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Daniel Murin, Ruben Martinez and Greg Solis Win NSF Fellowships

Daniel Murin of the Ward and Ollmann-Saphire labs, Ruben Martinez of the Baran lab, and Greg Solis of the Petrascheck/Kelly labs at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have received National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships.

The highly competitive fellowships—13,000 submitted applications for 2,000 awards in 2013—recognize and support outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported disciplines who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees at accredited U.S. institutions. Fellows receive three years of support as well as international research and professional development opportunities.

Murin’s fellowship project, “Detailing Ebola Virus Entry by Electron Microscopy,” aims to shed light on key steps of viral entry at the molecular level. Martinez’s fellowship was awarded for his research on the “Total synthesis of Pallambins A-D.” Solis’s research is focused on using small molecules that extend lifespan in C. elegans as probes to investigate the molecular connection between aging and age-related diseases.

Additionally, Alexander Krois of the Wright lab and Matthew Villaume of the Baran lab received honorable mentions in the NSF fellowship competition.

ScrippsAssists Recognizes Volunteers and Accomplishments

ScrippsAssists recently celebrated the past year’s community service efforts at a luncheon held March 22 at the Faculty Club. More than 140 Scripps California volunteers and contributors supported ScrippAssists’ 15 ongoing and single-event projects last year, according to Mishelle McClanahan-Shinn, co-chair of the employee volunteer group.

“Our supporters included TSRI staff, administrators, postdocs, graduate students, family, friends and several PIs. More than 25 ScrippsAssists volunteers donated their time 10 or more times during 2012,” said McClanahan-Shinn.

ScrippsAssists projects provide assistance to needy families, seniors, the homeless, cancer research, overseas U.S. military, environment protection efforts and animal rescue groups with such activities as food drives, holiday adopt-a-family programs, back-to-school backpack collections, monthly meal services, twice-monthly food distribution packaging, beach and park cleanups, and fundraising event support.

A new ScrippsAssists project is an on-campus blood drive held in coordination with the San Diego Blood Bank. In the first drive, 26 units of blood were donated at the Bloodmobile, parked in the Building 3377 parking lot, according to Leslie Madden, project coordinator. The next blood drive is planned tentatively for May.

Send comments to: mikaono[at]scripps.edu

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Daniel Murin, Ruben Martinez and Greg Solis Win NSF Fellowships

ScrippsAssists Recognizes Volunteers and Accomplishments