When Amanda (Mandy) Kedaigle learned of her mother’s ACC diagnosis, she didn’t know anything about the rare cancer, but she knew she wanted to make a difference not only for her mom, but for the ACC community.
Amanda began volunteering with the ACCRF in 2017 while she was a graduate student at MIT. As she became more familiar with ACC and the foundation’s research efforts, Amanda saw an opportunity to connect her personal advocacy with her academic work. During her graduate and postdoctoral training, Amanda analyzed RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data from ACCRF’s patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models which replicate ACC tumors in a lab setting. RNA sequencing provides a snapshot of which genes are active within a tumor, offering researchers valuable insight into the biology of the cancer.
But Amanda took that information a step further. She created an online resource that allows researchers to compare the activity of specific genes across all ACCRF’s PDX models. The tool has been incredibly useful in understanding which drug targets are highly active in specific ACC tumors. If a particular target is present at high levels, it may represent a promising candidate for developing or testing new treatments. The resource she created can also help researchers select the most appropriate PDX model for a particular experiment. By identifying which tumor models have the highest levels of a drug target, researchers can choose models that are most likely to provide meaningful results.
In this way, Amanda’s contribution is helping turn complex genomic data into something researchers can use to make practical decisions. But the impact of her work extends beyond the laboratory.
By helping researchers identify the models best suited to test a potential therapy, Amanda’s work can increase the likelihood that promising treatments are evaluated in the settings where they have the greatest chance of demonstrating their impact. Ultimately, better tools and better models help accelerate the path from laboratory discovery toward clinical trials, and eventually new treatment options for people living with ACC.
Amanda’s scientific career has continued to evolve, but her commitment to ACCRF has remained. She continues to contribute her expertise and support to ACCRF as a volunteer and has also attended multiple ACCRF patient gatherings. For her, these gatherings reaffirm the connection between researchers and patients and underscores the importance of communicating science in a way that patients can understand and engage with.
“Research is more than drug targets, models, and experiments. Behind every dataset is a person and a family waiting for better answers.” – Amanda Kedaigle
Through her scientific expertise, dedication, and continued generosity to the ACC community, Amanda is helping advance research and bring us closer to better treatments and a cure for ACC. ACCRF is so grateful to her for all she has brought to both the patient and research communities, and we thank her for being such an unfailing ally in our search for a cure.