This interview with Lake Nona postdoctoral research associate Juan Pablo Palavicini, PhD, is the second installment in our “Meet our Postdocs” Beaker series. Juan Pablo works in the laboratory of Xianlin Han, PhD, which focuses on altered lipid metabolism, trafficking and homeostasis under patho(physio)logical conditions. Continue reading “Meet our Postdocs: Juan Pablo Palavicini”
High-school graduate Christina Lee has spent the last three and half months learning firsthand what it’s like to work at the lab bench in a major medical research institution. After graduating from Canyon Crest Academy in June of this year, Christina has spent this summer – before packing for college – interning in our NCI-designated Cancer Center with Jorge Moscat, PhD, and Maria Diaz-Meco, Ph.D., of the Cell Death and Survival Networks Program.
We asked Christina to share a little about herself and her time at the Institute—and she had plenty of fascinating things to say! Continue reading “The intern life: Meet Christina Lee”
All around Central Florida, students are returning to school for the fall semester. At Sanford-Burnham in Lake Nona, we take a closer look at some of the lab experiences of our high-school interns who have spent part of their summer in our labs getting a taste for what it’s like to work in basic-science research.
We are thrilled to announce that Sanford-Burnham’s Board of Trustees has appointed Perry Nisen, MD, PhD, as the Institute’s chief executive officer and holder of the Donald Bren Chief Executive Chair. In this role, he will lead the Institute and oversee the execution of our new 10-year strategic vision to more quickly translate basic research discoveries into novel treatments that improve human health. Dr. Nisen joins us from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) – a British multinational pharmaceutical company – where he was senior vice president of Science and Innovation. Continue reading “Sanford-Burnham announces next CEO”
Xavier University of Louisiana student Kirk McCall might seem like your average college student: energetic, full of potential, and harboring big dreams for the future. But Kirk is also working on sophisticated one-of-a-kind science experiments during his four-summer internship program at Sanford-Burnham and has accumulated lab experience years ahead of most of his peers.
On July 24, Bella Vista Social Club & Caffe hosted a special happy hour in support of Team Sanford-Burnham and Pedal the Cause. 15 percent of all proceeds raised from the happy hour went directly to help Team Sanford-Burnham reach their 2014 fundraising goal. Continue reading “Team Sanford-Burnham happy hour success”
Summer in Florida is the time of year when college students typically take a break from their textbooks and head off to the beaches to enjoy barbecues and sunshine. For Seminole State of Florida Honor Student and rising University of Central Florida junior Mitchell Thomas it also means participating in one-of-a-kind, hands-on lab research at Sanford-Burnham in Lake Nona.
On July 18, eleven students from The Preuss School UCSD celebrated the completion of an intensive two-week summer research program with a poster symposium and luncheon at our La Jolla, Calif., campus. The Preuss School is a unique, charter middle and high school for low-income, highly motivated students who strive to become the first in their families to graduate from college. Continue reading “Sanford-Burnham commends summer 2014 high-school researchers”
Last week, Thomson Reuters published a list of the world’s most influential scientific minds—195 of them in biology and biochemistry to be exact. Thomson Reuters created the list based on scientists that write the most reports that rank among the top 1 percent cited by other scientists between the years 2002 and 2012. To no surprise from us at Sanford–Burnham, Randal Kaufman, PhD, professor and director of the Degenerative Disease Program, was on the list.
Dr. Kaufman has been a major contributor to our understanding of how protein folding—and misfolding—lead to cell malfunctions and death. His research is particularly important to many diseases, including neurological, metabolic, genetic and inflammatory disorders. His research also explains some of the symptoms associated with aging.
Dr. Kaufman has a long history of contributions to science in industry and academia. As PhDgraduate student at Stanford University, he discovered that cancer cells develop drug resistance by gene amplification. As a post-doctoral fellow working with Nobel laureate Dr. Phillip Sharp at MIT, he studied gene amplification and new ways to express proteins in mammalian cells.
After post-doctoral work, Dr. Kaufman co-founded a company called the Genetics Institute Inc., a biotechnology company focused on treatments for hemophilia and many other disorders, including the development of technology that led to the FDA-approved drugs for hemophilia and erythropoietin for cancer and anemia. After leaving the Genetics Institute, Inc. he took a position as HHMI investigator and endowed chair in the departments of Biological Chemistry and Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan. He joined us at Sanford-Burnham in 2011 where he leads the Degenerative Disease Program.
Let us all take advantage of the fact that we have this incredible individual at our Institute and discover five interesting facts about the man with the brilliant brain.
If you could invite 5 people to dinner who would they be?Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Charles Darwin, Princess Diana and Brian Williams
What traits do you most admire in people?Intelligence, confidence, and a sense of humor
What traits do you most deplore in people? Laziness, conceit and selfishness
What is your idea of a perfect weekend in San Diego? Sailing with my wife, Donna and three boys, Joshua, Kyle, and Maverick
If a genie granted you three wishes, what would they be? World peace, a cure for cancer, and unlimited NIH support for my research
From all of us at Sanford-Burnham, we congratulate you Dr. Kaufman and we hope your wishes come true!
Friends of the Institute came together on May 31 for a special fundraiser benefiting The Rocket Fund, a unique trust established at Sanford-Burnham dedicated to finding treatments for rare and neglected childhood diseases, such as congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG).