Supporting Science from the Start
Innovative donors Mikal and Lynn Thomsen know the importance of private funding for promising new scientistsBY CHRISTI BALL LOSO
THE SCIENCE TUTORIAL was a first for donors Mikal and Lynn Thomsen, a great way for them to learn the particulars of the human immune response — and to see where their money is going.
Their lesson came compliments of a young Australian researcher, Dr. Cameron Turtle, who used a color chart in his clinical-research lab to help the couple grasp the potential for manipulating immune memory T-cells for breast-cancer therapy.
 |
Mikal and Lynn Thomsen in the lab with Drs. Stan Riddell, left, and Cameron Turtle. |
The Thomsens came up with the idea of initiating the three-year fellowship, and a selection committee of Center scientists chose Turtle to receive the funding.
Mikal, a partner and co-founder of Trilogy Equity Partners, and Lynn, a former business consultant, established the Thomsen Family Postdoctoral Fellowship in early 2007, earmarking $1 million for innovative breast-cancer research at the Center. The Thomsens have long been involved in the support of new scientists in Washington universities and research institutions.
"It's so difficult for young people to stay in science," Lynn said. "In what should be the beginning stages of their careers, they have to put most of their energy into seeking funding for their work. At the same time, they're faced with having to pay back school loans."
Mikal is a Tacoma native and former chair of Washington State University Foundation. "I grew up well aware of the work of the Hutchinson Center — and I'm proud that because of its research, our region is on the cutting edge of the fight against cancer," he said. "So for me, as well as Lynn, funding a fellowship at the Center is a natural."
The Thomsens have been active supporters of the Center since 1998, but it is through their acquaintance with the work of veteran researchers that the couple gained a certain insight about funding for science.
They understand that the impact of a private donation depends on its flexibility to be used for expenses related to research. That is why, in establishing the Thomsen Family Postdoctoral Fellowship, the couple expressed preferences — such as breast-cancer research in honor of Lynn's mother, who died of the disease at 60 — but few stipulations.
The result is a fellowship that pays the full cost of research, not only the investigator's stipend and lab equipment, but also employee benefits and other associated research expenses.
"There's that old adage about not just giving someone food, but teaching them to fish," Mikal said. "This three-year commitment doesn't just provide a stipend — it essentially clears that young person's schedule so that he truly has time to move the research forward."
| [ Back to Top ] |
Tackling the tough problems
New breast-cancer research set in motion by Thomsen fellowshipBY CHRISTI BALL LOSO
MIKAL AND LYNN THOMSEN understand all too well what investigators need to push the boundaries of science.
That's why the Thomsen Family Postdoctoral Fellowship is the first ever at the Center to fund the same scientist for three years in a row. Funding of Dr. Cameron Turtle's breast-cancer immunotherapy work began last July.
Turtle, who grew up and attended medical school in Sydney, Australia, had spent two years in clinical research with the Hutchinson Center's Dr. Stanley Riddell, whose lab investigates strategies to target leukemia with T-cells and avoid graft-vs.-host disease after stem-cell transplants. More recently, the lab expanded its research into the potential to use of T-cells to treat breast cancer.
Turtle quickly earned a reputation for dedication and a bold yet methodical approach to scientific problems. When Riddell learned of the availability of funds through the Thomsen fellowship, he asked colleagues to join him in urging Turtle to apply.
"Cameron's background was in transplantation, but we convinced him to turn his attentions to breast cancer — a very challenging tumor where immunotherapy is concerned," Riddell said. "Breast-cancer research has tended to focus on easier problems, whereas Cameron has demonstrated that he will tackle the tough ones."
The fellowship will allow Turtle to focus on whether immunotherapy — the treatment of disease by strengthening the body's immune system — could prove an effective approach against breast cancer.
"Such projects involve fundamental biology and may take years to lead to an outcome," Turtle said. "But we have quite a bit of evidence that this particular work will yield results and improve our understanding of long-term immune memory against cancer."
"The fellowship is fantastic. It's an opportunity for me to take on this specific area of research without worrying about funding for the next three years," Turtle said.
The fellowship may also give Turtle time to generate enough preliminary data to qualify for a larger federal grant such as those given through the National Cancer Institute.
According to Riddell, Turtle's work should at least begin to answer the immunotherapy question, but the researcher's larger aspirations lie in the potential for clinical applications.
"It will absolutely be paradigm-changing if we find we can treat breast cancer with immune cells. It would be a new and potentially highly effective way to treat the disease," he said.
| [ Back to Top ] |
1100 Fairview Ave. N. PO Box 19024 Seattle, WA 98109
©2009 Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, a nonprofit organization.
Terms of Use & Privacy Policy.
