wonkiescientist

As a former cancer researcher I would like to ask a couple of questions, if they hurt your feelings please just skip this.

What are the mutations that cause this type of cancer? Have they given you a molecular basis of why this happens?

The reason I ask is that there are inhibitors to certain molecular dysfunctions that may not be widely known, on the market, or even legal as of right now, but maybe you could get your hands on some through a chemical supplier like Sigma or something.

There is a place at Duke where you can get a service called whole exome sequencing. It creates a DNA sequence of all your expressed genes. It is relatively inexpensive at maybe 4,000 per sample. If you were to sequence a bit of a tumor and a bit of normal tissue you could theoretically identify the molecular basis of your disease (REDDIT WILL FUND THIS, AND I WILL CHIP IN, I ALSO MAY BE ABLE TO ACCESS SOME CHARITY FUNDS HERE). This could lead you to a novel inhibitor that is not on the market or even thought of as a cancer drug. It may not save your life, but could extend it. The worst case scenario is that you greatly improve knowledge for the scientific community about the molecular basis of your disease.

There was an example here on reddit of a child that had an unknown disease. They went through this process and found a mutation that was causing the problem. It turns out that a company (Genentech?) makes the molecule that the child needs and could improve prognosis.

Please don't take this as anything other than what it is. I just want to help you, and this may be a completely unfounded stupid selfish childish way to do it. I can even imagine a way that you might be insulted by it. Please just know that I care and want to help.

Lastly, look into cancer vaccine clinical trials. There have been cases of metastatic disease that undergo complete remission after a bit of tumor was used to prime immune cells that were re-infused. Don't settle for the standard chemo treatments at this stage. Standard chemo is decades old.

I'm sorry too. I can't imagine how you feel. If you need anything don't hesitate to PM me or whatever.

1) How do you feel about the comet seeding life theory? Also, would that change, in your mind, the probabilites of life being very similiar all throughout the universe?

2) I have always bee amazed at the RNA / DNA / Protein relationship and its implications in the origin of life here. Can you explain what we know about which molecule came first and the implications for life developing on other worlds? For example, self assembling lipid membranes may not occur the same way under all conditions.... Etc.

3) thank you, and I want to work with you!! What a rad dream job.

I see your point on panspermia. It just seems that life has popped up anywhere and everywhere that there is an energy source to take advantage of so far. I have the suspicion, and that is all it is, that humans are going to start finding tons of life in the universe. Just strange and foreign to what we can even conceive of right now.

We need to stop having wars and start throwing all that money at science...

I agree with you that the chemistry we are familiar with is more likely to occur in water. However, given the vast times, and I do mean vast, that the universe has had to generate life I just feel like it is going to be more common and more varied than we can even comprehend right now.

If I recall correctly, there was some phosphorous in the growth media that they did not account for and their measurements of arsenic were also suspect because of washing techniques.??