A Science Institute for the 21st Century
Scripps Research is pioneering a new model for nonprofit research institutes to address the significant health challenges facing humanity in the 21st century, from pandemic threats to the aging of the global population. Founded 100 years ago, Scripps Research is renowned in the life sciences and chemistry for scientific excellence and for training the scientific leaders of tomorrow.
Building on this solid foundation, we have established a unique model that seamlessly combines world-class fundamental and translational research to accelerate the development of innovative, new medicines. We believe this model best captures the impact of groundbreaking discoveries for the benefit of human health.
Moreover, revenues generated from these new medicines are reinvested into research, creating a self-renewing funding source and business model that amplifies investments in science and their ultimate impact on the public.
Driving Scientific Discovery
Scripps Research is globally recognized for the breadth and impact of its scientific contributions. Ranked by Nature Index among the world's top five most innovative institutes, Scripps Research empowers its scientists to pursue high-risk, high-reward ideas that transform our understanding of the world and lead to new technologies that shape our future.
Scripps Research faculty pursue highly interdisciplinary research, bridging the fields of chemistry, neuroscience, structural and computational biology, cellular and molecular biology, and immunology. Among their many contributions are major advances in understanding the adaptive and innate immune systems, sensory neurobiology and cellular signaling, and they have pioneered technologies in chemical synthesis, synthetic biology and biotechnology.
These accomplishments have been recognized by some of the most prestigious honors in science, including 6 Nobel Prizes, two very recently, 6 Wolf Prizes, and Breakthrough and MacArthur Genius Prizes. Through our Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Sciences—recognized among the top 10 programs nationally by U.S. News & World Report—we’re inspiring and training the next generation of scientific leaders, ensuring the continued trajectory of scientific excellence for generations to come.
Shaping the Future of Medicine
Under the leadership of Peter Schultz, PhD, President and CEO, Scripps Research is building on this strong scientific foundation to accelerate the impact of fundamental research on human health. In addition to leading the way in curiosity-fueled science, Scripps Research has emerged as a world leader in translational research, including drug discovery and advances in individualized and digital medicine. The Calibr-Skaggs Institute for Innovative Medicines and the Scripps Research Translational Institute (SRTI), unique in the nonprofit research sector, are dedicated to turning scientific discoveries into real-world medical advances, including preventative approaches, diagnostics and new medicines.
Our drug discovery division, Calibr-Skaggs, is accelerating the next generation of medicines for critical unmet needs, bringing treatments from early discoveries into the clinic without the constraints of the for-profit sector. Calibr-Skaggs has state-of-the-art technologies and expertise that bridges early-stage drug discovery to early-stage clinical research that directly impacts patients and works across all therapeutic modalities, from cell therapy to small molecules. To date, Calibr-Skaggs has advanced nine medicines into the clinic, with five more in IND-enabling studies and a pipeline of more than 50 earlier-stage programs, setting unprecedented productivity standards in nonprofit research. These programs include regenerative medicines to repair heart, lung, eye and other tissues, as well as new therapies for cancer, metabolic disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. In addition, Calibr-Skaggs is developing antiviral drugs to prepare for future pandemics and partnering with the Gates Foundation and other organizations to develop therapeutics that address major health challenges facing low- and middle-income countries, including malaria, tuberculosis, HIV and cancer.
SRTI is revolutionizing healthcare by harnessing advances in human and pathogen genomics, and integrating them with cutting-edge informatics techniques and wireless digital technologies. Scientists at SRTI lead key programs for the All of Us Research Program, a pioneering NIH initiative that has created one of the largest and most diverse health databases of its kind to help accelerate precision medicine and decrease health disparities. SRTI is also a globally recognized leader in digital decentralized trials, a model that leverages smartphone technologies and sensor devices to monitor a person’s health and facilitate participation in clinical trials. This “site-less” study model is being applied across a wide range of diseases and health conditions, including diabetes, heart disease and sleep.
A Flywheel Model: Amplifying Investment Impact
By seamlessly integrating curiosity-driven foundational research with a robust drug discovery pipeline within a single institute, we are addressing one of the major challenges facing scientific institutions—the funding of nonprofit research. Traditional federal funding mechanisms often fail to incentivize risk-taking, and the commitment needed to tackle transformative research ideas, but, rather, favor incremental progress in established fields. Philanthropic dollars are most often placed in endowments that prevent their full impact from being realized.
By turning scientific discoveries into new medicines, Scripps Research is not only impacting human health, but also creating a self-renewing revenue stream by partnering these medicines with pharma for further development. These licensing revenues are then reinvested into our research programs, ensuring a continuous stream of scientific breakthroughs and a strong pipeline of next-generation transformative medicines. This is a flywheel model where success begets success—as science is turned into new medical advances, we create more resources to further expand our impact and amplify our investment in the scientific and medical enterprise.