A team of researchers at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) at Lake Nona, Fla. and Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. have been awarded a three-year National Institutes of Health(NIH) grant which aims to identify molecules that could become new medicines to inhibit myocardial fibrosis. Fibrosis is a major contributor to heart failure, for which there is no known cure.
Drug zeroes in on mutated nuclear receptors found in cancer, leaves normal proteins alone
Study examines the therapeutic potential of a small molecule to treat hereditary bony tumors
Scientists team up to evaluate the tools used to probe the cancer genome
Medical research grant will fund research to create new organs
SBP researchers provide new insights on the connection between autophagy and lifespan
Researchers at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) today announced six boxes of fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) will travel to the International Space Station (ISS) to study the impact of weightlessness on the heart. The fruit flies are scheduled to launch on June 1, 2017, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and will travel to the ISS via a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
Compound could serve as basis for drugs to prevent neurological complications of Zika
An international collaborative study led by researchers at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP), with major participation from Yokohama School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and UC San Diego, has identified the molecular mechanism behind lithium’s effectiveness in treating bipolar disorder patients. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), utilized human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPS cells) to map lithium’s response pathway, enabling the larger pathogenesis of bipolar disorder to be identified.
SBP researcher Ranjan Perera uncovered the M.O. of a mysterious lncRNA molecule called SPRIGHTLY that acts as a hub for cancer-related genes in the nucleus. The study identified “major” RNA binding partners – genes already implicated in a variety of cancers. In a mouse model of melanoma, tumors with reduced SPRIGHTLY grew more slowly, indicating use as a therapeutic target or biomarker. Science Advances.
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) announces the appointment of three new members to the board of trustees. Joining the board are Donald J. Rosenberg, J.D., Kazumi Shiosaki, Ph.D., and James M. Myers.
A team of scientists led by Lorenzo Puri, M.D., Ph.D., has identified a previously unrecognized step in stem cell-mediated muscle regeneration. The study, published in Genes and Development, helps explain why muscle stem cells lose the ability to generate new muscle as they age and provides insight into accelerated muscle stem cell aging in muscular dystrophy.
Peter D. Adams, Ph.D., professor in the Tumor Initiation and Maintenance Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP), has received a Glenn Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging from the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research.
Anindya Bagchi, Ph.D., is joining the faculty of Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) as associate professor in the Tumor Initiation and Maintenance Program. Bagchi comes to SBP from the University of Minnesota.
Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine (RCIGM) announced that Robert Wechsler-Reya, Ph.D., has been named program director for the Joseph Clayes III Research Center for Neuro-Oncology and Genomics at RCIGM. Wechsler-Reya, a professor at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP), will retain his position as director of the Tumor Initiation and Maintenance Program at SBP’s NCI-designated Cancer Center and will hold a joint appointment at RCIGM.
Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have identified a new regulator of the innate immune response—the immediate, natural immune response to foreign invaders. The study, published recently in Nature Microbiology, suggests that therapeutics that modulate the regulator—an immune checkpoint—may represent the next generation of antiviral drugs, vaccine adjuvants, cancer immunotherapies, and treatments for autoimmune disease.
Biologists have known for decades that enduring a short period of mild stress makes simple organisms and human cells better able to survive additional stress later in life. Now, scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have found that a cellular process called autophagy is critically involved in providing the benefits of temporary stress. The study, published today in Nature Communications, creates new avenues to pursue treatments for neurological disorders such as Huntington’s disease.
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) has named Andrea Davidson as the new vice president of philanthropy. Davidson joins SBP from UC San Diego, where she most recently led the development team in raising $119 million in the 2015-2016 campaign.
New research from Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) addresses the lack of knowledge about how B cell metabolism adapts to each of their various environments-- development in the bone marrow, proliferation and hypermutation in the lymph nodes and spleen and circulation in the blood. New findings show that the protein GSK3 acts as a metabolic sensor, or checkpoint, that promotes the survival of circulating B cells while limiting growth and proliferation of B cells in germinal centers.
Malene Hansen, Ph.D., associate professor at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP), has been named the recipient of the 2017 Garnett-Powers & Associates, Inc. Mentor Award from the National Postdoctoral Association (NPA). Hansen is being honored for her “positive influence on postdoctoral training at San Diego institutions” and her “commitment to mentoring and service.”
Hank Nordhoff, Chairman and CEO of Banyan Biomarkers and Chairman of Chugai Pharmaceutical USA, is the new Chairman of SBP's Board of Trustees.
Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have discovered a molecular cause of hydrocephalus, a common, potentially life-threatening birth defect in which the head is enlarged due to excess fluid surrounding the brain. Because the same molecule is also implicated in Down’s syndrome, the finding, published today in the Journal of Neuroscience, may explain the ten-fold increased risk of hydrocephalus in infants born with Down’s.
Garth Powis, professor and director of Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute’s (SBP) NCI-designated Cancer Center, has been named Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Election to NAI Fellow status is a high professional distinction accorded to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangle impact on the quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society.
Jerold Chun, M.D., Ph.D., a trailblazer in research on the development and diseases of the brain, is joining the faculty of Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) as professor and senior vice president of Neuroscience Drug Discovery. Chun comes to SBP from The Scripps Research Institute.
Certain type 2 diabetes drugs promote weight loss, but how they do this remains poorly understood. Insight into how these drugs work in the body—and especially the brain—could help create new drugs that effectively control body weight. In an important advance on that front, a new study from Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) shows that these drugs, called glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs), reduce body mass by targeting a different part of the brain than previously thought.
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) has announced that Huaxi Xu, Ph.D., has been named the Jeanne and Gary Herberger Leadership Chair in Neuroscience at the institute.
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) is pleased to announce that Lee Blumenfeld, M.D., has been named to the newly created position of Vice President of Business Development.
An entire class of proteins called transcription factors has largely been ignored by the pharmaceutical industry because it’s difficult to design and screen drugs against them. But a new study from scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute suggests that a key group of transcription factors are in fact ‘druggable,’ including several that could be targeted to treat cancer, metabolic disease, or autoimmune conditions. The paper, published in eLIFE, shows that at least seven bHLH-PAS proteins have pockets where drugs would fit and remain tightly bound.
The liver reacts to chronic injury by walling it off with scar tissue and calling in immune cells with inflammatory signals. If cancer arises, the resulting inflammation then stokes tumor progression. Scientists at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have discovered that a key signaling protein helps suppress inflammation and scarring. The results, published today in Cancer Cell, represent another foundational step towards better treatments for liver cancer.
Research from the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) identifies a promising new target for future drugs to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The study, published today in Cell Reports, also indicates that another protein, protein kinase C (PKC) λ/ι, may serve as a biomarker of IBD severity.
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP), the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and the University of Michigan will embark on a $15.4 million effort to develop new systems for quickly screening libraries of drugs for potential effectiveness against schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has announced.
Scientists at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have identified a previously unknown way that stress hormones (glucocorticoids) control genes in the liver to help the body adapt to the fasting state. The study, published today in Cell Metabolism, describes an obscure protein, SETDB2, that’s increased during times of fasting and alters the genome to help turn on genes needed to adjust to the absence of food.
Christopher J. Larson, Ph.D., is joining the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) as vice president of Drug Discovery and adjunct associate professor. Under Senior Vice President Michael Jackson, Ph.D., Larson will provide operational and scientific oversight of the Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics and serve as SBP’s Scientific Coordinator for NCI’s Chemical Biology Consortium (NCI-CBC).
Brooke Emerling, Ph.D., has joined the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) as an assistant professor in the Cancer Metabolism and Signaling Networks Program. She has identified a promising new therapeutic target for triple-negative breast cancer and other cancers driven by loss of the tumor suppressor p53—PI5P4Ks, a class of lipid kinases.
Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and Florida Hospital will collaborate on a new four-year research program designed to explain the molecular reasons behind body fat distribution. The new study will enroll volunteers (men and women). This is the first NIH grant awarded to support a joint effort between the two Orlando partners.
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) has received a $1M donation from The Epstein Family Foundation for scientists to study pancreatic and prostate cancer. The gift, contributed by SBP board member Dan Epstein and his wife Phyllis, will support the lab of Nicholas Cosford, Ph.D., associate director of Translational Research at the Institute’s NCI-designated Cancer Center.
Researchers at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have identified a new potential target for drugs to prevent type 2 diabetes. A paper published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation shows that blocking a cellular glucose sensor in muscle improves insulin responsiveness.
Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have made a major advance in understanding how the cells of an organism, which all contain the same genetic information, come to be so diverse. A study published today in Molecular Cell shows that a protein called OCT4 narrows down the range of cell types that stem cells can become. The findings could impact efforts to produce specific types of cells for future therapies to treat a broad range of diseases.
Scientists at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have identified over 100 new genetic regions that affect the immune response to cancer. The findings, published in Cancer Immunology Research, could inform the development of future immunotherapies—treatments that enhance the immune system’s ability to kill tumors. By analyzing a large public genomic database, the scientists found 122 potential immune response drivers—genetic regions in which mutations correlate with immune cell infiltration into tumors.
Dietary restriction, or limited food intake without malnutrition, has beneficial effects on longevity in many species, including humans. A new study from the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP), published today in PLoS Genetics, represents a major advance in understanding how dietary restriction leads to these advantages. Using the small roundworm C. elegans as a model, scientists showed that autophagy in the intestine is critical for lifespan extension.
The discovery of a key control point in the formation of new blood vessels in the heart could lead to new drugs that minimize the damage caused by heart attacks. The advance, published in Nature Communications, comes from the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and Stanford University, and offers a novel approach to treat heart disease.
A new study led by scientists at SBP describes a technology that could lead to new therapeutics for traumatic brain injuries. The discovery provides a means of homing drugs or nanoparticles to injured areas of the brain.
Siobhan Malany, Ph.D., director of Translational Biology at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute at Lake Nona (SBP) and founder of the Institute’s first spin-off company, Micro-gRx, Inc., has been awarded $435,000 to study atrophy in muscle cells in microgravity on the International Space Station (ISS).
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