Personal Progress:
- Goal:
- $550,000.00
- Achieved:
- $653,577.00
The team at Keith Jerome's Lab, which is a part of Fred Hutch, has done extensive research into HSV (herpes simplex) and is testing a potential HSV cure through a gene therapy treatment which eliminates the latent herpes virus.
Dr. Jerome's team was the first to eliminate the majority of latent HSV-1 from an animal: Peer reviewed article linked here. (link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17936-5.pdf)
This fundraiser was established in partnership with Dr. Jerome's team at FHCRC to help expedite the testing of the gene therapy herpes cure in human trials.
The fundraiser's initial goal of $50,000 was exceeded in 2019, the first fundraising year. We then hit $100,000 on September 3, 2020 and $200,000 in January 2021.
In 2020, Dr. Jerome's team was able to provide us with specific financial requirements for their preclinical animal work (which are currently ongoing thanks to our generous donations!) which are required to bring this therapy into human trials. Such tests will also target HSV-2. Dr. Jerome expects that $250,000 should cover the direct costs of the animal work, and $450,000 should cover all of the costs including indirect costs.
As further donations came in, in February 2021 we received a massive generous donation of over $250,000 from an anonymous donor. That increased our total to over $450,000, meeting the target of fully funding the next phase of research and potentially ensuring that the cure for herpes may come earlier in time!
Thank you all for your tremendous and continued support!
We continue to donate because all the money will continue to be used to support the HSV cure research.
All donations made through this page and through the main donation page which are earmarked for HSV gene therapy, will go towards Dr. Jerome's HSV cure research.
If you would like a tax receipt that does not mention “Keith Jerome’s HSV Gene Therapy” for confidentiality reasons, please email annualgiving@fredhutch.org.
