Sanford Burnham Prebys

The NCI-Designated Cancer Center at Sanford Burnham Prebys welcomed San Diego community members to the institute’s campus on July 31, 2024 for an open house focused on addiction research.  The Cancer Center team developed the event in partnership with scientists from Scripps Research and the UC San Diego School of Medicine. “As I have learned more about the research being presented here, I am impressed by just how much of a powerhouse we have on this mesa regarding both cancer and addiction science,” said David Brenner, M.D., president and CEO of Sanford Burnham Prebys, during his welcoming remarks. Attendees had the opportunity to learn from and interact with the following scientists at stations featuring posters describing research underway at all three represented institutions. Participants were able to tour the Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics, which is the institute's comprehensive center for drug discovery and chemical biology. The open house featured a reception with remarks from Robert M. Anthenelli, M.D., a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine, and Helen Eckmann, Ed.D., an NCI-designated Cancer Center Community Advisory Board member. Read more: https://bit.ly/4cYg9iN #addictionresearch #cancerresearch

Stem cell scientists: Join the next Southern California Stem Cell Seminar on August 8, 2024 at 9:30 a.m. PDT featuring Catherine Yeung, PharmD, Ph.D., MPH, of School Of Pharmacy University Of Washington. This event is in collaboration with UC San Diego and hosted by Evan Snyder, M.D., Ph.D. Register: https://bit.ly/3SytV3y #stemcells #stemcellresearch

Congratulations to James Marchant (postdoc in Dr. Alexandre Colas's lab) who has been selected as the 2024 Fishman Fund Fellow! The Fishman Fund Fellowship is awarded to a Sanford Burnham Prebys postdoc whose research shows leading-edge promise and who has demonstrated past research success. Dr. Marchant's research aims to develop a new gene therapy to convert fibroblasts in scar tissue back into beating cardiac cells to promote heart repair. This work is crucial as no effective heart failure therapies exist, and past reprogramming attempts have had limited success. The fellowship will support his research for two years and include funds for career development activities. Thank you to the generous donors and supporters of the Fishman Fund program: https://lnkd.in/g2CNXHkT.

Biological techniques that study the entire landscape of a sample’s genes or proteins—genomics or proteomics, respectively—help scientists discover new results without becoming too narrowly focused on what they predicted would happen. Although some scientists pursuing studies with this wider lens have been accused of going on “fishing expeditions,” many researchers counter that they now are able to investigate their hypotheses without missing other important results. “I am a major proponent of omics, and especially unbiased omics,” says Sanju Sinha, PhD, an assistant professor in the Cancer Molecular Therapeutics Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys. “If someone now doesn’t show me unbiased results, it deeply bothers me. If every experiment only shows results from one pathway, it’s concerning and increases my skepticism about the study.” An omics approach differs from traditional hypothesis-driven research in that it includes a comprehensive perspective about the phenomenon a scientist is studying and what might be causing it. However, the hypothesis is not an endangered species destined to be replaced by unbiased omics approaches. On the contrary, omics experiments can often be kick-starters that help scientists generate new hypotheses to explore. A team of scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys and their collaborators are using an omics technique called resistomics to develop a new class of antibiotics effective against a drug-resistant pathogen. Read more: https://bit.ly/3M9Bf25 #artificialintelligence #computationalbiology #omics #genomics #proteomics

𝗢𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻: 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗱. Roughly one-third of Americans do not have a primary care physician. It’s a shrinking cohort as more and more medical school students opt to become specialists. In his latest essay in the The San Diego Union-Tribune, David Brenner explains why this long-term trend (with no sign of abatement) is bad news for doctors, patients and health care in general. He also proposes remedies. Read more: https://bit.ly/4cZ078i

The Human Genome Project captured the public’s imagination with its global quest to better understand the genetic blueprint stored on the DNA within our cells. The project succeeded in delivering the first-ever sequence of the human genome while foreshadowing a future for medicine once considered to be science fiction. The project presaged the possibility that healthcare could be personalized based on clues within a patient’s unique genetic code. Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys are employing new technologies and expertise to test ways to improve diagnoses and customize treatments for many diseases based on unique characteristics within tumors, blood samples and other biopsies. “I think we’ve gotten a lot better at precision diagnostics,” says Lukas Chavez, PhD, an assistant professor in the Cancer Genome and Epigenetics Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys. “In my work at Rady Children’s Hospital in cancer, we can characterize a tumor based on mutations, including predicting how quickly different tumors will spread. What we too often lack, however, are better treatment approaches or medicines. That will be the next generation of precision medicine.” Read more: https://bit.ly/4cTm1d7 #precisionmedicine #humangenome #genomesequencing #artificialintelligence #computationalbiology

Congratulations to Malin Burnham and Stephen P. Cushman for being named to the San Diego Business Journal’s “8 Over 80,” recognizing their enduring achievements and contributions in business, activism and philanthropy throughout San Diego. Burnham, 96, is an honorary trustee of Sanford Burnham Prebys and has served on the board since 1982. Over his career, Burnham has been an active board member of 16 companies and played a role in the founding of three publicly traded companies. He has been a foundational supporter of the institute. Cushman, 83, is the father of current Sanford Burnham Prebys trustee Lori Moore. President of Cush Enterprises, he has served on more than 70 boards and commissions. More: https://bit.ly/4dgQIcB

Scientists and clinicians from three local research institutions will converge July 31 to discuss new ways to treat multiple addictions at a Sanford Burnham Prebys open house. The NCI-Designated Cancer Center at Sanford Burnham Prebys will welcome San Diego community members to the institute’s campus for an open house focused on addiction research.  The Cancer Center team developed the event in partnership with scientists from Scripps Research and the UC San Diego School of Medicine. The event will take place Wednesday, July 31, 2024, at 3:30 pm at 10901 N. Torrey Pines Road in La Jolla. More information and the online registration form are located on the institute’s website: https://bit.ly/3Yik31i Attendees will meet scientists working to better understand the science behind addiction. A sneak peek of presenters and topics is available on the Sanford Burnham Prebys blog: https://bit.ly/3LDq3tZ #addiction #addictionresearch #cancercenter #sandiego #lajolla #torreypines

Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys, UC San Diego and their international collaborators have reported that more types of lung cells can be infected by SARS-CoV-2 than previously thought, including those without known viral receptors. The research team also reported for the first time that the lung is capable of independently mustering an inflammatory antiviral response without help from the immune system when exposed to SARS-CoV-2. This work is especially timely, as cases of COVID-19 are on the rise in the scientists’ hometown of San Diego during a summertime spike. Looking beyond the region, more than half of the states in the country have reported “very high” or “high” levels of infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “People used to say that SARS-CoV-2 only infects cells with certain receptors, especially those with the ACE2 receptor known to interact with the infamous SARS-CoV-2 spike protein,” says Evan Snyder, MD, PhD, director of the Center for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine and a professor in the Human Genetics Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys. “We demonstrated that when a direct entry point was unavailable, the virus just punches through the cell membrane instead.” In another surprising result, the team discovered that the mini lungs have their own intrinsic “first response” system in reaction to sensing SARS-CoV-2. Even though the mini lungs lack any connection to an immune system, this study shows that lung cells can initiate many of the same biologic and cell signaling changes in response to a viral threat that are observed when the immune system is present. “We showed that it’s not just the immune cells that are becoming over-activated and secreting too much of the pro-inflammatory cytokines that contribute to severe cases of COVID-19,” says Sandra Leibel, MD, MSc, a neonatologist at Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego and an associate professor of Pediatrics at UC San Diego School of Medicine. “The lung cells do this as well.” Read more: https://bit.ly/3zXV09R #covid #covid19 #sarscov2

Congratulations to four Sanford Burnham Prebys GSBS graduate students for being selected to give oral presentations at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Trainee Networking Conference on August 13, 2024 based on their submitted abstracts! The conference aims to connect with other investigators who have shared interests and learn from each other. Nahal Azimi (Dr. Ani Deshpande lab) “Multimodal Investigation of Prognostic "Stemness" Attributes in AML" Katya Marchetti (Dr. Karen Ocorr lab) “Identifying Molecular Mechanisms Underlying HLHS - the Roles of ETS Family Transcription Factors" Gabriele Guarnaccia (Dr. Alessandra Sacco lab) “Serum Amyloid Protein A1 (SAA1) Impairs Myogenesis and Myotube Size in Pancreatic Cancer Cachexia” Yu-Ling Linda Chang (Dr. Alexandre Colas lab) “Transcription Factor-Mediated Control of Chromatin Accessibility During Cell Fate Reprogramming”