TedDriven and its Commitment to the Fight:

Powering Breakthroughs to Stop Metastatic Cancer With Dr. Cyrus Ghajar’s lab at Fred Hutch, we’re targeting the hidden, dormant cancer cells that cause most cancer deaths, so patients don’t have to look over their shoulder years after treatment. Over the years, TedDriven has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars from event proceeds to support cancer research. We are excited to leverage the power of our network by providing our participants with an avenue to raise additional funds for cancer research. TedDriven will continue to directly support cancer research from registration proceeds, and we are excited to offer this additional opportunity for you to get involved.

Why Your Gift Matters

Metastasis, when cancer spreads beyond the original site, is responsible for most of the cancer mortality. Large registry analyses show that most patients with metastatic disease ultimately die from their cancer, underscoring why attacking metastasis is essential to saving lives. Many sources cite “~90%” of cancer-related deaths due to metastasis; a careful population study suggests at least two-thirds of solid-tumor deaths involve metastases, reinforcing the urgency of metastasis-focused research.

Our Next Chapter: From Coast to Coast, With Dr. Ryeom’s Blessing

For years, TedDriven championed the pioneering work of Dr. Sandra Ryeom, a leader in tumor microenvironment and angiogenesis research. Her lab has illuminated how endothelial and stromal cells, and calcineurin–NFAT signaling, prime early metastatic niches, especially in the lungs, offering new therapeutic targets to prevent colonization and spread.

With Dr. Ryeom’s enthusiastic endorsement, we’re bringing our mission home to Seattle to support a scientist she trusts: Dr. Cyrus Ghajar at Fred Hutch. This coast-to-coast collaboration embodies TedDriven’s belief that cross-institutional partnerships accelerate cures, bridging fundamental discovery with translational advances against metastasis.

“TedDriven is excited to shift our support, with Dr. Ryeom’s blessing, to a local cancer research center and a researcher she truly trusts in Dr. Cyrus Ghajar.”

Who You’re Fueling: Dr. Cyrus Ghajar’s Lab at Fred Hutch

Dr. Cyrus Ghajar directs the Laboratory for the Study of Metastatic Microenvironments (LSM²) at Fred Hutch. His team investigates how distant tissue niches, including bone marrow, put disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) into dormancy or wake them up, and how these niches make dormant cells resistant to chemo and immunotherapy. The goal: eradicate dormant DTCs before they seed lethal metastases.

In recent work, Ghajar and collaborators explained why dormant DTCs evade the immune system and devised T-cell–based approaches to eliminate them, pointing to tangible strategies to prevent relapse years after initial treatment.

What Your Donation Supports

Your gift translates directly into tools and studies designed to find and eliminate dormant, therapy-resistant cancer cells:

1. Dormant Cell Mapping & Niche Biology High-resolution studies of perivascular niches where DTCs hide and survive, defining which signals maintain dormancy and confer drug resistance.

2. Immunotherapy Workarounds Against Dormant DTCs Translational projects with immunology partners to boost cancer-killing T cells and develop engineered strategies that can “reach” and destroy dormant cells.

3. Therapy Sensitization & Combination Approaches Approaches that interrupt protective niche signaling so standard therapies can finally clear dormant cells, building on prior evidence that combining niche-targeting with chemotherapy can dramatically reduce dormant-cell survival in models.

4. Patient-Derived Specimen Analysis & Intravital Imaging Cutting-edge imaging and analysis to track DTC fate in living tissues and in patient samples, accelerating bench-to-bedside insight.

Impact: Turning Science Into Fewer Relapses

· Stop the comeback. Dormant DTCs can remain undetected for 5, 10, even 20 years before “waking” and seeding metastasis. By understanding and disrupting dormancy, we aim to prevent late relapse, and the organ failure it can cause. [fredhutch.org]

· Make therapy work where it currently doesn’t. Dormant DTCs are stubbornly resistant; targeting the niche and the immune blind spots offers a path to finally clear them.

· Serve patients across cancer types. While Ghajar’s program focuses significantly on breast cancer, the principles of dormancy, niche biology, and immune evasion are shared across many solid tumors.

Our Story: Ted’s Legacy, Your Momentum

TedDriven began as a promise: to channel one person’s spirit into a movement that funds bold, translational research with the power to change outcomes.

· We backed early-stage, high-impact science with Dr. Ryeom, work that revealed how the microenvironment readies distant organs for metastasis.

· Now, with her endorsement, we’re doubling down locally with Dr. Ghajar, so discoveries about dormancy and immune evasion become therapies that prevent relapse.

This is how collaboration works: discover there, translate here, and deliver everywhere.

How Your Gift Is Put to Work

· $50–$250: Supports imaging reagents and assay materials to screen dormancy and immune-resistance signals.

· $500–$2,500: Funds patient-derived sample processing and advanced microscopy time for niche mapping.

· $5,000–$25,000: Accelerates preclinical testing of immunologic workarounds and combination therapies that target dormant DTCs.

· $50,000+: Enables multi-site collaboration, data integration, and translational studies needed to move strategies toward clinical viability.

Every level matters. Metastasis prevention is a series of solvable problems, the next experiment, the next dataset, the next insight that brings us closer to no more late recurrences.

Accountability & Transparency

TedDriven supports established research programs at Fred Hutch, an internationally recognized cancer center in Seattle. Dr. Ghajar is a Professor in the Public Health Sciences Division, a member of the Immunotherapy and Translational Data Science Integrated Research Centers, and holds the Peter S. Lefkarites Memorial Endowed Chair, reflecting broad institutional and philanthropic confidence in his impact.

We’ll share updates on funded milestones and publish accessible summaries of progress, so you can see how your gift moves the needle.

FAQ

  • What exactly is a dormant disseminated tumor cell (DTC)?
    A DTC is a cancer cell that has left the primary tumor early and traveled to a distant organ (often bone marrow) where it may lie asleep, invisible to scans and often resistant to therapy, until something triggers it to grow again.

  • Why target dormancy and the niche?
    Because the microenvironment, the “neighborhood” around DTCs, can protect them from treatment and from immune attack. If we disrupt those signals or empower immune cells to reach dormant DTCs, we can prevent metastasis before it starts.

  • Is this relevant beyond breast cancer?
    Yes. Dormancy and microenvironment-driven resistance are cross-cutting phenomena across many solid tumors; insights gained here can inform strategies in other cancers.

  • How does this build on prior TedDriven support?
    Our earlier partnership with Dr. Ryeom advanced understanding of how vasculature and stromal cells establish pre-metastatic niches, knowledge that complements Ghajar’s dormancy research and immunologic workarounds.