at Fred Hutch falls to Folashade “Shade” Otegbeye, MBChB, MPH.

“Part of what we want to do is innovate processes in a way that recognizes the regulations and quality standards that govern the products we administer,” said Otegbeye. “We want to make sure we keep up with innovation and can rapidly translate what researchers are doing in the lab to the bedside."

Otegbeye will get an assist in her efforts to innovate as the new holder of the Fleischauer Family Endowed Chair in Cell and Gene Therapy Translation.

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Dr. Folashade Otegbeye, facility director of the Therapeutic Products Program at Fred Hutch, works to rapidly translate what researchers are doing in the lab to the bedside. She is the new holder of the Fleischauer Family Endowed Chair in Cell and Gene Therapy Translation.

08/02/2025

At first glance, art and science might seem like opposite worlds — one driven by imagination and emotion, the other by data and precision — but at their core, both seek to explore and explain the world around us. When these two fields intersect, they spark creativity, deepen understanding and invite new ways of interpreting ideas.

Two years in the making, SxAffold is a new initiative designed to spark meaningful collaboration between scientists and artists. In early June, the program, sponsored by Brotman Baty Institute, launched its inaugural cohort — six artists working across various media — who came together for a fully funded, week-long workshop at Fred Hutch.

"The main thing I’m really excited about with SxAffold and other projects that bring together science and art is the idea that we can reconstruct and redefine how scientists and artists might interact," said SxAffold organizer and Fred Hutch assistant professor Nasa Sinnott-Armstrong, PhD.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4oiRknM

At first glance, art and science might seem like opposite worlds — one driven by imagination and emotion, the other by data and precision — but at their core, both seek to explore and explain the world around us. When these two fields intersect, they spark creativity, deepen understanding and in...

08/01/2025

At Fred Hutch, researchers are encouraged to explore new ideas and collaborate with one another.

“Remember, the vast majority of advanced cancers are still not cured,” says Thomas J. Lynch Jr., MD, president and director of Fred Hutch Cancer Center and holder of the Raisbeck Endowed Chair. “And that problem is not an engineering problem. It’s an ideas problem. We need to continue to invest in basic science to be able to drive ideas that give us new opportunities to improve cures.”

Groundbreaking research efforts from the Women’s Health Initiative to the Transformative Rare Cancer Initiative represent just two of the many research initiatives and programs Fred Hutch leads that are driving progress across a broad spectrum of diseases.

Read more on the The Seattle Times: https://bit.ly/46wFHTP

07/31/2025

New research from Fred Hutch, the University of Washington and Microsoft Research's AI for Good Lab shows how AI technology can spot breast cancer in MRI scans more accurately than current digital methods, while also pinpointing exactly where suspicious tissue is located — a breakthrough that could make the sensitive screening tool available to more women.

Read more: https://bit.ly/3U0jl5J

07/30/2025

She’s a cancer survivor, a longtime cancer advocate, and a scientist-in-the-making. Meet Mercy Haub, Seafair's first-ever Community Hero!

Mercy was honored at this year’s Seafair Torchlight Parade for her incredible dedication to cancer research advocacy. Through her work with Fred Hutch, Make-A-Wish and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, she's already making a lasting impact for patients and their families.

Her mission is deeply personal: Mercy is a cancer survivor, now approaching five years in remission after being diagnosed with lymphoma in high school.

That experience sparked her passion for science. She joined Fred Hutch’s Summer High School Internship Program and spent a gap year working in the lab of Dr. Hootie Warren. This Fall, she'll be a junior at Stanford University studying human biology on the pre-med track with her sights set on becoming a cancer researcher.

07/30/2025

Elevating the field, Fred Hutch has established seven research divisions over the last half century and researchers are encouraged to explore new ideas and collaborate.

07/29/2025

Summer internship season is well underway at Fred Hutch. Meet the 2025 Summer High School Internship Program (SHIP) and Pathways Undergraduate Research Interns. Over the next few weeks, they’ll collaborate with faculty mentors, dive into independent research projects, attend workshops and panel discussion on a variety of science topics, as well as building a network community among Fred Hutch scientists, staff and fellow interns.

Learn more about the programs: https://bit.ly/450FAgN

07/29/2025

Stories like this warm our hearts. 🥰

Mia Stephenson was diagnosed with cancer in April. She recently decided to shave her head ahead of treatment — and her best friends did their part to show support.

Mia Stephenson was diagnosed with cancer in April. She recently decided to shave her head ahead of treatment — and her best friends did their part to show support.

07/26/2025

Breast cancer recurrences can often be more complex than newly diagnosed early-stage breast cancers.

“Patients can benefit from seeing a breast cancer specialist in radiation, medical and surgical oncology, as these cancers can be less common and more complex to treat,” said Fred Hutch radiation oncologist Kylie Kang, MD. “It usually requires careful treatment management considerations, especially with a history of prior radiation.”

After a biopsy revealed a locoregional recurrence of her ductal breast cancer, Teah, Dr. Kang and her medical team at Fred Hutch decided proton therapy was the best radiation treatment approach.

Read more: https://bit.ly/3Uv9m8B

After the emotional shock of a breast cancer recurrence, Teah decided to seek care – and proton therapy – at Fred Hutch

07/25/2025

Congrats to Fred Hutch gastroenterologist and researcher Rachel Issaka, MD, MAS on being named a Seattle Reign FC Legend! The Legends Campaign, a partnership between Seattle Reign FC and Starbucks, honors women for their extraordinary contributions to our community in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

Issaka serves as the director for the Fred Hutch/UW Medicine Population Health Colorectal Cancer Screening program, which aims to eradicate colorectal cancer by improving screening completion for all patients and evaluate interventions to increase participation for all.

“I would be remiss if I did not talk about colon cancer," she told Reign fans. "I want everyone to know that if you have a colon, you could be at risk for colon cancer, but there are things that we can do to reduce our risk. The number one thing, if you are otherwise healthy and age 45 and above, get screened for colon cancer! I encourage everyone to please talk to their physician or healthcare team and come up with a plan for how to complete screening. Again, nobody should have to die from this preventable disease, and screening is one of the most powerful tools that we have to prevent colon cancer.”

Read more: https://bit.ly/4kUXEyU

07/24/2025

A landmark study has revealed that autoantibodies — immune proteins traditionally associated with autoimmune disease — may profoundly influence how cancer patients respond to immunotherapy.

The study, published July 23 in Nature, offers a potential breakthrough in solving one of modern-day oncology’s most frustrating mysteries: why checkpoint inhibitors work for some patients but not others — and how we can extend their benefits to more people.

“Our analysis shows that certain naturally occurring autoantibodies can tilt the odds dramatically toward shrinking tumors,” said senior author Aaron Ring, MD, PhD, an associate professor at Fred Hutch. “We saw some cases where autoantibodies boosted a patient’s likelihood of responding to checkpoint blockade by as much as five- to ten-fold.”

The Nature study suggests that autoantibodies could help reveal cancer’s weak spots and point to new targets for treatment.

Autoantibodies are proteins produced by the immune system that recognize the body’s own tissues. They are most associated with their harmful role in driving autoimmune diseases like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. However, emerging evidence indicates that in some cases, autoantibodies can surprisingly exert health benefits.

“For years, autoantibodies were viewed mainly as bad actors in autoimmune disease, but we’re discovering they can also act as potent, built-in therapeutics,” said Ring. “My lab is mapping this hidden pharmacology so we can turn these natural molecules into new treatments for cancer and other illnesses.”

Read more: https://bit.ly/4kSIXME

07/23/2025

A Fred Hutch Cancer Center outpatient complex serving more than 60,000 adult patients per year will be renamed the Sloan Clinic in recognition of Stuart and Molly Sloan, who have increased their total giving to $100 million. The complex is located on the cancer center's South Lake Union campus.

The increase to $100 million builds upon the Sloans’ September 2022 transformational gift of $78 million, which is one of the largest gifts in the cancer center’s history and is a major step toward the Campaign for Fred Hutch $3 billion goal. The gift will remain focused on enabling Fred Hutch to expand the work and impact of the Sloan Precision Oncology Institute by making research discoveries that are successfully translated into new targeted therapies for patients.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4mei1bv

A Fred Hutch Cancer Center outpatient complex serving more than 60,000 adult patients per year will be renamed the Sloan Clinic in recognition of Stuart and Molly Sloan, who have increased their total giving to $100 million. The complex is located on the cancer center's South Lake Union campus.