Karl Potach Foundation donates $60K
Published 6:50 am Wednesday, December 16, 2020
- Dr. Liang Liu, Dr. Rendong Yang, Gail Dennison, Dr. Sergio Gradilone, Elizabeth Fedie, Brenda Potach, Dr. Kurt Potach, Dr. Robert Clarke, Dr. Leena Hilakivi-Clarke. Photo provided
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Dr. Kurt and Brenda Potach of The Karl Potach Foundation gave a $60,000 gift to further the Wilms’ tumor research they spearheaded at The Hormel Institute.
With this gift, the Karl Potach Foundation has given $711,500 to The Hormel Institute since 2008. This year the foundation also gifted $10,000 to the Children’s Cancer Research Foundation.
“We were not able to have our normal golf tournament and live auction, so we did not expect to be able to gift this amount at all,” said Dr. Kurt Potach. He and his wife Brenda lost their son Karl to Wilms Tumor in 1997 and friends, family members and the community have turned the August “Karl’s Tourney” into a major cancer research fundraiser for 23 years.
“This donation to further research is a reflection of our generous friends and community who made this happen, even during COVID-19 and all the hardships people are enduring,” Potach said. “We want to thank everyone who contributed and who help make this research possible.”
There are currently three Wilms’ tumor related research projects in progress at The Hormel Institute funded exclusively from the Karl Potach Foundation and on Friday – wearing masks and keeping socially distant – the foundation received progress reports from Dr. Sergio Gradilone – “Consequences of Primary Cilia loss in the KRAS/MAPK/WT1 Regulatory Axis in Cholangiocarcinoma,” Dr. Liang Liu – “Function and Mechanism of WT1 in Breast Tumorigenesis” and Dr. Rendong Yang – “Role of WT1 splicing variants in human cancer.”
“We are extremely grateful to the Karl Potach Foundation as this will ensure innovative research Wilms Tumor research continues to move forward at The Hormel Institute,” said Dr. Robert Clarke, executive director of The Hormel Institute. “These projects would not be possible if not for the generosity of our community and thanks to The Hormel Foundation’s support, 100% of this gift will be used for research. We look forward to making research progress for years to come with the help of the Karl Potach Foundation.”
