Oligo Nation

Oligo Nation describes itself as a community-driven non-profit focused on translational research that could lead to effective treatments for oligodendroglioma, and its home page estimates that 15,000 to 20,000 people in the US are living with the tumour. Its history page, written by a parent whose two sons were both diagnosed with brain tumours, says the family first raised money through a dedicated fund at the National Brain Tumor Society and, after breaking with that charity, put its effort into Oligo Nation in early 2014; it records an Oligo Research Summit in October 2016 that brought 19 brain tumour researchers together. Its tumour tissue programme asks people having surgery to donate tissue the hospital does not need and blood; some is used straight away to make cell lines and mouse models and the rest is stored in the Oligo Nation Biobank for qualified researchers, with clinical information collected alongside. It is one of the charities the National Cancer Institute lists as partners of its NCI-CONNECT rare brain and spine tumour network, and it appears on the Rare Cancer Research Foundation's list of patient advocacy partners. The IRS record places it in Sebastopol, California, with tax exemption issued in August 2014.