In Brief

TSRI Hosts 27th Annual Frontiers in Chemistry Symposium February 5

The 27^th Annual Frontiers in Chemistry Symposium at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) will present four distinguished speakers on research covering diverse topics within the molecular sciences on Friday, February 5, from 1 to 5:30 PM.

Dale Boger, Richard and Alice Cramer Professor of Chemistry and chair of the TSRI Department of Chemistry, and Phil Baran, Darlene Shiley Chair in Chemistry at TSRI, will co-host the event.

Symposium speakers and their lectures include:

Peter Schultz, TSRI CEO and Scripps Family Chair Professor, “Synthesis at the Interface of Chemistry and Biology”
Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health, “The Chemistry of Drugs”
Suzanne Walker, professor of microbiology and immunobiology at Harvard University, “The Split Personality of Human O-GlcNAc Transferase”
Martin Edwards, vice president and head of La Jolla Oncology Medicinal Chemistry for Pfizer World Wide Research & Development, “Heterocycles and Medicinal Chemistry: The Importance of Innovative Synthesis”

Open to the public, the symposium enables TSRI faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and neighboring scientists to hear from some of the world’s best researchers. Since it began in 1989, the symposium has presented 89 speakers, including 13 Nobel laureates.

Sponsors include Abbvie, Abide Therapeutics, ActivX, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Genentech, Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, Incite, Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, Merck, Lilly, Pfizer, Sigma Aldrich and Wuxi AppTech.

While symposium admittance is free, attendance is limited to 300. Directions to the event, which will be held at The Auditorium at TSRI, and parking details are available at the symposium website or by contacting Mishelle McClanahan-Shinn at mshinn@scripps.edu or Ezra Salazar at esalazar@scripps.edu or (858) 784-2400.

English Language Clinic Begins February 3

The Spring 2016 American English Pronunciation and Communication Clinic will begin Wednesday, February 3, providing speech language services to TSRI graduate students and research associates.

The 13-session clinic is a joint program of the TSRI Career and Postdoctoral Services Office and California State University, San Marcos (CSUSM). Under direct supervision of department faculty, CSUSM speech/language graduate students will conduct the sessions in one-hour time slots from 11 AM to 3 PM.

The clinic provides one-on-one help to improve American English oral and written communications skills. Individual goals will be developed for clinic participants focusing on:

Acquisition of an American accent
Remediation of existing speech errors (e.g., lisp, stuttering)
Public speaking and presentations
Social conversation skills
Executive-function strategies for planning, organizing and producing written text
Public presentation of written materials

Each session will meet in the Graduate Office, Hazen Theory building, on the following dates:

February 3, 10, 17, 20
March 2, 9, 16, 30
April 6, 13, 20, 27
May 4

To schedule an appointment, contact CSUSM’s Kristen Nahrstedt at knahrstedt@csusm.edu. Sessions are provided on a first come-first served basis, with preference to previously wait-listed and new clients. For additional information, contact the Career and Postdoctoral Services Office at (858) 784-2819 or cpso@scripps.edu.

CA Lunch & Learn: Is Mindfulness Meditation for You?

The practice and benefits of “being present in the moment” will be explored in the next Scripps California Lunch & Learn session, “Mindfulness Meditation: Jumpstarting your Practice,” scheduled for Thursday, January 21, noon to 1 PM, in the Beckman building’s Keck Amphitheater.

Presented by Tamara Ho, TSRI Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) staff psychologist, the workshop will cover:

The latest research on mindfulness
A variety of experiential activities
Tips to start a practice of mindfulness

For further information, visit the CAPS website.

ScrippsAssists Supports Burn Institute, San Diego Blood Bank

ScrippsAssists invites the Scripps California community to participate in two upcoming service projects.

Burn Institute 5K Run
Walk, run or volunteer for the Burn 5K Run/Walk on Saturday, January 30, supporting the Burn Institute’s burn prevention education and survivor programs.

Runners and walkers—including family, friends and furry, four-legged friends—can join the TSRI team. The run begins with an 8 AM check-in at RoadRunner Sports, 5553 Copley Drive, San Diego 92111. The cost is $30 per person; fundraise or donate an additional $20 to receive a commemorative Burn Run t-shirt. To participate on the TSRI team, contact Associate Professor Amanda Roberts at aroberts@scripps.edu.

Volunteers are needed from 7:30 to 11 AM to help staff the event’s set-up, check-in, information booth and water stations. To volunteer, contact ScrippsAssists project lead Mishelle McClanahan-Shinn at mshinn@scripps.edu. Additional details on the Burn Run 5K are available at the RoadRunner Sports website. For more information on the Burn Institute, visit the organization’s website.

Blood Drive
To help supply the nearly 400 components of blood needed daily by the ill and injured in San Diego, sign up for the next quarterly ScrippsAssists blood drive, scheduled for Thursday, February 4, from 9 AM to 2:30 PM, in partnership with the San Diego Blood Bank (SDBB).

Eligible donors are asked to make an appointment on the SDBB website. However, walk-ins are welcomed. Eligibility guidelines and requirements are also listed on the blood bank website. Donors should bring photo identification, a record of medications they currently take and a list of locations visited outside the United States in the past three years.

The SDBB bloodmobile will be located in the parking lot adjacent to the Skaggs/MBB building, 10596 N. Torrey Pines Road. All donors will automatically be entered into a prize raffle. For further information on the blood drive, contact project coordinator Leslie Madden at lmadden@scripps.edu.

CA Onsite Clinic January 20

The next onsite immunization clinic on the California campus will be held Wednesday, January 20, from 9:30 to 11:30 AM, in the Hazen Theory building, rooms 203/205. Appointments are not needed.

Conducted by Sharp Rees-Stealy staff, the clinic will provide hepatitis B vaccination free of charge to all TSRI employees. Environmental Health & Safety 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.

CA Biosafety Committee Meeting Materials Due January 29

To receive consideration at the next Scripps California Institutional Biosafety Committee, registration documents must be submitted to Environmental Health and Safety by Friday, January 29, via email to rachellv@scripps.edu. The meeting will be held Wednesday, February 10, 2:30 to 3:30 PM, in the P2 conference room, Building 3301.

At the Auditorium: Innovation Crossroads Forum, Award-Winning Pianist

UCSD Connect, founded by the University of California, San Diego, hosts an “Innovation Crossroads” discussion on the future of regional research, product and corporate development on Thursday, January 21. Moderated by The Atlantic national correspondent James Fallows, panelists include Rick Baldridge, president, COO, ViaSat; Gregory Johnson, president, executive director, CASIS; and Pablo Koziner, president, Solar Turbines. A wine reception at 5:30 PM will precede the 7 PM panel discussion. Registration details are posted on the Connect website.

The La Jolla Music Society Discovery Series presents pianist Ji, the 2012 Young Concert Artist Winner, on Sunday, January 24, at 3 PM. Ji will perform works by Mendelssohn, Messiaen, Bach and Busoni, including Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Program and ticket information can be found at the society’s website.

The Auditorium at TSRI is located at 10640 John Jay Hopkins Drive, San Diego 92121.

Send comments to: mikaono[at]scripps.edu

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