Linnea Gave an Update on Her Progress [Linnea Olson Hackathon]

On Friday (April 23) Linnea gave an update on her progress, and we had another roundtable discussion of about two dozen participants. Again, the power of this diverse crowd and the offers of support for Linnea were inspiring.

Linnea reported that she submitted blood for two liquid biopsies and has received the results of the Foundation Medicine liquid biopsy — there was nothing found that was diagnostic – clinically actionable. Linnea reviewed the results with her oncologist, who said those results were not surprising since her tumor burden is low. Linnea asked her oncologist about the possibility of getting a tissue biopsy since she hasn’t had tissue results for her use for 3 years. The oncologist wants to wait for the results of the liquid biopsies. She is concerned about risks, such as a collapsed lung, but would support getting one if Linnea would like to. Linnea is also getting her data set up on Ciitizen to facilitate data sharing.

On a bright note, Linnea said she’s feeling great and spending as much time as she can in her studio.

We heard additional commentary, mostly on testing:

David Marshak of Foundation Medicine said that they would be doing some additional analysis.

Jack Challis said that Lucence is working on the blood biopsy analysis.

Kimary Kulig talked about how PathPresenter could facilitate analysis of Linnea’s large library of images.

Sophia Cornew updated on the progress Ciitizen is making on loading Linnea’s data for sharing, and developing a summary report, which should be ready by the middle of next week.

Tim Stuhlmiller described similar services that xCures and Cancer Commons are offering.

You can listen to the recording of the formal session (15 minutes) below.

Here are my notes from the group discussion that followed the update:

Grace Cordovano: If you think you might get a future biopsy, you should develop a plan to prioritize the tests you would want to apply to them. How long would it take to process and get results?

Rick Stanton: For example, Akoya Biosciences has spatial testing, which looks at the cancer cells in the microenvironment. You can test for immunotherapy responsiveness. PDL1. RNA sequencing can determine if it’s a hot or cold tumor.

For example, Certis Oncology could develop a mouse model.

Grace Cordovano: You should search for unprocessed cut slides, other slides, and digital files.

Grace Cordovano: You should consider SomaLogic, which analyzes proteomics. Not sure on cost and whether they need tissue or blood.

Grace Cordovano: You should consider interventional radiology — as they go in to biopsy the material, they can also zap any cancer they find with radiation.

Devon Snedden: We have pathologists engaged who could review and advance the science.

Best,

Brad