Sanford Burnham Prebys

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the U.S. Men have a one in two chance of being diagnosed with cancer during their lifetimes; for women, the chance is one in three women. Risk increases with age. Join us for 𝐀 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭: 𝐀𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫, a panel discussion and reception featuring our expert aging researchers, Peter Adams PhD and Xiao Tian, PhD, and Kay Yeung, MD, PhD, UC San Diego’s Moores Cancer Center. Register today: https://bit.ly/3MYB7ml #cancer #aging #lajolla #sandiego 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝐀 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝟏𝟐 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴.

Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys have developed a clearer picture of how crucial machinery in the human cell’s recycling process for obsolete and misshapen proteins—known as proteasomes—are formed.  “Proteasomes are absolutely essential for health,” said Jianhua Zhao, PhD, an assistant professor in the Cancer Metabolism and Microenvironment Program and senior author on the new study. “An estimated 80% of proteins within the cell are degraded by proteasomes to maintain a healthy balance as new proteins replace those that have fulfilled their function or became misfolded and potentially harmful.” Zhao and his team published results on September 18, 2024, in Nature Communications, that provide new details about stages in the process of proteasome assembly that had eluded investigators. Issues with proteasomes can contribute to certain cancers and are associated with age-related diseases, so a better understanding of how these prodigious protein degraders are made may lead to new treatments for many conditions. Read more: https://bit.ly/4dkinIB

Join us for the 2024 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐦 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐲𝐬 𝐒𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐮𝐦: 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐢𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐬, a one-day symposium dedicated to exploring advancements in lipid biochemistry and biology. This event will feature a distinguished lineup of experts in this dynamic field, and designed to provide comprehensive insights into a variety of critical topics, including #phospholipids and #sphingolipids, #fattyacids, #endocannabinoids and #epilipidome. Abstract proposals are due Friday, October 4, 2024. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4e8c8J8

Researchers convened at Sanford Burnham Prebys in La Jolla from September 12-15 to hear presentations from their peers and confer about the latest developments in modifying the genomes of mammalian animal models to advance biomedical research. Anindya Bagchi, PhD, associate professor in the Institute’s Cancer Genome and Epigenetics Program, planned the 4𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐮𝐦, which included 26 presentations from experts across the United States and Canada. Attendees asked many questions throughout, and numerous speakers commented on how valuable the conversation at the meeting was for refining planned experiments and considering new ideas and approaches. Read more: https://bit.ly/3TFZoRO

Six young scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys, whose research spans genetic disorders, Alzheimer’s disease, heart failure and aging, were honored September 17 at the 23rd annual Fishman Fund awards ceremony. 🏅 The Fishman Fund was created in 2001 by Sanford Burnham Prebys supporters Mary Bradley and Reena Horowitz to honor Dr. William and Mrs. Lillian Fishman, who founded the institute in 1976. In 2010, Jeanne Jones became a co-founder designee. The awards are intended to support and promote early career scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys, providing a $10,000 stipend that can be used to attend workshops, network and travel to national and international conferences to learn about the latest developments in their research fields. The fund is made possible through the generosity of many donors. Read more: https://bit.ly/3TE5WjT

Researchers gathered in San Diego from September 10-11 to discuss their research findings on the causes and complications of aging at the level of the trillions of cells in our bodies—and the vast array of molecules within each cell. Peter Adams, PhD, the director of the Cancer Genome and Epigenetics Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys, was one of the planners of the meeting, which was held at the Estancia La Jolla Hotel and Spa. Adams’ co-planners were Bing Ren, PhD, professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California San Diego, and Morgan Levine, PhD, founding principal investigator at the Altos Labs’ San Diego Institute of Science. “I was excited to see the room so full in anticipation of the great talks and all the fantastic questions and discussion that followed,” said Adams. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gY8jpwdv.

Michael Alcaraz, a fourth-year graduate student in the Sanford Burnham Prebys Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, was selected as the 2024 recipient of the Melvin and Phyllis McCardle Clause Scholarship. The McCardle Clause Scholarship was established in honor of Phyllis McCardle Clause after her long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The award supports graduate student education in age-related neurodegeneration within the Institute’s graduate school. Alcaraz conducts research in the laboratory of Peter Adams, PhD, the director of the Cancer Genome and Epigenetics Program, with a focus on the mechanisms of aging. With support from the scholarship, Alcaraz will be investigating the fundamental connections between aging and the increased risk of AD, the most common cause of dementia. “I am very excited about being chosen for this scholarship,” said Alcaraz. “I'll be gaining mentorship opportunities from researchers in neuroscience that complement my lab’s focus on aging. Read more: https://bit.ly/3Zojp34

Chiara Nicoletti, Ph.D., a postdoctoral associate at Sanford Burnham Prebys, was selected as the first recipient of the Fishman Fund Cynthia Schwartz Shenkman Research Excellence Award.🥇 Nicoletti studies epigenetic patterns in skeletal muscle development and disease in the laboratory of Pier Lorenzo Puri, MD, director of the Development, Aging and Regeneration Program. Chiara’s accomplishments since joining Sanford Burnham Prebys and the Puri lab in 2018 include her work on dysferlinopathy, a rare form of muscular dystrophy. In collaboration with the laboratory of Jyoti K. Jaiswal, MSc, PhD, at Children’s National Research Institute in Washington, D.C., she developed an atlas mapping how the disease causes changes in the transcription of genes in skeletal muscle. This compendium follows the disease progression of dysferlinopathy at the single-cell level. Read more: https://bit.ly/47G34Jj

Stem cell scientists: Join the next Southern California Stem Cell Seminar on September 12, 2024 at 9:30 a.m. PDT featuring Dennis Clegg, Ph.D., of UC Santa Barbara. This event is in collaboration with UC San Diego and hosted by Evan Snyder, M.D., Ph.D. Register: https://bit.ly/3XG955h #stemcells #stemcellresearch

𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 Humans have long been fascinated by automata, objects that can or appear to move and act of their own volition. While the power of our imagination has largely preceded the available technology for feats of automation, many scientists and engineers throughout history succeeded in creating automata that were as amusing as they were examples of technical mastery. Fast forwarding to the modern age in the life sciences, the mechanization of certain tasks in the scientific process has been critical to increasing the accessibility of the latest biomedical research techniques and making current drug discovery methods possible. One of the many drug discovery projects aided by automation at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics focuses on the national epidemic of opioid addiction. Michael Jackson, PhD, and his collaborators are developing a completely new class of drugs for addiction that works by targeting a receptor on neurons called neurotensin 1 receptor or NTSR1, that regulates dopamine release. Funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Drug Abuse will help Jackson and the research team complete preclinical studies on a compound in this new class of drugs and initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial to evaluate its safety in humans. Read more: https://bit.ly/3XwtUjr #automation #drugdiscovery