MCAD Graduate’s Cancer Recovery Tied to U of M Breakthrough Therapy

A graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Emma Dimery, is at the center of a promising University of Minnesota cancer therapy that halted her terminal illness, even as the researchers behind the treatment scramble to keep the project alive.

Dimery was battling end-stage colon cancer when she became the only patient in a twelve-person U of M clinical trial to experience a complete reversal of the disease, thanks to a genetically edited immunotherapy.

Despite the breakthrough, biotech partner Intima Bioscience pulled financial support, citing high costs. U researchers are now assembling local and federal funding to continue the work.

Dimery, now 35 and cancer-free, is building her art career in Minneapolis and plans to tattoo her trial ID, “Patient 22,” as a reminder of her journey.

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• University of Minnesota assembles new team after losing backing for cancer therapy that saved Minneapolis woman
  (startribune.com—May 9, 2025)