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Reposted by Jia Luo, MD

Vijay G. Sankaran @bloodgenes.bsky.social · 9d

www.nih.gov/news-events/...

Secretary Kennedy Swears in Dr. Anthony Letai as Director of the National Cancer Institute

Dr. Letai will serve as NCI’s 18th director.

www.nih.gov

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Jia Luo, MD @jia-luo.bsky.social · 11d

What a great throwback!

Brings me back to middle school computer lab when - as the cool kids - we were using this little known search called "google" on our bright boxy blue iMacs when the standard at the time was Ask Jeeves

Reposted by Jia Luo, MD

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 24d

A deep dive into the destruction of US cancer research by @jonathanmahler.bsky.social “It’s an absolutely unmitigated disaster,” a former top official at NIH told him. “It will take decades to recover from this, if we ever do.” Gift link: nyti.ms/48iH3Cr

nyti.ms

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Jia Luo, MD @jia-luo.bsky.social · 29d

What a fantastic IASLC WCLC25!

Congrats to star resident (onc-to-be!) Dr Huang &

We had a superb global multi-D discussion on ground glass/semisolid lung nodules - packed room in our last session of the day!

TY chairs Drs Naidoo Opitz Malapelle & Noemi - feeling inspired 🙏
@iaslc.bsky.social

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Reposted by Jia Luo, MD

Paul Sax @paulsaxmd.bsky.social · Aug 30

For us ID doctors, the CDC has been a rock. Data, guidelines, surveillance, travel advice -- all there, vetted by experts, referenced, reliable. Perfect? No. But watching its dismantling now breaks my heart. Some thoughts: blogs.jwatch.org/hiv-id-obser...

Watching the Chaos at the CDC -- with Sadness and Alarm

Throughout my career as an infectious diseases doctor, the CDC has been a rock-solid source. Need reliable data on an outbreak? The CDC. Need thoughtful, evidence-based guidelines? The CDC. Need an au...

blogs.jwatch.org

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Jia Luo, MD @jia-luo.bsky.social · Aug 29

🩻 Look forward to our interactive multidisciplinary lung nodules session @ IASLC WCLC 2025 meeting next week, September 6-9 in Barcelona

It's been fantastic to plan our program with this group of experts spanning the 🗺️, meeting 6am (PT) - 11pm (AEST)!
wclc.iaslc.org #lcsm @iaslc.bsky.social #WCLC25

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Jia Luo, MD @jia-luo.bsky.social · Aug 15

Congratulations, Juan!!

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Reposted by Jia Luo, MD

E John Wherry @ejohnwherry.bsky.social · Aug 15

vimeo.com/1103907156/4...

A World Without Academic Medicine 2025

This is "A World Without Academic Medicine 2025" by AAMC on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

vimeo.com

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Reposted by Jia Luo, MD

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Aug 15

New report from AAMC about clinical trials, other grants, and training

www.aamc.org/about-us/mis...

Clinical trials and research training stalled as billions in NIH funds sit idle

Billions in NIH research funds remain unspent, stalling clinical trials, halting grants, and disrupting training for future scientists.

www.aamc.org

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Reposted by Jia Luo, MD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute @danafarber.bsky.social · Aug 12

Please join us in congratulating Alice Shaw, MD, PhD, on being named our next Chair of the Department of Medical Oncology.

Learn more: bit.ly/45wiiQ6

Alice T. Shaw named Chair of Department of Medical Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute | Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Alice T. Shaw, MD, PhD, was named Chair of the Department of Medical Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, in an announcement today.

bit.ly

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Jia Luo, MD @jia-luo.bsky.social · Aug 12

Fantastic to interview Dr. William Pao about his book "Breakthrough" with Dr. Jänne

So inspiring for us to hear stories about resiliency and learning from failure in research to develop transformational medicines

Special thanks to Sitara & the Chen-Huang Center #lcsm @danafarber.bsky.social

Photos of the Endowed Lecture interview with Dr Wiliam Pao, including Drs Luo, Jänne, Rotow, Barbie, Sitara and the in person crowd

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Jia Luo, MD @jia-luo.bsky.social · Aug 11

Excited to host drug developer extraordinaire Dr. William Pao at Dana-Farber

Dr. Jänne and I will interview Dr. Pao tomorrow (Tuesday, August 12) about his book, Breakthrough, "a triumphant read about overcoming disease"

www.simonandschuster.com/books/Breakt... @danafarbernews.bsky.social

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Jia Luo, MD @jia-luo.bsky.social · Aug 8

🩺 In NEJM, our interactive case on a common CC - evaluation of a patient with new pulmonary symptoms www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Congrats to star fellow Dr Joanne I. Hsu for leading & wonderful to learn from expert multi-D colleagues @anandvaidya17.bsky.social @harvardmed.bsky.social @nejm.org

NEJM.org @nejm.org · Jul 28

A 59-year-old woman presented to the emergency department with a 1-week history of profound fatigue, nonproductive cough, confusion, and decreased oral intake. The night before presentation, she began to have chills and night sweats. Learn more and test your skills: nej.md/4mcUHuL

Interactive Medical Case
A Case of Crackles

An illustration of the patient coughing in bed and her husband caring for her

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Jia Luo, MD @jia-luo.bsky.social · Aug 4

Celebrating endings and new beginnings - it has been fantastic to have Dr Paoloni on our research team during his awarded American-Italian Cancer Foundation Research Fellowship grant!

@danafarber.bsky.social @danafarbernews.bsky.social #lcsm

Research group dinner. From left to right: Dr Paoloni, Huang, Sara Walton, Justin Kim, Dr Luo, and Dr Pecci

Dr Paoloni (center) with Drs French and Luo

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Reposted by Jia Luo, MD

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Jul 29

New STAT story about multi-year funding.

www.statnews.com/2025/07/29/n...

NIH is shrinking the number of research projects it funds due to a new Trump policy

NIH plans to shrink the share of grant applications it will award for the remainder of the fiscal year, in some cases by more than half.

www.statnews.com

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Jia Luo, MD @jia-luo.bsky.social · Jul 28

End/ Thank you to 💫 first author @justinjkim.bsky.social, Prof French, co-author experts and collaborators, our patients, and funding sources, including NIH NCI

Accompanying article: www.dana-farber.org/newsroom/new... @danafarber.bsky.social @danafarbernews.bsky.social @harvardmed.bsky.social

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Jia Luo, MD @jia-luo.bsky.social · Jul 28

4/ In summary, if NUT carcinoma is suspected clinically – eg in a poorly differentiated aggressive cancer of lung, head or neck origin - clinicians should discuss with pathology colleagues whether a gold standard test for NUT carcinoma should be ordered

Our paper also includes co-mutations, fusions

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Jia Luo, MD @jia-luo.bsky.social · Jul 28

3/ Using our international registry (nc-registry.org), we found that while more DNA NGS panels are including NUT carcinoma defining fusion genes, this did not improve detection

Of note, NUT IHC (turnaround time ~7 days) is 100% specific in these cases

NUT IHC/FISH and RNA fusion are gold standards

Graph from paper showing NC detection pre vs post 2020. DNA panel tests included NUT carcinoma genes more, but fewer cases were identified in those who tested. RNA fusion testing is improving. A figure reminding that NUT IHC is 100% specific.

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Jia Luo, MD @jia-luo.bsky.social · Jul 28

2/ WHY does it matter?

🧬 NUT carcinoma is fusion oncogene driven and aggressive, with no FDA approved treatments

Non-metastatic diagnosis needs multi-D evaluation to give patients the best chance

Clinical trials should be considered for a metastatic diagnosis

Ref: www.jto.org/article/S155...

Initial Chemotherapy for Locally Advanced and Metastatic NUT Carcinoma

NUT carcinoma (NC) is an underdiagnosed and aggressive poorly differentiated or squamous cell cancer. A subset of NC is sensitive to chemotherapy, but the optimal regimen is unknown. Experts have reco...

www.jto.org

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Jia Luo, MD @jia-luo.bsky.social · Jul 28

1/ In Clinical Cancer Research, we examined underdiagnosis of NUT carcinoma, an aggressive squamous lung, head and neck cancer, and found >75% are missed on standard of care testing (DNA panel NGS)

🫁 🗣️ doi.org/10.1158/1078... #medsky #oncsky #meded #lcsm #lungcancer @theaacr.bsky.social

🧵A thread:

Molecular characterization of NUT carcinoma: a report from the NUT carcinoma registry
Abstract
Purpose: NUT carcinoma (NC) is an underdiagnosed, poorly differentiated squamous cell cancer with a median survival of 6.7 months. Defined by NUTM1 fusions, NC enhances oncogene transcription, including MYC. We investigated the ability of standard next-generation sequencing (NGS) to identify NUTM1 fusions and describe additional molecular features of NC. Experimental Design: This study included 116 NC patients whose tumors underwent broad-panel NGS (>80 genes) of DNA, ctDNA, and/or RNA fusion sequencing between 2013-2024. NGS reports and medical records were manually reviewed. Results: Of 116 patients (median age 38, 40.5% female), 84.5% had DNA, 12.1% had ctDNA, and 51.7% had RNA fusion testing. In a subset of 100 patients with DNA/ctDNA testing, 92.9% (n=79/85) had <10 pack-years/never-smoking history, and 58.8% (n=47/80) had a BRD4::NUTM1 fusion. Median TMB was 1.0 mut/Mb (range 0.0-16.0; n=71 known), and 19.7% (n=13/66) had PD-L1 expression ≥1%. DNA, ctDNA, RNA fusion, NUT IHC, and NUTM1 FISH detected NC fusions in 21.6%, 21.4%, 83.9%, 100.0%, and 91.9% of tests, respectively. Co-occurring pathogenic mutations included oncogenes PIK3CA, RET, FGFR3, and tumor suppressors ATM and BRCA1 (n=1 each). Secondary genes altered in >5% of NCs included LRP1B (10.4%), MLL2/KMT2D (8.0%), and FAT1 (5.5%); common pathways with mutated genes were epigenetic (57.0%), cell cycle (26.0%), and DNA repair (24.0%). Conclusions: Standard DNA NGS detects less than a quarter of NUT carcinomas; RNA-based fusion testing, or NUT IHC/NUTM1 FISH, should be routine for suspected NC. NCs are enriched in co-occurring epigenetic, cell cycle, and DNA repair alterations, warranting further evaluation.

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Reposted by Jia Luo, MD

Jia Luo, MD @jia-luo.bsky.social · May 19

🌟 Some great colleagues, including Dr Julia Rotow, and I will be discussing the latest practice changing data in oncology @ Best of ASCO Boston July 26-27!

Program and registration horizoncme.com/best-of-asco...

#oncsky @ascocancer.bsky.social @danafarbernews.bsky.social @danafarber.bsky.social

This two-day conference is an Official Annual Meeting Review of ASCO25, featuring expert faculty who will review findings, discuss potential impacts on the current standard of care, and apply the results within the clinical context of a patient case.

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Jia Luo, MD @jia-luo.bsky.social · Jul 25

Encouraging news from the US FDA - a fast track designation - for our patients with NUT carcinoma!

It's been incredible team science from the preclinical, to the iterative FIH translation, to our ongoing NIH-funded NCI CTEP/ETCTN clinical trial #oncsky #lcsm

OncLive @onclive.bsky.social · Jul 16

FDA Grants Fast Track Status to ZEN-3694 Plus Abemaciclib for Unresectable or Metastatic NUT Carcinoma #oncology

www.onclive.com/view/fda-gra...

FDA Grants Fast Track Status to ZEN-3694 Plus Abemaciclib for Unresectable or Metastatic NUT Carcinoma

ZEN-3694 has received fast track designation from the FDA for use in combination with abemaciclib for patients with previously treated NUT carcinoma.

www.onclive.com

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Reposted by Jia Luo, MD

Nandita Garud @nanditagarud.bsky.social · Jul 22

I am seeking a postdoc for my group at UCLA. We work at the intersection of population genetics x microbiome (garud.eeb.ucla.edu). If interested, please message me!

Garud Lab

garud.eeb.ucla.edu

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Reposted by Jia Luo, MD

Nature @nature.com · Jul 23

These members of the NIH Council of Councils are voicing serious concerns about NIH grant terminations, restructure, and budget cuts

go.nature.com/46Vr8t2

Protect the integrity of the US National Institutes of Health

Letter to the Editor

go.nature.com

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Jia Luo, MD @jia-luo.bsky.social · Jul 19

Outstanding commencement speech by Sandra Oh fit for these times on living with discomfort. Well worth the watch.

youtu.be/P7TYeFy0JtA?...

2025 Commencement Address by Sandra Oh

YouTube video by Dartmouth

youtu.be