Longview was proud to serve as a Gold sponsor for the HudsonAlpha Foundation’s 2016 Tie the Ribbons event held on Thursday, September 22nd in the Von Braun Center North Hall.
Last year, Tie the Ribbons, which supports breast and ovarian cancer research and awareness, kicked off Information is Power, the Institute’s year-long genetic cancer risk testing initiative. The screening, which is a test for BRCA1 and BRCA2 hereditary forms of breast and ovarian cancer, was free for women born between October 30, 1984 and October 28, 1986, and was available for anyone age 19 and older living in Madison, Limestone, Marshall and Morgan counties for $99. Over 1400 people participated in the initiative and around 40 people discovered they have a change in their DNA related to an increased risk of cancer.
At this year’s event, Phase II was announced. Beginning October 29, 2016, Redstone Federal Credit Union is sponsoring an expansion of the Information is Power initiative which will run through October 28, 2017. During that time, all women AND men in the aforementioned five counties who are 30 years of age can receive the genetic test at no charge! Anyone age 19 or older can also complete the test for $129, which is a greatly reduced cost.
Under the leadership of Richard Myers, PhD, The HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology is at the forefront of breast and ovarian cancer research and genetic community cancer screening. Their team is working hard to speed the research of understanding and solving the problems of these complex cancers. HudsonAlpha connects research-driven discovery, education, genomic medicine, and entrepreneurship into a single enterprise, making it one of the most unique areas for genomic discovery in the country. HudsonAlpha has generated major discoveries that impact disease diagnosis and treatment, created intellectual property, fostered biotechnology companies and expanded the number of biosciences-literate people, many of whom will take their place among the future life sciences workforce. Additionally, HudsonAlpha has created one of the world’s first end-to-end genomic medicine programs to diagnose rare disease. Genomic research, educational outreach, clinical genomics and economic development: each of these mission areas advances the quality of life. Together, they are powerfully synergistic and represent the science of progress at HudsonAlpha.
