Etcetera

Julius Rebek Wins Humboldt Research Award
Julius Rebek Jr., professor at The Scripps Research Institute and director of its Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, has been elected the recipient of a Humboldt Research Award in recognition of lifetime achievements in research. The award, conferred by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, seeks to honor outstanding scientists and scholars from all disciplines whose fundamental discoveries, new theories, or insights have had a significant impact on their own discipline and who are expected to continue producing cutting-edge achievements in the future.

In his research program, Rebek studies basic questions of molecular recognition, self-assembly, catalysis, and complementarity by designing novel organic molecular nanocapsules and synthetic receptors.

As an award recipient, Rebek is invited to carry out research projects in cooperation with colleagues in Germany. Scripps Research Professor Chi-Huey Wong was last year's Humboldt Award recipient. For more information on the award, see the Humboldt Foundation website.

Paul Kenny Elected to American College of Neuropsychoparmacology
Associate Professor Paul Kenny has been elected a full member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP). The ACNP, founded in 1961, is a professional society of members focusing on brain, behavior, and psychopharmacology research. In his research program, Kenny employs a multidisciplinary approach to investigate the underlying neurobiology of psychiatric disorders.

Christopher Toomey Selected for NIAID Program
Christopher Toomey, a research intern in the Pollard lab and undergraduate student at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), has been selected to participate in the 2009 Intramural National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Research Opportunities (INRO) program. In the INRO program, outstanding undergraduate, graduate, and medical students participate in a four-day information session about training opportunities with NIAID on the Bethesda and Rockville, MD, campuses. Only 20 individuals were selected for the program nationwide. In 2008, Toomey also received a UCSD Undergraduate Research Scholarship to support his work in the Pollard lab. In 2007, his work in the lab was supported by a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Supplement to Support High School Student and College Undergraduate Research Experiences Program.

"Chris is a very good example of how undergraduate students can further their academic achievement through involvement with Scripps," says K. Michael Pollard, associate professor of molecular medicine whose lab focuses on how interactions between the environment and genetics affect induction and severity of autoimmune diseases.

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