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Institute News

SBP Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences receives WASC accreditation

Authorsgammon
Date

July 30, 2015

Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP)  is proud to announce that its Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences has received accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). This is an important milestone for the Graduate School, a distinction that assures the public that our school has the resources, policies, and practices in place to achieve its educational goals.

The SBP Graduate Program began in 2006. Today, we have 25 students with a unique opportunity to carry out their studies in an environment of collaborative research, with access to the most-sophisticated minds and technologies in biomedical sciences. The Program gives graduate students fluency in biology, chemistry, bioinformatics, and engineering to integrate research into meaningful applications that will advance medicine. Their education comes at a time when research has never been more intellectually exciting and critically important to society.

The effort was led by Guy Salvesen, PhD, dean of the Graduate School, who has been dedicated to providing the best learning opportunities for SBP students to become the next-generation of pioneers in biomedical research. Dr. Salveson has overseen the recruitment of talented students from around the world—Europe, Asia, Australia and the United States—and engaged our faculty to teach, train and mentor. He has been accountable to WASC during an eight year systematic process of scrutiny that left no stone unturned. At the same time, he has managed his own research laboratory of staff scientists, postdocs, graduate students and interns, exploring the principles of proteolysis in humans.

In addition to Dr. Salveson, Malene Hansen, PhD, associate dean of Student Affairs; Alessandra Sacco, PhD, associate dean of Curriculum; Robert Rickert, PhD, associate dean of Admissions, and Stacey Smith, manager of the Graduate Program, have helped achieve the goal through their passion for education, and creating an environment that supports the highest-quality learning in biomedical research.

Many congratulations to everyone at SBP that works to support the Graduate School, including the faculty, staff, and the students, for creating and fostering a program that is now officially recognized for its excellence.

Institute News

Researchers find new method to halt the advance of liver cancer

Authorsgammon
Date

July 24, 2015

A new study by researchers at SBP, the National Cancer Institute, and the Chulabhorn Research Institute has found that blocking the activity of a key immune receptor, the lymphotoxin-beta receptor (LTβR), reduces the progression of liver cancer. The results, published recently in the online edition of Gut, could provide new treatment strategies for the disease, which is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Continue reading “Researchers find new method to halt the advance of liver cancer”

Institute News

Potential drug targets could improve treatment of vascular disease in diabetic patients

Authorsgammon
Date

July 15, 2015

The newly discovered role of a vascular protein in diabetes-induced hardening of the arteries could lead to better treatments that reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, and death, according to research spearheaded by SBP investigators. The study, published recently in Circulation Research, reveals that a receptor called LRP6 inhibits molecular signals that drive diet-induced hardening of the arteries, also known as arteriosclerosis. Continue reading “Potential drug targets could improve treatment of vascular disease in diabetic patients”

Institute News

Newly identified cause of motor neuron disease paves way for better treatments

Authorsgammon
Date

July 8, 2015

The discovery that a protein called membralin promotes the survival of motor neurons could potentially lead to novel therapies for severe, early-onset motor neuron disease, according to a recent study by SBP investigators. As reported recently in eLife, the researchers developed a novel mouse model for identifying therapeutic targets for a class of motor neuron disorders called distal hereditary motor neuropathies. Continue reading “Newly identified cause of motor neuron disease paves way for better treatments”

Institute News

Run Noah run

Authorsgammon
Date

July 1, 2015

On Saturday, July 4, at 3 p.m., an extraordinary man named Noah Coughlan will complete a run—a solo run— that stretched more than 3,000 miles and 13 states. His journey will have lasted 127 days. Even more impressive is that this is the third time he has done it. Why on earth would someone take on such a feat? Continue reading “Run Noah run”

Institute News

New drug squashes cancer’s last-ditch efforts to survive

Authorsgammon
Date

June 25, 2015

As a tumor grows, its cancerous cells ramp up an energy-harvesting process to support its hasty development. This process, called autophagy, is normally used by a cell to recycle damaged organelles and proteins, but is also co-opted by cancer cells to meet their increased energy and metabolic demands. Continue reading “New drug squashes cancer’s last-ditch efforts to survive”

Institute News

How arsenic cures leukemia

Authorsgammon
Date

June 18, 2015

For the first time, Sanford-Burnham researchers have shown how the reversible interactions of the small protein SUMO work to facilitate treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). The study, published recently in the journal Science Signaling, explains how the on-off associations of SUMO are required to destroy the APL causing oncoprotein and pave the way for an arsenic-based cure. Continue reading “How arsenic cures leukemia”

Institute News

2015 Sanford-Burnham faculty retreat

Authorsgammon
Date

June 5, 2015

The annual Sanford-Burnham faculty retreat was held in beautiful Carlsbad, Calif., May 19-20. Attended by more than 70 faculty from La Jolla, Calif., and Lake Nona, Fla., the retreat was an opportunity for attendees to learn more about each other’s research, share ideas, and to engage in strategic discussions related to the Institute’s 10-year vision to become a preeminent medical research institute that combines cutting-edge fundamental research with robust drug discovery. Continue reading “2015 Sanford-Burnham faculty retreat”

Institute News

Research offers a new approach to improving HIV vaccines

Authorsgammon
Date

June 4, 2015

In a scientific discovery that has significant implications for preventing HIV infections, researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) have identified a protein that could improve the body’s immune response to HIV vaccines and prevent transmission of the virus. Continue reading “Research offers a new approach to improving HIV vaccines”

Institute News

Stem cell model reveals molecular cues critical to neurovascular unit formation

Authorsgammon
Date

June 1, 2015

Crucial bodily functions we depend on but don’t consciously think about — things like heart rate, blood flow, breathing, and digestion — are regulated by the neurovascular unit. The neurovascular unit is made up of blood vessels and smooth muscles under the control of autonomic neurons. Yet how the nervous and vascular systems come together during development to coordinate these functions is not well understood. Using human embryonic stem cells, researchers at Sanford-Burnham, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, and Moores Cancer Center created a model that allows them to track cellular behavior during the earliest stages of human development in real-time. The model reveals, for the first time, how autonomic neurons and blood vessels come together to form the neurovascular unit. The study was published May 21 by Stem Cell Reports. Continue reading “Stem cell model reveals molecular cues critical to neurovascular unit formation”