Hosted by Drew Schlossberg, Spotlight on the Community is the nation’s longest running community podcast, now going on 20+ years.
Recently, David Brenner, MD, president and CEO of Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, appeared on the podcast to discuss the mission of the Institute, its research collaborations, the role of AI and the current state of biomedical research locally and beyond.
You can hear Brenner’s podcast interview on Spotify, Apple and iHeart platforms.
A human fibroblast—the most common cells of connective tissue—undergoes mitosis or cell division. Cell components include actin (gray/brown), myosin II (green) and DNA (magenta).
Image courtesy of Nilay Taneja.
The series highlights the groundbreaking work and unique perspectives of women leaders in the biomedical sciences.
On May 13, 2026, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute hosted the third event in the Women in Science Lecture Series. The first featured speaker was Erica Ollmann Saphire, PhD, MBA, professor, president and CEO of the La Jolla Institute for Immunology.
Saphire told the audience about a turning point in 2013 in her field studying how antibodies work against the Ebola virus. Antibodies are especially important treatments for infectious diseases that lack an effective vaccine, as was the case for the Ebola virus until 2019. Saphire described the challenge that emerged when an antibody predicted to be effective based on laboratory results had no effect on survival in animal studies, whereas a cocktail of three antibodies that was ineffective in laboratory cell culture tests actually protected every animal against the infection.
“Collectively, as a body of scientists, it became clear we were missing some information about how to study the neutralizing effects of antibodies,” said Saphire. “The key was seeing the clue that how well the treatment protected was dependent on what kind of cell it was made in and how that effected the antibodies’ ability to recruit the immune system.”
To enable experiments following up on that lead, Saphire organized a large coalition of academic, industrial and government labs from across the world. Each partner sent their antibodies or neutralization assays to a single location where they could be studied side by side under code names to protect intellectual property. The consortium fast-tracked a smaller study that led to the first therapeutic approved for treating Ebola, and the longer-term comprehensive study would go on to develop much better therapeutics for the disease. Due to this initiative’s success, Saphire was asked to lead a Gates Foundation-supported project to evaluate antibody therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2.
Saphire closed her presentation with her reflections on how to improve the scientific system so that it works better for researchers.
Kersten and Saphire with fireside chat moderator and cardiovascular researcher Sanjeev Ranade, PhD. Image credit: Sanford Burnham Prebys.
“I’ve learned over 20 years that a siloed approach very much gives a siloed answer,” Saphire said. “It is important to find out how different experts’ interests and motivations align and intersect and then put resources behind that to find success.”
Sanjeev Ranade, PhD, assistant professor in the Center for Cardiovascular and Muscular Diseases at Sanford Burnham Prebys, then moderated a fireside chat and audience question-and-answer session with Saphire and Kelly Kersten, PhD, assistant professor in the Cancer Metabolism and Microenvironment Program at the Sanford Burnham Prebys NCI-Designated Cancer Center. Topics included: the remarkable power and complexity of the immune system; the contrast in needing to mitigate the immune system in allergies and autoimmune disease versus boosting it in the right ways in cancer and infectious disease; how to effectively introduce your work to people outside of science; how roles change as academic and leadership careers progress; and advice for students and trainees beginning their careers in biomedical research.
The Women in Science Lecture Series features events that are free and open to the public. The series is part of broader efforts at Sanford Burnham Prebys to foster an environment that nurtures the success of individuals from all backgrounds. The events are hosted by the Office of Workforce Engagement & Belonging and highlight the groundbreaking work and unique perspectives of women leaders in the biomedical sciences, while fostering mentorship and collaboration across the Torrey Pines Mesa.
Registration is open for the next event in the series on October 14, 2026.
A micrograph depicts the hippocampal region of the human brain. Located in the medial temporal lobe, it acts as a crucial component of the limbic system for learning, memory and spatial navigation.
Image courtesy of Sarah Moghadam and Ahmad Salehi.
Sanford Burnham Prebys is pleased to congratulate Assistant Professor Eric Wang, PhD, on being named Educator of the Year at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences’ retreat.
The Crystal Apple Award, presented by Alessandra Sacco, PhD, dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and Andrei Osterman, PhD, vice dean and associate dean of curriculum, recognizes outstanding contributions to graduate education, mentorship and support for the graduate school community.
Wang has quickly become a valued mentor and educator at the Institute. In addition to mentoring a graduate student in his laboratory, he serves on five graduate school thesis committees, is a member of the Graduate School Admissions Committee and is chair of the Institute’s Education and Training Committee. He also serves as course director for Modern Drug Discovery Technologies, helping train the next generation of biomedical scientists in approaches that bridge chemistry, biology and translational research.
Wang joined Sanford Burnham Prebys in 2021 as part of the NCI-designated Cancer Center and the Center for Therapeutics Discovery. His research focuses on developing chemical tools to better understand human biology and identifying new therapeutic strategies for disease. His lab combines expertise in chemistry, biology and drug discovery to study challenging biological targets and to uncover new approaches for precision medicine.
The Educator of the Year recognition reflects Wang’s dedication not only to scientific discovery, but also to fostering a supportive and collaborative learning environment for students and trainees across the Institute.
Congratulations to Eric on this well-deserved recognition.
Meet one of our early-career scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute: Alejandro Lillo, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Elena Pasquale, PhD. Lillo studies a family of protein receptors to uncover a new treatment approach for cancer patients.
When and how did you become interested in science?
When I was 15 years old, my parents told me that my mom was suffering from multiple sclerosis, a disease with no cure. At that time, I was a very good student interested in math, physics and biology.
I decided to focus all my efforts to become a scientist and be able to help people in the same situation. Even though I was frustrated, I tried to concentrate on positive things I could do to help people and contribute to new solutions as a researcher.
What are the key areas of research you focus on?
I am studying a small family of receptor tyrosine kinases called erythropoietin-producing hepatocellular receptors or EPH receptors. These receptors are highly implicated in different physiological and pathologic processes, including cancer.
Other experts have investigated these receptors as individual units, but we now know that these receptors can interact with each other to form groupings known as heterocomplexes. I am studying these heterocomplexes as part of a new potential therapeutic strategy for treating cancer.
What motivates you about your research?
Sometimes doing science can be frustrating. But I really love what I’m doing. Even when my hypotheses are wrong, I always try to think about why I got certain results and what I can learn from them.
I also reflect on why I chose this career, and it helps me to remember that I can benefit others by contributing to finding treatments for diseases with no cure.
What do you like about working here?
Most important to me is the family-like environment that we have here. Everybody is so collaborative and so helpful. Every time that I need something that we don’t have at the lab, I send an email and in five minutes I have a solution. We are collaborating with a lot of groups. And it goes both ways, so whenever other labs need something from us, we do our best to help out.
Also, something that is especially important for us postdocs, we have many different workshops, seminars and other resources to help us grow in our careers. And it is important for me to mention all the core facilities we have as they have been so supportive.
Thanks to them, I’ve developed skills in confocal microscopy, flow cytometry and mass spectrometry, adding to what I am learning inside the lab from my mentor.
What are your career goals?
I want to be a principal investigator in academia. I am building my skills in proposal writing, leadership, public speaking and other areas needed to successfully build and run an independent research lab.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not in the lab?
I love going to the beach and going hiking. And I enjoy going to the gym. It helps me to deal with stress and maintain my mental health.
Also, I am a food lover. Experiencing different kinds of cuisine makes me happy.
Postdocs at Sanford Burnham Prebys are pushing the boundaries of science every day through curiosity, collaboration, and innovation. This series highlights their unique journeys, what inspires their work, and the impact they’re making across our labs.
Developing mouse nerve cells displaying nuclei (yellow) surrounded by cell bodies, with long extensions called axons and thin branching structures called dendrites. Electrical signals travel from the axon of one cell to the dendrites of another.
Image courtesy of Torsten Wittman, UC San Francisco.
Event recording now available for panel discussion with scientists held on April 15, 2026
David Brenner, MD, president and CEO of Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, welcomed members of the San Diego community to the first “Inside the Science” event held on April 15, 2026. This Discovery Series community engagement program offered a behind-the-scenes look at cardiovascular research.
Attendees participated in an afternoon exploring exciting developments in translating science into heart health. Kurt Marek, PhD, the chief research development officer at Sanford Burnham Prebys, moderated the discussion among three featured panelists:
The program explored how heart disease develops across the lifespan from genetic and early-life factors to aging-related conditions. It also highlighted emerging research and new treatments to repair the heart and improve patient outcomes.
Ranade discussed his research regarding the causes of congenital heart defects. Image credit: Sanford Burnham Prebys.
Please sign up for the institute’s newsletter to be notified about future events. Recordings of past events are available online.
While there is no cost to attend “Inside the Science” events, philanthropy is vital to advancing the institute’s mission of improving human health through bold, innovative science.
Please consider a gift to help extend the Sanford Burnham Prebys mission to drive discoveries that improve lives.
Proteins in the neural tissues of a zebrafish embryo direct cells to line up and form the neural tube, which will become the spinal cord and brain. Zebrafish embryonic development research may help pinpoint the underlying cause of common neural tube defects, such as spina bifida, which occur in about 1 in 1,000 newborn children.
Image courtesy of Alexander Schier, Harvard University.
Colorized scanning electron micrograph of Vibrio bacteria. Some species of the rod-shaped bacteria cause cholera in humans.
Image courtesy of Tina Weatherby Carvalho, University of Hawaii at Manoa.