Cory Dobson, Author at Sanford Burnham Prebys - Page 5 of 41

Author: Cory Dobson

Institute News

Three Sanford Burnham Prebys faculty receive promotions

AuthorMiles Martin
Date

June 30, 2022

Ani Deshpande, Brooke Emerling and Charles Spruck

Sanford Burnham Prebys is proud to announce the promotion of three of our faculty from assistant to associate professor. 

The promoted faculty, all from the Institute’s NCI-designated Cancer Center, include Ani Deshpande, PhD, Brooke Emerling, PhD and Charles Spruck, PhD

Ani Deshpande, PhD

Deshpande studies developmental processes in stem cells that get hijacked by cancer, focusing specifically on acute myeloid leukemia, one of the most common types of blood cancer. Earlier last year, Deshpande published a study with researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) revealing that CRISPR gene editing can sometimes favor cells with cancer mutations, encouraging a cautious approach when using CRISPR therapies for certain cancers

Deshpande joined the Institute in 2015. Prior to that, he held positions at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School.

Brooke Emerling, PhD

Emerling studies the metabolism of cancer cells, specifically how certain signaling proteins can contribute to the uninhibited growth typical of tumors. Emerling recently received a $2.3 million grant from the NIH to continue her work over the next four years.

Emerling joined the faculty at Sanford Burnham Prebys in 2016. Prior to that, she held positions at Weill Cornell Medicine and Harvard Medical School.

Charles Spruck, PhD 

Spruck develops new, effective, nontoxic treatments for patients with advanced cancers. Specifically, his recent studies have focused on the potential to treat cancer with viral mimicry, which tricks the body into thinking it has a viral infection, stimulating immune responses that can help the body fight cancer and improve the effects of other treatments. 

Spruck joined the Institute in 2010. Prior to that, he held positions at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center and Scripps Research.

Institute News

Sanford Burnham Prebys raises flag for Pride Month

AuthorMiles Martin
Date

June 13, 2022

Institute employees at the Pride flag raising

The ceremony featured speakers from the Institute and was the first formal LGTBQ+ Pride event to be held on campus.

Scientists and staff from across the Institute gathered to celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride at Sanford Burnham Prebys by attending a Pride flag raising ceremony. Our employees spoke to the importance of inclusion in STEM, and the Pride flag was hoisted from the main campus flagpole. 

“By supporting LGBTQ+ and other underrepresented groups, institutions signal that they are open to different viewpoints and people, which is crucial,” says Luca Caputo, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Pier Lorenzo Puri, MD Caputo has been heavily involved in the Institute’s DEI initiatives, and he is also a co-founder of the Queer Science Society, an organization that raises awareness on issues facing LGBTQ+ scholars in STEM. 

“Having a celebration such as the Pride flag ceremony here at Sanford Burnham Prebys helps us support LGBTQ+ scientists at the Institute and beyond,” he adds. 

After an introduction by Alessandra Sacco, PhD, Caputo spoke about the importance of Pride Month and highlighted the need to promote inclusion and diversity in STEM. 

“This is just the first step in the right direction of making Sanford Burnham Prebys a truly inclusive campus and Institute,” he said during his remarks. “I and others on campus are going to hold [our Institute] accountable for numerous steps that are necessary to create a real welcoming and supportive environment, not just for queer scholars but for all underrepresented groups.”

In addition to these comments, Caputo shared his personal story as an LGBTQ+ scientist and briefly described the “invisible minority” phenomenon for LGBTQ+ scientists. This term refers to the fact that the LGBTQ+ community is often excluded from studies aimed at understanding diversity in STEM.

“The lack of inclusion in demographics has a profound effect on efforts to increase equity and inclusion for the LGBTQ+ community” says Caputo. “Many undergraduates do not know or have access to a single LGBTQ+ scientist.”

After Luca told his story, Professor Hudson Freeze, PhD spoke to the spirit of inclusion that Sanford Burnham Prebys was founded on. He also mused on the future of inclusion at the Institute.

“This [flag raising] is a good start, but it’s not the end – We have to keep this going,” Freeze said during his remarks. 

And while this was the first formal Pride event to be held at Sanford Burnham Prebys, it certainly will not be the last.

“Pride means freedom. Pride means hope that future generations of LGBTQ+ people won’t have any doubts about themselves and their worthiness to be in STEM,” says Caputo. “Supporting LGBTQ scientist is simply the right thing to do.”

Institute News

Fishman Fund Fellowship awarded to Cynthia Lebeaupin for liver cancer research

AuthorMiles Martin
Date

June 8, 2022

Cynthia Lebeaupin, PhD

Cynthia Lebeaupin, PhD was recently awarded the 2022 Fishman Fund Fellowship, a postdoctoral award unique to Sanford Burnham Prebys.

The award provides a boosted stipend to exceptional postdocs from the Institute who have a demonstrated research track record and whose work shows significant potential for future breakthroughs.

“It’s an honor to have been selected for such a prestigious award from the Institute, says Lebeaupin, who works in the lab of Randal J. Kaufman, PhD “The resources and people at Sanford Burnham Prebys are incredible and I’m happy to be able to continue my research here.” 

Sanford Burnham Prebys introduced the Fishman Fund Awards in 2001 to honor of the Institute’s founders, Dr. William and Lillian Fishman. The fund was established by Reena Horowitz and the late Mary Bradley, longtime supporters of the Institute.

“The Fishmans created an Institute that fosters a collaborative, inspirational atmosphere for postdoc students,” said Horowitz at the 2021 Fishman Fund Awards. “The Fishmans understood that support for new science is a brilliant research investment.”

Lebeaupin has been at the Institute since 2018, and this is not her first honor from the Fishman Fund. In 2021, she was awarded a Fishman Fund Career Development Award, a smaller prize offered to several postdocs each year. She also completed an internship at the Institute’s former Lake Nona campus in 2014.

“I’ve had an affinity for Sanford Burnham Prebys for a long time,” says Lebeaupin. “I knew once I met Dr. Kaufman and everybody on campus that this was the best place to complete my postdoc.”

Lebeaupin’s research focuses on a growing and pressing problem in medicine – liver cancer. One of the major risk factors for developing liver cancer is fat accumulation in the liver, known as fatty liver disease. Increases in obesity rates over the last several decades have led to a dramatic increase in fatty liver disease.

Fatty liver disease is increasing at an alarming rate, and unfortunately, it’s here to stay,” says Lebeaupin. “My research is figuring out how fatty liver disease progresses to liver cancer, so we can use this knowledge to help prevent it.” 

In particular, Lebeaupin is working on exploring how cells respond to fatty liver disease over time. She discovered that a molecule that helps liver cells protect themselves from short-term stress can promote cancer in the long-term. She has now moved into studying the system in human tissues.

“This research is exciting because we aim to translate our discoveries from the bench to the bedside,” says Lebeaupin. “What I hope to do in the future is use new technologies on liver samples from patients so we can identify what’s actually going on in liver diseases.”

Institute News

Facing cancer disparities head-on: An interview with Svasti Haricharan

AuthorMiles Martin
Date

May 25, 2022

Svasti Haricharan, PhD

Svasti Haricharan, PhD, and her lab are revealing why more Black women get breast cancer, and they’re also telling us what we can do about it. 

Svasti Haricharan, PhD, an assistant professor at Sanford Burnham Prebys, is tackling one of the most pernicious problems facing cancer researchers today—why some people, particularly disenfranchised groups such as Black women, get cancer more frequently and more severely than others. For years, the answer has been explained away by differences in lifestyle or socioeconomic status, but Haricharan’s research, published in Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology, is demonstrating that the real answer is much more complicated. 

What were your findings?
We found differences between the breast cells of white and Black women that help explain why Black women experience higher mortality from ER+ breast cancer. These included differences in the expression of specific genes and consistent molecular differences in the cellular signals controlling how fast cells can grow. These differences were present in both healthy and cancerous cells. 

Why is it important to study breast cancer disparities?
Black and white women have about the same incidence of ER+ breast cancer, but Black women are 42% more likely to die from it. This is just one example of the type of glaring health disparity we see in Black people and other marginalized communities. Unfortunately, these issues have been severely neglected by the research community. Or worse still, they are attributed entirely to lifestyle factors, which often shift the blame to the patients themselves. 

What do your findings mean for women with breast cancer?
The immediate implication is that we can act on this information to improve diagnostics and treatment for Black women with breast cancer. Our results suggest that at least some Black women could benefit from being treated earlier with CDK inhibitors, which are drugs we already have and understand. In the bigger picture, we’re showing that there are internal factors at play in health disparities that develop based on people’s lived experiences. We’re going to have to really dive in and explore these factors if we want to make any real progress in precision medicine. Everybody deserves care that is tailored to their molecular makeup as closely as possible.

What are some of the challenges still facing researchers working on health disparities?
The simplest answer is getting the money to do the research. We’re fortunate that we’ve found something here that’s quickly actionable, but it’s not always going to work out like that. This isn’t about just a few more studies. The types of differences we’ve found here are likely present in other types of cancer and in other groups. The more we look, the more we’re going to find. Funders and researchers alike need to be willing to prioritize this type of research going forward, or we’ll never see real change. 
 

Institute News

Jerold Chun receives a very special Alzheimer’s grant

AuthorMiles Martin
Date

May 13, 2022

Jerold Chun, MD, PhD

Jerold Chun, MD, PhD, has been awarded a new grant for $250,000 from the Coins for Alzheimer’s Research Trust (CART) Fund, an initiative by Rotary International to encourage exploratory and developmental Alzheimer’s research projects. Chun’s two-year project will explore how virus-like elements in our DNA could play a role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

“We are so grateful for the support of CART and the Rotarians,” says Chun. “They’ve shown over the years that small contributions to Alzheimer’s research can add up to make a huge impact.”

Ancient viruses in our genome
Chun’s project will explore how Alzheimer’s disease relates to endogenous genes in our genome that are very similar to parts of modern viruses. This is because they originated from viruses that infected our ancient ancestors. Over millions of years of evolution, these viruses became a normal part of our genomic makeup. 

Chun and other researchers suspect that these viral-like genes may be able to form virus-like particles that move through connections among our brain cells. They hypothesize that this process could promote neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. “This new grant from CART will help us figure out how these genes and particles work, which is a first step toward thinking about how we might leverage it for treatments.”

Funding research with spare change
CART began in the mid-1990s with an ambitious idea: Could collecting the pocket change of Rotary International members accumulate enough to support Alzheimer’s disease?

The idea was launched in 1996 at Rotary Clubs in South Carolina; and at every meeting, members were asked to donate their loose change to a fund for Alzheimer’s research. The idea exploded from there. Over time, individual clubs started donating portions of their fundraising proceeds, and donations even began to come in from non-Rotary members as CART’s reputation grew.

The fund has awarded more than $10 million in grants to more than 40 institutions since its inception. This year, one of those grants was awarded to Chun to explore a new direction for Alzheimer’s research. This is the first CART grant to be awarded to a Sanford Burnham Prebys researcher.

“Grants like this are important because they give scientists the resources to pursue brand-new research areas,” says Chun. “Every major scientific discovery starts somewhere, and this type of support gives us that starting place, for which we’re really grateful.”

Institute News

Sanford Burnham Prebys hosts inaugural Rising Stars Symposium

AuthorMiles Martin
Date

May 10, 2022

Group of 11 young scientists wearing nametags in front of a Sanford Burnham Prebys-branded backdrop

“I had an exceptionally memorable experience,” says Rising Star Myron Keith Gibert Jr., a PhD candidate at the University of Virginia. 

Sanford Burnham Prebys recently hosted the first-ever Rising Stars Symposium, a three-day postdoctoral recruitment event that provided professional development, leadership training, networking opportunities and mentorship sessions for 12 early-career researchers who were selected based on their academic achievements and research scholarship. Faculty and staff were invited to attend a full day of presentations by the Rising Stars.

“It was an honor to host our inaugural Rising Stars!“ says Angelica Rocha, Ph.D , diversity officer at Sanford Burnham Prebys. Rocha adds, “They are emerging scientific leaders from across the country who impressed us with their work and inspired us with their dedication to equity and inclusion. I would be ecstatic if they joined our Institute.”

The event was an institute-wide diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiative hosted by the DEI Recruitment Committee, one of the three subcommittees at the Institute. The Recruitment Committee promotes an inclusive workplace through recruiting strategies that are equitable and result in increased representation for underrepresented groups.

Young male researcher giving presentationAfter a brief introduction from President Kristiina Vuori, MD PhD, Assistant Professor Svasti Haricharan, PhD opened the day of presentations with a keynote address discussing her research on the genetic differences in breast cells of Black women and the consequences for health disparities, as well as the disparities in representation among academic researchers conducting this work.

For example, in 2019, less than 6% of doctorates were earned by Black people, despite making up about 14% of the population. Even fewer progress to faculty positions. Outdoor reception

“Events like the Rising Stars Symposium provide opportunities to capture the leaks in the science training pipeline and continue to provide career development for scientists from diverse backgrounds,” adds Gibert.

In addition to presenting their work, the Stars were the guests of honor at a reception, which also included poster presentations by researchers from Sanford Burnham Prebys. The event concluded with networking and mentorship sessions between each of the Stars and faculty at the Institute, with whom they could potentially conduct research in the future.

“The Symposium opened my eyes to the exciting research taking place at Sanford Burnham Prebys,” says Rising Star Sedelia Dominguez, a PhD candidate at Washington State University. “I gained confidence in myself as a researcher and was able to find a potential place for my next career step.”

Institute News

Without this protein, tuberculosis is powerless

AuthorMiles Martin
Date

May 9, 2022

Illustration of a tuberculosis-infected lung against a backdrop of tuberculosis bacteria

A new study from the lab of Francesca Marassi, PhD could help reveal new treatments for one of the world’s deadliest pathogens.

Sanford Burnham Prebys researchers have uncovered the structure of an important protein for the growth of tuberculosis bacteria. The study, published recently in Nature Communications, sheds light on an unusual metabolic system in tuberculosis, which could help yield new treatments for the disease and help make existing therapies more effective.

“Molecular discoveries like this give us valuable insight into how these bacteria survive, which is important in terms of finding cures for tuberculosis, and for other areas of health and biology,” says James Kent, a PhD candidate working in Marassi’s lab. “For example, bacteria in this family pose problems in both human health and agriculture, such as leprosy and bovine tuberculosis.”

Tuberculosis caused 1.5 million deaths in 2020 according to the World Health Organization, and this figure is expected to increase in the coming years due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stealing iron has its risks
The new protein, called Rv0455c, is part of a complex transportation system in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Rv0455C helps the bacteria take up iron from the host cells they infect. This process is essential to their growth and replication.

“They produce these very small molecules called siderophores and send them out of the cell, where they bind to iron and bring it back in,” says Kent. “Rv0455C seems to be essential for secreting these molecules.”

An important step of this iron-uptake process is recycling the siderophores so they can be used again. When this process is interrupted, the leftover molecules can accumulate and poison the cell.

The study found that without Rv0455c, tuberculosis bacteria cannot secrete siderophores, which severely impairs their replication. Bacteria without Rv0455c also experienced poisoning from unrecycled siderophores. 

And while this delicate system can be interrupted by blocking previously known genes, eliminating Rv0455c does it much more efficiently.

“This seems to be the first piece of evidence that there is a single protein in this system that could be targeted by a new class of tuberculosis drugs,” adds Kent.

Structure determines function
Kent’s role in the study was to piece together the structure of the protein, which had posed a significant challenge to the researchers. Revealing the detailed structure of a protein is a critical part of understanding its function.

“The process of figuring out the structure of a protein can be time consuming and requires precise optimization of many conditions,” says Kent. “This protein is small, but it is still a three-dimensional object moving in three-dimensional space, and the way it’s shaped will affect what it does.”

Kent determined that the Rv0455c protein has an unusual “cinched” structure that could help explain its unique function in tuberculosis bacteria. The structure may also help determine whether it’s possible to target the protein with therapeutics. 

Looking ahead
The findings suggest that targeting the recycling of iron-carrying molecules may lead to the development of much-needed drugs to combat one of the world’s deadliest bacterial pathogens.

Kent is also optimistic that the findings could help augment existing treatments for tuberculosis.

“Because treatment cycles are long for tuberculosis, a common problem with is multi-drug resistance,” says Kent. “There’s a very good possibility that there will be implications for this protein in interrupting some of the processes that lead to bacterial resistance.”

Institute News

Padres Pedal the Cause 2022: Team Sanford Burnham Prebys raises more than $21,000 for cancer research

AuthorMiles Martin
Date

April 13, 2022

Ze'ev Ronai and Adrienne Crown in biking outfits with Sanford Burnham Prebys branding

And there’s still time to give

Each year a team from Sanford Burnham Prebys hits the pavement as part of Padres Pedal the Cause, an annual event that invites participants to cycle, spin, run or walk to support local cancer research. This year’s team was small but mighty, raising more than $21,000 to fund collaborative cancer research projects in the San Diego area. 

Including the money raised by the Sanford Burnham Prebys team, Padres Pedal the Cause has raised more than $2.8 million this year so far. These funds will be distributed as grants to support collaborations between six participating research organizations: the Salk Institute, Scripps Research, Rady Children’s Hospital, UC San Diego, the La Jolla Institute, as well as Sanford Burnham Prebys. 

“This is more than just a fundraising event; it’s also a chance to connect with the cancer community and reflect on the importance of teamwork in cancer research,” says rider Ze’ev Ronai, PhD, director of the Institute’s NCI-designated Cancer Center. “I’ve done the race for four years, and every year it makes me proud to be on team Sanford Burnham Prebys.”

Padres Pedal the Cause Sanford Burnham Prebys volunteersBesides Ronai, notable Institute names on the team this year included Thomas Chung, PhD, director of Translational Programs Outreach at the Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics; and Scott Tocher, general counsel and vice president of Communications. In addition to the riders, event volunteers from Sanford Burnham Prebys included Michaela Andrews, Araceli Ambert, Mariela Castanares, David Scott, Susan Goho and Katherine Kling.

“We don’t have a huge team, but we always have a great one,” says team captain Adrienne Crown, JD, director of Administration at the Cancer Center and director of Compliance and Operations for the Institute, “I’m so proud that just a few people are able to help make such a big impact.”

Kim McKewonThe top fundraiser on this year’s team was not an employee of the Institute but is still very much a friend of Sanford Burnham Prebys. Kim McKewon is a longtime donor to the Institute and has been participating in Padres Pedal the Cause since its inception in 2013. This year she raised more than $6,000; and to date, she has raised more than $30,000. In her website bio, she writes that she pedals for her husband, Ray, who is in remission from leukemia.

“Kim is one of the superstars of our team, and we are so thrilled that she was able to ride with us again this year,” adds James Short, Crown’s co-captain and director of Digital Design at the Institute.

And although the event itself is over, the ride is not. The deadline for fundraising is May 9, and 100% of every dollar raised goes toward lifesaving cancer research. Help team Sanford Burnham Prebys create a world without cancer.

Support Team Sanford Burnham Prebys

Institute News

How our immune system controls gut microbes

AuthorMiles Martin
Date

April 6, 2022

Orange bacteria against a pink and green background

And how this relationship could help fight autoimmune diseases

Sanford Burnham Prebys researchers including Carl Ware, PhD, and John Šedý, PhD have discovered an immunological process in the gut that could help improve treatment for autoimmune and gastrointestinal diseases. The study, published March 22 in Cell Reports, found that this process regulates the activation of white blood cells in the intestines, which ultimately helps the body control the composition of the gut microbiome. 

“The immune system is like a gardener for our gut bacteria, gently monitoring and responding to their populations and keeping an eye out for unwanted pathogens” says Ware, who directs the Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases Center at Sanford Burnham Prebys. “This ultimately helps the immune system control these microbes.”

This “gardening” relies on a molecule called BTLA, one of several checkpoint proteins used by the body to control the immune system. 

“This is a signaling system we’ve known about for decades, but this is a totally new function for it that we’ve never seen before,” says Šedý, a Sanford Burnham Prebys research assistant professor, who co-led the study with Ware. “I helped discover this system two decades ago, so it’s exciting that we’re still making new discoveries about its function.”  

To explore the role of BTLA in the gut, the team zeroed in on specialized lymph nodes in the intestines called Peyer’s patches, which are full of white blood cells that help monitor and respond to pathogens and other microbes in the gut.

“Gut bacteria are in constant competition, and the populations of specific species can fluctuate,” says Ware. “In a healthy microbiome, there’s a balance, and disrupting that balance can contribute to autoimmune diseases, gastrointestinal disorders and even some brain disorders.”

The team found that BTLA is critical for maintaining this balance because it triggers white blood cells to release antibodies that control the populations of different gut bacteria.

“It’s a finely calibrated system that we’re still only just beginning to understand in detail,” adds Ware.

Immune checkpoints like BTLA are already used in immunotherapy for some cancers, and these results make the researchers confident that this system can be leveraged to treat diseases in the gut, especially those that are also autoimmune disorders, such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. 

“The immune system is unimaginably complex, and understanding it gives us the ability to manipulate it, and that can help us treat diseases,” says Šedý. “This discovery is a step forward in that larger narrative.” 

Institute News

Randal Kaufman included in $12 million initiative to improve hemophilia treatment

AuthorMiles Martin
Date

March 8, 2022

Randal J. Kaufman, PhD

The new project will help researchers better understanding why current gene therapy treatments aren’t working.

A multi-institute research collaboration including Sanford Burnham Prebys has just received a $12 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to improve hemophilia therapy. The award will fund three projects that could lead to safer and potentially curative treatments for the disorder. One of these projects will be led by Randal J. Kaufman, PhD, who directs the Degenerative Diseases Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys.

How viruses could be help treat hemophilia
Hemophilia is an X-linked genetic condition that prevents the blood from clotting properly. It occurs in about one out of 5,000 male births. In patients with severe forms of the disease, internal or external bleeding can be life threatening. Standard treatments for severe hemophilia involve intravenously replacing the clotting proteins that patients are unable to produce adequately on their own. However, a gene therapy approach uses viruses as a delivery mechanism to provide the body with the information it needs to start making its own clotting factors.

“Several companies have taken this forward into clinical trials, and in some of these trials, the patients initially looked like they were cured,” says principal investigator Roland W. Herzog, PhD, the Riley Children’s Foundation Professor of Immunology at Indiana University School of Medicine. “But what they all have in common is that they need to deliver a lot of the virus in order to get the desired results, and over time, clotting factor levels started to decline. So it’s clear that we need to further study the biology of this phenomenon.”

How this grant will help improve the process
In hemophilia A, which accounts for about 80% of all cases, patients do not produce enough of a clotting protein called factor VIII (FVIII). To better understand the mechanisms that are mitigating the effects of current drug candidates, Herzog is teaming up with some of the nation’s leading experts. 

Their program will focus on three major projects in gene therapy for hemophilia A:

  • Project 1 will focus on cellular toxicity and stress that can be induced by FVIII protein production. This project is led by Kaufman. 
  • Project 2 will focus on molecular virology and the development of viral vectors used in gene therapy to deliver the FVIII-encoding gene.This project is led by Indiana University School of Medicine professor of pediatrics Weidong Xiao, PhD
  • Project 3 will examine the immune system and its role in the interference of FVIII production over time. It is jointly led by Herzog and Ype P. de Jong, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at Cornell University. 

Together, they hope to provide new insight that can lead to lower levels of toxicity and improved longevity of FVIII production in patients who are treated with gene therapy for hemophilia.

“This is an incredibly significant and urgent medical question, and it requires the synergy of multiple groups with different expertise to come together and solve a problem that they wouldn’t be able to solve on their own,” says Herzog. “My hope is that our studies will help the field as a whole move toward curing hemophilia A.”

The grant is titled “Toward Safer Gene Therapy for Hemophilia A” (P01HL160472). This post was adapted from a press release published by Indiana University School of Medicine.