Our oldest son Nash just started his freshman year at the University of Utah. We are from Seattle. Nash's roommate Zack is from Bar Harbor, ME. Bar Harbor is home to The Jackson Laboratory (JAX), a world leader in human genomics research and where our FAM177A1 mice are being made! When Nash matched with Zack to be roommates, I told his mom Lynn about Nash’s two siblings, their rare disease and the work JAX is doing. I mentioned to my JAX team that Nash’s roommate was from Bar Harbor and they immediately replied, “Oh, it must be Zack!”.
Bar Harbor is a small town!
Last week, we met Zack and his parents when we moved Nash into his dorm. Among the boxes, bedding and snowboards they had hauled from Maine were gifts for our family: two Bar Harbor sweatshirts for Charlotte and Cooper because they recognized that Charlotte and Cooper’s challenges prohibited us from bringing them to UT and they did not want them to feel left behind. They also had bags, mugs and hats from Jackson Labs. Turns out Zack’s mom reached out to the notoriously awesome Cat Lutz who provided the merch for Zack’s family to bring to us. We were shocked and so touched by this thoughtful act.
Bar Harbor is a small town filled with amazing people!
We’ve returned from UT with our cozy sweatshirts and JAX swag feeling blessed that Nash has connected with a high quality roommate from a kind and generous family. We also returned to learn from our JAX team that the development of our FAM177A1 mouse colony is going well. It’s complex, but in their words, “We have great news that we have mice on the ground and the model is progressing! “
Bar Harbor is a small town filled with amazing people and little baby FAM177A1 mice.