Diversity and Science Lecture (DASL) Archives - Sanford Burnham Prebys
Institute News

Meet molecular biologist Jonatan Matalonga-Borrel

AuthorMonica May
Date

February 3, 2021

Matalonga-Borrel is on the hunt for a treatment that could help children born with a rare, life-threatening condition

Thanks to the sequencing of the human genome, scientists have helped parents get answers to the cause of mysterious conditions that have affected their children. Now, researchers are tackling a new challenge: translating this knowledge into life-altering medicines.

Molecular biologist Jonatan Matalonga-Borrel, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the Dong lab at Sanford Burnham Prebys, is at the forefront of this effort. We caught up with Matalonga-Borrel as he prepares to take the virtual stage at DASL (the Diversity and Science Lecture Series at UC San Diego) to learn more about his work and his interests outside of the lab.

Did you always know you wanted to be a scientist?
I actually wanted to be an airplane pilot until my senior year of high school. But during the application process, I learned that I have very mild color-blindness, so I had to quickly decide what I wanted to do next. I pivoted to biology, a topic where I had some interest, thinking I would become a teacher. Then, when I was in college, I got the opportunity to complete a lab internship, which is where I discovered my passion for research. I would have never guessed that I would be where I am today, leading a project that might directly help families and children.

What do you study, and what is your greatest hope for your research?
I study Alagille syndrome, a rare disease that affects kids from the day they are born. Many organs are affected, especially the heart and the liver, and almost half of these children die before the age of 19.

Luckily, Alagille syndrome is associated with mutations in only two genes, both belonging to the same pathway, called Notch. This makes our goal easier to achieve: identify drugs that target Notch, which currently don’t exist. I’m excited that we’ve identified a promising option. My greatest hope is to create a medicine that truly helps these children and their families, who currently live without any treatment.

When you aren’t working in the lab, where can you be found?
You will likely find me playing golf at Torrey Pines! There is nothing like playing a twilight round, feeling a slight breeze and looking at the immensity of the Pacific Ocean. With that said, since I became a father, my golfing time has been severely impaired. Now it’s most likely that you’ll find me at home, entertained by the early stages of development of my son…and changing a lot of diapers!

What do you wish people knew about science?
How patient one has to be to move science forward. It can take weeks—or months—of trial and error until a big breakthrough happens.

We live in a world that seems to spin faster and faster. It is critical for our society to understand that proper science is not about rushing experiments. It is about setting the right ones.

How do you think your lab colleagues would describe you?
Upbeat, reliable and organized (hopefully!).

How has the pandemic affected your life?
I had my first baby last June, and the pandemic prevented any relatives to come from our home country, Spain, and meet their first grandchild. Thankfully, we had Skype to get in touch. Looking on the bright side, daycares have never been so clean, and the rate of sickness around kids has dropped significantly!

What is the best career advice you have ever received?

“Have fun and make friends,” from Dr. Eduardo Chini of the Mayo Clinic. It is possible to do great science and have fun—don’t feel guilty about it. My best collaborations came from my greatest friendships among colleagues.

What do you wish people knew about Sanford Burnham Prebys?
It’s an amazing community. Science moves forward thanks to communication and collaboration and it wouldn’t happen without a strong sense of community. This includes wise faculty members who train graduate students and postdocs, an Office of Education and International Services that offers year-round seminars and workshops, and a group I am part of, called SBP-Social Network (SBP-SN), which organizes fun social and scientific events. All of this creates a place where scientific excellence thrives.

Institute News

Meet cancer researcher Karina Barbosa Guerra

AuthorMonica May
Date

February 3, 2021

Barbosa Guerra is working to find better treatments for a deadly leukemia

For Karina Barbosa Guerra, touring a lab and meeting scientists as part of her Girl Guides troop—Mexico’s equivalent of the Girl Scouts—was a life-changing experience. Suddenly, she could see herself as a scientist.

Today, Barbosa Guerra is a graduate student in the Deshpande lab at Sanford Burnham Prebys, where she’s working to find better treatments for a blood cancer called acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We caught up with Barbosa Guerra as she prepares to take the virtual stage at the Diversity and Science Lecture Series at UC San Diego (DASL) to learn more about when she decided she wanted to be a scientist and where she can be found when not in the lab.

Tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a scientist.
According to my mother, I stated that I wanted to become a chemist to develop vaccines when I was ten years old. However, it wasn’t until middle school that I started cultivating my own sense of scientific curiosity. At that time, I was in a Girl Scouts program centered on HIV/AIDS peer education, so I began to read a bit more about viruses. It was incredibly amazing that they could linger undetected in our bodies—and that many questions about their biology remained unanswered. The more I learned, the less I felt I knew, and I wanted to follow that endless string of questions.

What do you study, and what is your greatest hope for your research?
I study a cancer called acute myeloid leukemia—specifically, subtypes that are hard to treat. Certain cancer cells, like stem cells, are pretty resilient and can self-renew. This enables them to resist therapy, so we want to discover better ways to target this particular feature. My research aims to find ways in which we can treat these leukemias based on their stem cell–like capabilities. My hope is that we can ultimately benefit the patients enduring harsh treatments and disease relapse, and along the way, illuminate the fascinating aspects of the biology behind effective treatments.

What do you wish people knew about science?
That it’s a team effort. The current coronavirus pandemic has really shown us that collaboration is at the heart of transformative science. I think that great ideas are best developed through discussion—and the thrill of putting the pieces together is way more enjoyable with company.

How do you think your lab colleagues would describe you?
Maybe as the girl with a bunch of notebooks. I like to make notes of everything. My notebooks are way more reliable than my memory.

What is the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Early in the graduate program, one of my mentors told me, “Be there,” meaning that I had to spend time with my science. If I were to discover something or make a great insight, I had to be there to do it, think it or see it.

What do you wish people knew about Sanford Burnham Prebys?
That this is such a welcoming community. I felt this the very first time I visited the campus, and I feel so at home here as a student. There are plenty of opportunities to engage with others and help each other out. I really enjoy the collaborative spirit of our little community.

Learn more about the Institute’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

Institute News

Meet computational biologist Mallika Iyer

AuthorMonica May
Date

January 14, 2021

Iyer is studying how proteins “dance,” which could lead to better drugs and a deeper understanding of human health 

DNA is often the star of the show when we talk about the body, but proteins are the true front-line workers. Formed by DNA’s instructions, proteins begin as strings of chemical compounds and later fold into a 3D shape that dictates their job in the body. If scientists can solve a protein’s shape—a feat that often takes years or decades—they may be able to create better drugs or better understand disease.  

Biologist Mallika Iyer, a graduate student in the Godzik lab at Sanford Burnham Prebys, is harnessing the power of computers to unlock insights into protein structure and movement. We caught up with Iyer as she prepares to take the virtual stage at DASL (the Diversity and Science Lecture Series at UC San Diego) to learn more about her greatest hopes for her research and what makes her tick.
 

Did you always know you wanted to be a scientist?
I’ve known I wanted to be a scientist ever since I learned about the digestive system as a kid. I was fascinated by how the human body works—it’s the most well-thought-out machine ever. 

I didn’t, however, imagine myself being a computational scientist until much later. When I was in college, I realized that traditional lab work wasn’t for me. I began learning some basic coding after I graduated and was hooked. That transitioned into computational biology/bioinformatics.

What do you study, and what is your greatest hope for your research?
I study protein structure and flexibility. Proteins are often depicted as having a single structure, but they are actually very flexible and transition between many different conformations as a part of their function—sort of like a well-choreographed dance.

My greatest hope for my research, or this field in general, is that we will someday be able to predict the types of movements a protein undergoes during the course of its function, or “job.” Last year, the field saw a huge advancement in the prediction of protein structure (read more in The New York Times). But “structure” is only half the story. Being able to predict all the different conformations and movements would be incredibly useful for medicine—and very cool!

What do you wish people knew about science?
That being wrong is a huge part of science. Scientists are supposed to understand and explain how the world works. But that is something that involves a lot of trial and error! Being wrong is, in fact, the way we advance our knowledge.
 

A woman in workout clothes kneeling in front of a rock climbing wall
Prior to the pandemic, Mallika’s happy place was
the climbing gym. “It’s a great way to exercise
both your body and mind, and I have found the
climbing community to be really friendly and
accepting,” she says.

When you aren’t working, where can you be found? Where is your happy place?
Prior to the pandemic, my happy place was actually the climbing gym. I was introduced to indoor rock climbing about two years ago, and I instantly fell in love it with. It’s a great way to exercise both your body and mind, and I have found the climbing community to be really friendly and accepting. What makes my gym even better is that it also has extra space to just hang out, work, read a book, and so on. So, I used to go there a lot!
 

What is the best career advice you have ever received? 
Use every opportunity you can to present your work and network with people. I try to present at as many conferences and symposia as I can, and simultaneously use that as a way to meet and network with others in the field. I’ve found that this allows me to practice answering questions about my work, which in turn enables me to think more critically about it. And it can also lead to new opportunities that further my research and career.

What do you wish people knew about Sanford Burnham Prebys?
That it has a graduate program! I think our program is really unique. Its small size means that each student gets a lot of attention, and we have an Office of Education, Training and International Services (OETIS) that really offers us a lot of great resources to help us shape our careers.
 

Learn more about the Institute’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.