People Archives - Page 2 of 6 - Sanford Burnham Prebys
Institute News

Gearing up for summer internships

Authorjmoore
Date

April 13, 2016

Scientific staff at SBP’s Lake Nona campus are excited to welcome this year’s crop of high school interns in June. The highly competitive program—one of very few in Florida to offer such extensive hands-on research—received 48 applications from students for seven coveted slots. The majority of the academically talented, highly motivated students have taken advanced science coursework at area schools including Edgewater, Winter Park, Jones, East River, Trinity Prep, Timber Creek, Dr. Philips, Boone, Seminole and many others.

“We hope to provide transformative experiences—to immerse students in real, modern research using sophisticated techniques,” said Peter Crawford, MD, PhD, associate professor and director of the Cardiovascular Metabolism Program, who will oversee the internship program this year.

The interns will be involved in cutting-edge projects such as:

  • Analyzing levels of thousands of types of fat molecules to identify possible biomarkers of early Alzheimer’s disease
  • Using chemical profiling and mouse models to understand the metabolic origins of diabetes and heart disease
  • Large-scale production of recombinant proteins using bioreactor systems

In their two to four weeks at SBP, trainees will work one-on-one with staff scientists and postdocs. In addition to lab training, they’ll be exposed to research from across the Institute through weekly seminars and discuss their work in lab meetings.

 

This involvement in the scientific community helps summer interns gain a lot more than knowledge of how to do experiments. Past intern Christina Lee, now a sophomore at UCLA preparing for medical school, reflected that she acquired “an invaluable perspective on how quickly the scientific community is moving forward.”

“What surprised me most in the lab,” said intern Mitchell Thomas, “is the unwavering motivation researchers have. Though some procedures are very time consuming and may not work the first time, they continue on.”

Appreciating the pace of scientific progress and the rigors of laboratory research will be a great benefit for these students, who plan to pursue life science careers. The 50 SBP Lake Nona internship alumni are now pursuing higher education at such prestigious universities as Duke, Stanford, the University of Florida, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Institute News

SBP scientists join race for a cure

Authordrobison
Date

March 17, 2016

Andrew Carley, PhD, has a personal motivation for finding a cure for diabetes. As one of the 29 million Americans with diabetes, he became a biomedical researcher to better understand the causes of disease.

For Julio Ayala, PhD, a passion for medical research was sparked by his grandmother, a type 1 diabetic, who at age 86 has successfully managed the disease most of her life.

Julio Ayala, PhD
Julio Ayala, PhD

Siobhan Malany, PhD, is an avid cyclist who believes so strongly in team efforts that she has enlisted robots to join her research team searching for new drugs to fight disease.

On Sunday, March 13, 2016, these Sanford Burnham Prebys scientists took their interest in biomedical research to the roadways of Central Florida as they joined 1,100 participants in the 2016 Tour de Cure at Lake Nona bicycle ride for diabetes. The twelve-member SBP team collectively pedaled more than 400 miles and raised $9,000 to fight the disease. Participants began the 25, 63, and 100-mile courses in Lake Nona Medical City near SBP and the Center for Metabolic Origins of Disease, the site where researchers study diabetes in hopes of identifying new, more effective therapies.

“It was a fun way to give back and do what I love to do.  Cycling has been my commute, my sport and my escape —now it’s a way to contribute,” said Malany, who completed the 100-mile course in five hours. She enjoyed the camaraderie and credited the group with a bit of competitive motivation. “I kept a 21.5 mile per hour pace, which was not something I would have accomplished had I been cycling alone. It was fast and fun being in a pack because you conserve energy by drafting,” added Malany.

Siobhan Malany, PhD
Siobhan Malany, PhD

Since moving to Lake Nona in December from Chicago, Carley has gotten back into cycling and now bikes to the Institute in Medical City each day. He completed a Century ride to mark the 20th anniversary of the Tour de Cure in 2011 in Chicago and decided to mark the 25th anniversary of the event with a 25 mile ride. “I selected the 25 mile course because it was the maximum length of time my 3-year old daughter would remain content in her bike stroller watching a Toy Story movie. She weighs only 32 pounds and the course was relatively flat so we were able to complete the ride in two hours despite frequent stops,” said Carley.

Tour-de-cure

Team captain Ayala participated in various ADA and JDRF fund raising events while at Vanderbilt University. “While riding my bike to work a few years ago, I saw the first Tour de Cure in Lake Nona and knew that I wanted to participate. We study diseases of metabolism at the Medical City site and a number of faculty, including me, receive ADA-funded grants, so I wanted to get involved,” said Ayala.

Ayala credits the team’s spirit with providing extra motivation to push through the extreme winds encountered on the course. It’s with similar determination that they approach their daily race for the cure in their research labs.

Institute News

SBP helps students “worm” up to science at STEM Expo

Authorsgammon
Date

March 7, 2016

On Saturday, March 5, a keen group of SBP volunteers hauled wagons of lab coats, mutant worms and magnifying glasses to give the next generation of scientists—mainly kids in grades K-8—an opportunity to see first-hand how tiny worms named C. elegans are used to understand the aging process.

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Institute News

SBP graduate student Victoria Thaney’s internship at Illumina

AuthorGuest Blogger
Date

February 9, 2016

Congratulations to Victoria Thaney, who was chosen for an internship at Illumina, a leader in developing sequencing technologies that was named the world’s smartest company by MIT Technology Review in 2014. She was recently interviewed about her experience by Alexia Pimentel, SBP’s graduate program coordinator. Continue reading “SBP graduate student Victoria Thaney’s internship at Illumina”

Institute News

SBP supports opening of stem cell exhibit at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center

Authorjmoore
Date

January 29, 2016

Pamela Itkin-Ansari, PhD, adjunct assistant professor in the Development, Aging, and Regeneration Program at SBP, participated in the grand opening event for the Super Cells exhibit at the Fleet on Jan. 28. She served as an expert on the current understanding of stem cells, answering questions and explaining what stem cell researchers do.

The Super Cells exhibit, on view at the Fleet through May 1, immerses visitors in the world of stem cells, illustrating how they give rise to the whole body and how they keep us healthy by re-building tissue.

The display was produced by the Sherebrooke Musuem of Nature and Science (Quebec, Canada), in partnership with the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), Catapult Cell Therapy and the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine, and supported by EuroStemCell.

Itkin-Ansari is one of several SBP investigators working to harness the power of stem cells to treat disease. Faculty in SBP’s Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine collaborate to develop new treatments for a wide spectrum of disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, spinal cord injury, heart disease, and diabetes.

Institute News

SBP’s Garth Powis talks about the search for a cure for cancer

Authorkcusato
Date

January 25, 2016

More than 1.6 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer this year alone. President Barack Obama announced a new national effort to find a cure for cancer in his 2016 State of the Union address. It is clear that providing hope to those diagnosed with cancer and their families is a huge priority.

The search is on for a new generation of cancer drugs, and Garth Powis D.Phil., head of the NCI-designated Cancer Center at SBP appeared the KUSI news in San Diego on January 22nd to talk about recent treatment breakthroughs and what’s to come for treating this often deadly disease.

Watch the video here.

Institute News

SBP’s Michael Jackson and Alzheimer’s San Diego CEO Mary Ball talk Alzheimer’s

Authorkcusato
Date

December 28, 2015

$2 billion dollars for 10 years.  That’s what democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has proposed infusing into research to end Alzheimer’s by 2025.

With more than 5 million people living with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia, including 60,000 in San Diego, the additional funds would propel many important research projects forward.

SBP’s Senior Vice President of Drug Discovery and Development, Michael Jackson, PhD, and Alzheimer’s San Diego CEO Mary Ball appeared on the KUSI news in San Diego on December 22nd to talk about the Clinton proposal and the status of Alzheimer’s research here in San Diego.

Watch the video here

Institute News

Introducing our new Communications Manager, Kristen Cusato

AuthorGuest Blogger
Date

December 15, 2015

Hello everyone!

I am so pleased to be joining the Sanford Burnham Prebys (SBP) team.

I have been in television news at stations all over the country for more than 20 years, most recently at KUSI TV in San Diego. Finding and telling stories is my specialty, and I’d love to hear what you think is unique about SBP and the people who work here. One of my passions is educating about Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, in that my Mother passed away at the age of 65 from the mind-robbing disease. I am happy to be working at a place where medical discoveries of all kinds are improving and saving lives.

I believe in what happens here, and will do everything I can to make sure SBP, the scientists who do research and the people who make this place run, get the recognition in the media and elsewhere they so richly deserve.