In Brief

Valery Fokin Wins Russian ‘Mega-Grant’ Award

Valery Fokin, professor in the Department of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), has been awarded a prestigious grant from the Russian government for $3.75 million over three years, with the possibility of a two-year renewal. The grant will fund the establishment of a laboratory at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT).

This highly competitive program—called "mega-grants" in Russia—is aimed at recruiting the expertise of leading scientists in a variety of fields, ranging from history and archeology to industrial biotechnology, to reinvigorate Russian science. Among the 42 winners are researchers from countries including USA, Russia, Germany, Japan, France, Spain, Israel, Australia and Israel.

"Doing research on two continents is a challenging but rewarding endeavor," says Fokin. "With the support of this grant and administrations of both institutes, I am hoping that our work will benefit from synergies and will result in mutually beneficial collaborations between Scripps and Russian scientists and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, leading to new technologies and products in both nations."

Fokin will assemble a team of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and staff scientists to work at the newly established laboratory on the development of new chemical transformations and their use in studies of biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of inflammation, cancer and immune diseases.

For more information about MIPT, see http://www.phystech.edu. For more information about Fokin and his research, see his faculty web page and laboratory website.

Ryan Shenvi Selected as Baxter Young Investigator

Ryan Shenvi, assistant professor in the TSRI Department of Chemistry, has received the 2013 Baxter Young Investigator Award, presented by the Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Foundation, a Carlsbad, California-based nonprofit organization supporting medical research and higher education programs.

The $100,000 Baxter Young Investigator award is designed to help prepare and support early-career scientists, providing seed funds to develop preliminary data and advance a research program toward eventual eligible competition for federal or other external funding.

Research in the Shenvi lab focuses on complex molecule synthesis, exploration of chemical reactivity and expansion of the tools available to synthetic chemists.

In addition to Shenvi’s award, the Baxter Foundation also has provided TSRI a grant to support two-first year graduate students. A TSRI supporter for 17 years, the Foundation has contributed $1.75 million in total to the institute.

Christoph Rader Receives Lymphoma Research Grant

Christoph Rader, an associate professor on TSRI’s Florida campus, has been selected to receive a two-year, $250,000 grant from the Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF).

The Mantle Cell Lymphoma Exploration/Development Grant will support a study, set to begin in September, to create a potential therapy to target malignant cells while bypassing normal cells as much as possible in people with mantle cell lymphoma, a rare and difficult-to-treat form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

The award is one of seven recently made by the LRF, based on recommendations by its Scientific Advisory Board and approved by its Board of Directors.

Stephen Connelly Awarded MBA Fellowship

Stephen Connelly, staff scientist in the Wilson/Kelly labs, has received a Foster Fellowship to pursue a master’s degree in business administration at the Rady School of Management, the University of California, San Diego.

The endowed Foster Fellowship for postdoctoral researchers, funded by San Diego businesswoman and philanthropist Pauline Foster, supports “emerging leaders in innovation-driven industry sectors and for students demonstrating high potential to transform organizations and industries,” according to the Rady School. Accepted into school’s FlexWeekend MBA program, Connelly will begin classes this fall and expects to graduate in 2015.

CA Campus Wins Third Bike-to-Work Challenge

Nearly 60 TSRI cyclists secured the California campus’s third consecutive win in the annual Bike-to-Work Corporate Challenge, organized by iCommute, a program of the San Diego Association of Governments.

Logging more than 740 bike trips during the month of May, the TSRI team placed first in the Macro Category of companies with 2,001 to 5,000 employees. Leading TSRI cyclists were Alberto Oppedisano, graduate student in the Shenvi lab, and Kazuto Ohashi, research associate in the Otomo lab, with 53 and 52 logged bike trips, respectively, during May.

Kim Akalski, Human Resources assistant and the team’s administrator, reported that during the May challenge, TSRI participants:

Saved nearly 200 gallons of gasoline
Traveled more than 4,900 bicycle miles
Saved 4,417 pounds of carbon dioxide
Burned more than 150,000 calories

In addition, several TSRI cyclists won prizes during the Bike to Work month, including tickets to the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park, monthly bus passes and bike shop gift cards.

FL Career Workshops: Academic Careers and Online Identities

The Career and Postdoctoral Services Offices will provide three job-related workshops on the TSRI Florida campus during July.

Academic Job Search 101

This two-session workshop, scheduled for Tuesday, July 16, and Thursday, July 18, will provide guidance on organizing an academic job search and utilizing available resources.

Held from 3 to 5 PM in Classroom B159, the workshop will cover the basics of finding and securing an academic position, including developing a search timeline, compiling an effective application package—including a CV, cover letter, research plan and teaching statement—and handling phone screens and campus interviews. In addition, the session will cover how to refine and tailor career materials for a particular department or institution.

The workshop is valuable for scientists currently searching for academic positions, as well as postdoctoral fellows and graduate students planning for the future. Registration for the workshop is available at http://hris.scripps.edu/training/class/AJS2012APD.

Academic Careers Roundtable with Mark Sundrud

Mark Sundrud, associate professor in the TSRI Department of Cancer Biology, will lead an informal discussion on “Starting a New Lab & Research Program” at the next Academic Careers Roundtable session, to be held Wednesday, July 17, noon to 1 PM in the Florida campus Board Room.

Designed for those interested in a tenure-track career, the bimonthly series features a faculty guest in a conversational small-group setting with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Lunch is provided.

Registration, which is required, is available at http://hris.scripps.edu/training/class/ACR2012APD.

Managing Your Online Professional Identity

Now an essential job search component, creating and maintaining the best professional online presence is the objective of this workshop, scheduled for Wednesday, July 17, from 3:30 to 5 PM in Classroom A114.

The session will provide a hands-on overview of LinkedIn and other social media. Participants will learn how to:

Develop an effective LinkedIn profile and navigate LinkedIn features
Use LinkedIn and other social media to build and maintain professional relationships
Identify effective and ineffective online professional practices.

Registration is available at http://hris.scripps.edu/training/class/MPI2012APD .

Meet the Alumni: Leyna Zhao of ACEA Biosciences

Leyna Zhao, former TSRI postdoctoral fellow and currently global marketing director at ACEA Biosciences, will share her career experiences at the next Meet the Alumni event, to be held on Tuesday, July 2, from 4 to 5 PM, in the Faculty Club Library on the California campus.

After serving a postdoctoral fellowship in the Vogt lab at TSRI from 2004 to 2009, Zhao joined ACEA Biosciences, Inc. as a research scientist. Promoted to senior scientist in 2012, she worked on decoding the mechanism of action for in-house screening hits using xCELLigence systems, assay development for high-throughput compound screening and computational support for structural-based drug design. Zhao assumed her current management position in January 2013.

Co-sponsored by the Career and Postdoctoral Services Office and the Network for Women in Science, each Meet the Alumni series features a different guest speaker from the growing TSRI alumni network presented in a relaxed, informal discussion setting open to postdoctoral fellows and graduate students. Speakers discuss career options and career-influencing decisions and offer advice on career transitions.

Light refreshments will be served. Reservations are required.

For details on other career-related resources offered by the Career and Postdoctoral Services Office, visit the department’s website.

CA Campus NWiS Elects New Officers

Cristina Irimia, graduate student in the Parsons lab, will lead the California campus Network for Women in Science (NWiS) 2013-2014 executive committee.

Other new officers include:

Vice president/publicity officer: Laurie Gay, graduate student in the Felding lab
Treasurer: Elena Menichelli, senior research associate in the Williamson lab
Web editor: Gareth Morgan, research associate in the Kelly lab

In the coming year, NWiS will focus on inviting notable and informative speakers to its Coffee Hour sessions, held the first Monday of each month from 3 to 4 PM in the Faculty Club Tennis Court Room, “The sessions provide multiple occasions for career advice as well as networking opportunities for all members of the TSRI community, women in particular,” said Irimia. “We also invite members of the TSRI community to take advantage of the NWiS platform to invite speakers they might be interested in hosting.”

Information on NWiS activities and resources is available on the group’s website.

Manuscript Peer-Review Service Available

Peer-review and copyediting services for manuscripts and proposals are available to TSRI postdoctoral fellows and graduate students through the Council of Scientific Editors. The editing service spans all TSRI scientific departments on both California and Florida campuses, according to Mike Matrone, program coordinator for the Career and Postdoctoral Services Office, the program’s presenter.

Designed to supplement, not supplant, mentoring provided by graduate student and research fellow advisors, the Council of Scientific Editors aims to assist applicants in producing high-quality, high-impact papers and fellowships.

Editing requests are matched to the relevant scientific area and reviewer availability. Submissions are kept confidential and require advisor approval. Editing request forms are available on the Career and Postdoctoral Services Office website.

Postdoctoral fellows and senior graduate students are encouraged to serve as volunteer reviewers on the council. Reviewers are expected to provide general to specific feedback, depending on time availability and each document’s requirements. Serving on the council helps build resumes and experience in scientific writing and editing, according Matrone.

For further information on the Council of Scientific Editors, contact Matrone at matrone@scripps.edu.

Summer Reading Options: Kresge Library’s Free Book Exchange

See a book; take a book; and if you can, leave a book. The Kresge Library’s Free Book Exchange offers volumes of summer reading possibilities, from classic sci-fi and romance to literary masterpieces and mystery thrillers.

Open to all TSRI faculty and staff, the Book Exchange was created in response to requests for novels and leisure reading materials from graduate students, postdocs and Scripps Green Hospital patients and their visiting family members.

No check-out is required. Users may simply choose a book or two from the Book Exchange shelves, located at the end of the alphabet in the journal stacks, and return the book when finished, pass it on to a friend or donate it elsewhere. Exchange is not mandatory.

Hardcover or paperback book donations to the Book Exchange are always welcomed and may be contributed:

In the book drop at the main entrance of the Kresge Library (4^th floor of Stein)
At the library reference desk
Via interoffice mail to 400S (use for one or two donated books only, please. Be considerate of Mail Room staff!)
By placing books directly on the Free Book Exchange shelves

CA Onsite Clinics Scheduled for July 15 and 17

The next California campus onsite immunization clinic will be held on Monday, July 15 and Wednesday, July 17, from 9:30 to 11:30 AM in Building 3366, room 240. Conducted by Sharp Reese-Stealy staff, the clinics provide hepatitis B vaccination free of charge to all TSRI employees. Appointments are not required.

Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) Occupational Medicine must pre-authorize all other procedures based on the employee’s working conditions. These procedures include tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis (Tdap) vaccines; the one-visit Quantiferon tuberculosis test (see the Center for Disease Control TB Fact Sheet); and other titers, immunizations and procedures.

After EH&S pre-authorization, individuals who cannot attend the onsite clinic may visit the Sharp Rees-Stealy occupational medicine clinic by calling (858) 526-6150. The clinic is located at 10243 Genetic Center Drive, off Mira Mesa Boulevard. For further details, contact Sunny Gold Schmidt, gschmidt@scripps.edu or x4-9299.

Send comments to: mikaono[at]scripps.edu

fokin
Professor Valery Fokin has won a $3.75 million grant from the Russian government. (Photo by Cindy Brauer.)

shenvi
Assistant Professor Ryan Shenvi has received the 2013 Baxter Young Investigator Award. (Photo by BioMedical Graphics.)

Members of the California campus cyclists who helped TSRI capture a third consecutive win in iCommute’s annual Bike-to-Work Corporate Challenge during May gather to celebrate their accomplishment; from left to right are Markus Roggen, Mike Matrone, Julio Giannotti, Tom Belich, Kathy Spencer and Scott Curriden.

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