In Brief

Raymond Moellering and Liron Bar-Peled Receive Cancer Research Grants

Raymond Moellering and Liron Bar-Peled, research associates in the Cravatt lab at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), have received awards from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, a nonprofit organization supporting innovative early-career researchers.

Moellering is one of five 2014 recipients of the Dale F. Frey Award for Breakthrough Scientists, recognizing scientists who have completed a Damon Runyon Fellowship, have greatly exceeded the foundation's highest expectations and are most likely to make paradigm-shifting breakthroughs that transform cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment, according to the award announcement. Moellering’s research focuses on the link between alteration of metabolic pathways and corresponding protein modifications that occur in cancer cells with the goals of understanding tumor progression and identifying new opportunities for therapeutic intervention.

Bar-Peled was named one of 15 new Damon Runyon Fellows, outstanding postdoctoral scientists conducting basic and translational cancer research in the laboratories of leading senior investigators across the United States. Bar-Peled is exploring how the protease Caspase-8 regulates T cell activation, which represents a critical step in the adaptive immune response to cancer.

Twelve scientists supported by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation have received a Nobel Prize. Each of the foundation’s award programs is extremely competitive, with fewer than 10 percent of applications funded.

Jintang Du Awarded Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation Fellowship

Jintang Du, research associate in the Gottesfeld lab, has been awarded a two-year fellowship from the Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization that supports, educates and advocates for people living with this form of muscular dystrophy.

Du’s research seeks to develop DNA-binding Py-Im polyamides (macromolecules with repeating units) to bind specific, identified CTG-CAG triplet repeats that cause myotonic dystrophy type 1.

Oxbridge Biotech Roundtable Opens Science Writing Competition

The Oxbridge Biotech Roundtable (OBR), an international life sciences networking organization founded by TSRI graduate student Daniel Perez, is now accepting entries in its 2014 Science Writing Competition, co-sponsored by Nature Biotechnology.

Participants in the annual competition, which offers a $750 prize, are asked to submit original essays on one of three themes:

An example of biotech industry entrepreneurship
An exciting discovery in biology (recent or past)
An interesting development in a biotech field (e.g., pharmaceuticals, ecological applications, biomaterials, healthcare, etc.)

Limited to 1,200 words, the essays must be submitted by Friday, February 28. The winning essay will be selected by a judging panel that includes Lisa Melton, senior news editor at Nature Biotechnology. Competition finalists will be published in the online OBR-Review. Additional information and entry details are available at oxbridgebiotech.com/writing-comp.

ScrippsAssists to Sponsor Blood Drive February 10 on CA Campus

Eligible TSRI faculty and staff are invited to participate in the upcoming ScrippsAssists-sponsored blood drive, scheduled for Monday, February 10, from 9 AM to 2:30 PM on the California campus. The bloodmobile will be located in the parking lot adjacent to the Molecular Biology/Skaggs Building, 10596 N. Torrey Pines Road.

Donors are asked to make an appointment on the San Diego Blood Bank website. Walk-in donors will be accepted. Guidelines and eligibility requirements are also listed on the blood bank website.

All donors will automatically be entered into a prize raffle. For further information on the ScrippsAssists blood drive, contact project coordinator Leslie Madden at lmadden@scripps.edu.

Onsite Clinics Scheduled for February 24 and 26 on CA Campus

The next onsite immunization clinics on the California campus are scheduled for Monday, February 24 and Wednesday, February 26, from 9:30 to 11:30 AM, in Building 3366, room 150.

Conducted by Sharp Rees-Stealy staff, the clinics provide hepatitis B vaccination free of charge to all TSRI employees. Appointments are not needed. 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 and pertussis (Tdap) vaccines and other titers, immunizations and procedures.

TB testing is provided for employees who, in the scope of their TSRI positions, provide human health care, such as registered nurses, or who work with human subjects or nonhuman primates. Employees authorized for the one-visit Quantiferon tuberculosis test may find further information on the Centers for Disease Control TB Fact Sheet.

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 Rachel Longville, rachellv@scripps.edu or x4-8457.

TSRI Pins It

TSRI now has a profile page on Pinterest, the pinboard-style, image- and video-sharing website, to visually share institute accomplishments, news and activities. News&Views has also added a "Pin it" button so readers can easily pin content to their boards. Also look for TSRI on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

At the Auditorium: Public Lecture to Explore Cancer Research Issues

Coming up at the Auditorium at TSRI is a presentation in UC San Diego’s Helen Edison Lecture series, “Are We on the Path to Cure Cancer in the Era of Genomic and Proteomics?” on Wednesday, February 5, from 5:30 to 7 PM.

Free and open to the public, the lecture will feature Patrick Soon-Shiong, founder of biotech company Nantworks, discussing his vision of integrating advanced computer technology, genomic analysis and targeted drug development by transcending the genome to the proteome to manage an individual’s cancer as a chronic but controllable disease. Razelle Kuzrock, Murray Professor of Medicine at the UC San Diego’s Moores Cancer Center, will serve as moderator.

The lecture is part of UC San Diego’s 2013-2014 Exploring Ethics series, framed around The Emperor of All Maladies, the Pulitzer Prize-winning book on cancer. The program is sponsored by the UC San Diego Helen Edison Lecture Series, the Center for Ethics in Science and Technology, and partners.

Event seating is limited; registration is encouraged. Additional lecture information is available at the Helen Edison Lecture website.

The Auditorium at TSRI is located at 10640 John Jay Hopkins Drive, San Diego, 92121. Directions and parking information are located on the auditorium’s website

Send comments to: mikaono[at]scripps.edu

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Research Associates Raymond Moellering (right) and Liron Bar-Peled of the Cravatt lab have received early-career awards from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. (Photo by Cindy Brauer.)

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