To:
From: Richard Kahn
Sent Fri 1/10/2014 8:00:30 PM
Subject Re: Joe Thakuria
any update on this?
thanks
Richard Kahn
HBRK Associates Inc.
575 Lexington Avenue, 4th Floor,
New York, New York 10022
On Dec 20, 2013, at 3:45 PM, wrote:
Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message:
From: Joseph Thakuria c >
Date: December 20, 2013, 3:01:29 PM EST
To:
Subject: e: e rwoice.
Sorry about the delay on this. Things have been more hectic than
usual with the holidays and being short-handed in the hospital and I'm
still waiting on a few things related to the iPS lines and bioinformatics
vendors/platforms. I also have some travel planned.
Can I get this invoice to you and Jeffrey sometime during the week of 12/30 when
things will have started to settle down?
Thanks,
Joe Thakuria
On Thu, Dec 12, 2013 at 4:19 PM,MEIRIa wrote:
Hi Joe! Thank you so much for this! I have passed along to Jeffrey
your findings...lets see what he has to say ...
EFTA_R1_007413937
EFTA02117573
Thanks again,
On Dec 12, 2013, at 3:43 PM, Joseph Thakuria
wrote:
Hi Lesley,
Sony I've been swamped with clinical work. We don't
have a fellow this month so I've been in the hospital until
late every day this week.
Realistically I won't be able to provide a detailed invoice
until early next week but here's the general update:
1. I don't think donating sequencing of patient genomes
or exomes will be an option anymore. I think it will be
too difficult to clear by mgh. And all the patients I had in
mind were seen through mgh. fillet you know if this
situation changes.
2. For whole genome sequencing in a clia lab, I think the
best bet is to get this done directly through Illumina. The
cost for this is $5-10k but I'll run various options by him.
They offer just the raw data as well as 2 types of
analyses. I think he should do all 3 but I'll include more
details in the invoice. (I'm still discussing with people
from illumina and waiting for some calls back.)
3. In terms of analysis, since Jeffrey has said cost is not
an issue, the best route in my opinion would be to
analyze across several of the genomic analyses tools
currently available. Though it's not critical to analyze
across multiple tools, ifs a new enough field that a) they
each have their own pros/cons, b) I don't think the
illumina analyses (both options) provides enough
features for in depth analyses (this might seem surprising -
but shouldn't be - since they're much more focused on
their sequencing instrumentation business over analyses
tools), and c) comparing results across the different ones
for concordance is worthwhile. I've honed in on 2-4 I
think are worth using and will tally up the costs in the
invoice.
4. Individualized cell lines: Jeffrey already has fibroblast
EFTA_R1_00748938
EFTA02117574
cell lines from the skin biopsy done for the pgp. Induced
pluripotent stem cells (adult stem cells) can be made
from these. They can also be induced to differentiate
into various cell types including neurons (which would
otherwise, of course, be difficult to obtain and study in a
specific individual). I'm getting itemized costs but
getting to iPS cells costs around $10k and the process
takes about 6 months (because of the multiple cell
passages needed in the protocol). (Success of course
isn't guaranteed either.)
All this work should fall within or just a bit over the
$30k or so Jeffrey mentioned over the phone. Payment
can be made by your group directly to the various
vendors once you have that info. As I discussed with
Jeffrey on the phone, I won't personally accept money
and any effort I contribute to this will be pro bono. And,
this goes without saying, but with respect to the
vendors, these are just suggestions so Jeffrey should feel
free to use other vendors if he has other preferences.
I'm happy to go through his genome pro bono using the
analyses tools his genomic data from illumina will get
loaded onto once it's available. I'm also happy to
reassess as well in a year to try and incorporate any new
data that may be available relevant to his genome. At
that time, there may also be additional data to generate
and analyze from studying his iPS or other cell lines. On
that front, it may also be interesting to do a genome on
his fibroblast cells (which we currently have unlike the
iPS cells). I wouldn't expect to get additional medical
info from that but it helps give a handle on mutations
that are present in the fibros and not him - and later in
the iPS cells but not native cells. (And, therefore, give
you a handle on how accurately these cells will reflect
normal physiology when further studied.) At some point
we can compare his white blood cell genome to
fibroblast cells to iPS cells and other derived cells.
Some of this hassle, such as needing multiple vendors
for sequencing and analyses, just comes with the
territory of being an early adopter. This will get cheaper
and the process should be more straightforward over
time. And while no one can guarantee benefit from
genome sequencing, especially in someone relatively
healthy, there is the possibility of reaping benefit as an
early adopter before others if something medically
EFTA_R1_00740939
EFTA02117575
actionable is discovered in his data. (We'll also
concentrate our analyses on those 56 genes the ACMG
recommended checking even in healthy individuals).
More to follow and apologies for the delay on the
invoice. You can see I've been looking into it though and
there are stilt a few moving pieces. I'm sorry about the
news on funding patient sequences. Jeffrey sounded
excited about that possibility. His genomic data should
be interesting though and even if it's of limited use now,
he'll be able to go back and reanalyze the data in the
future as more is collectively learned in this field.
Best,
Joe
On Dec 11, 2013 5:23 PM,
otc:
Hi Joe...can you please give me the ETA for Jeffrey's
invoice? I'm sorry to keep pestering you, but Jeffrey
has asked that I stay on top of this...it is quite
important to him.
Any update would be tremendously helpful.
Assistant to Jeffrey Epstein
EFTA_R1_00740940
EFTA02117576