Tour of Fred Hutch Research Facilities

Tyler and I were invited to a Behind the Scenes tour of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Tour as part of our work with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. One of the researchers that receives funding from the LLS actually spoke with us about the work they are doing to understand Leukemia cells better. His research is cultivating Leukemia cells specifically and testing their behavior so that we better understand them.

We also got to tour some of the other areas and learn about what Fred Hutch is doing in conjunction with the other members of the Cancer Care Alliance. I was fascinated by much of the work they are doing, but found that one area was particularly surprising to me. They talked about some research they are conducting to see if we can use skin cells to become a type of cell that can be used to create a body part. For example, if you had heart failure they would take a scraping of your skin, and then modify those cells to grow you a new heart. What a neat idea!

The ladies that we work with at LLS told us that they will be having more tours like this in the upcoming months, so if you are interested in taking a tour of Fred Hutch, please let me know.