And now, a brief diversion for something different

We have had a fairly big celebration at this end recently, a pretty darned reasonable amount of Champagne has been imbibed.  I've held off blogging this as I don't want to seem 'pushy', but I'm kind of proud of this one so I'm going to spill the beans...

A bit more than seven years ago I started a new job in a tiny Biotech company (I was employee no. 35), our goal was to discover new ways to fight cancer via targeting metabolic pathways.  Well, in short, we succeeded.

A couple of weeks ago the FDA approved out first drug, IDHIFA, for relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia with an isocitrate dehydrogenase-2 mutation.

If you look on the lower RHS side you can just see the little Agios swoop and name.  I'm pleased as punch for this approval as I've worked on this program since joining Agios, from its discovery phase through translational medicine all the way through to the clinic with the pharmacovigilance team.

So HUZZAH, a new drug to treat a nasty form of AML and a second HUZZAH for our team!

Steep and Loose...

...or Loose and Steep.  Just got back from my vacation doing the tour version of this:

http://www.transbcenduro.com/tour

It was 6 days Enduro-style riding (with more uplifts as it was the tour version).  It was an awesome trip.  Riding was very technical with huge descents. The trails were super dry and dusty as western BC is in the middle of a heatwave with no rain.  Instead of loam we were riding on sand/rocks, very loose over loose!

A definite highlight was heli-biking Mt Cartier.  Heli-lift to top then 7000ft down over 17km.  Wheeeeee!

Huzzah! a pic of me in action