Colorized scanning electron micrograph of human lung tissue, depicting alveoli and bronchus. Lung alveoli are tiny, grape-like sacs, numbering in the millions, where essential gas exchange (oxygen/carbon dioxide) occurs. The bronchus is a major airway that branches from the trachea to conduct air into the lungs.
Image courtesy of Dennis Kunkel/SPL.
The Sanford Burnham Prebys Center for Cardiovascular and Muscular Diseases recently announced that Jimmy Massenet, PhD, is a recipient of a 2026 Science in Motion Travel Award.
Massenet, a postdoctoral associate in the lab of Pier Lorenzo Puri, MD, was selected to attend the 2026 Muscle Stem Cells and Regeneration Meeting held from July 19-24, 2026, in Victoria, the capital of the Canadian province of British Columbia.
The goal of the Science in Motion Travel Award is to support conference participation for emerging researchers in labs with a primary affiliation in the Center for Cardiovascular and Muscular Diseases.
Applications will open again on July 15, 2026.
Colorized scanning electron microscope composition of human sperm traveling through a fallopian tube.
Image courtesy of Steve Gschmeissner/Getty.
The series highlights the groundbreaking work and unique perspectives of women leaders in the biomedical sciences
On February 11, 2026, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute hosted the second event in the Women in Science Lecture Series. The occasion opened with a presentation by Cheryl A.M. Anderson, PhD, MPH, MS, professor and dean of the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at the University of California San Diego and director of the UCSD Center of Excellence in Health Promotion and Equity.
Anderson introduced attendees to some of the pivotal findings of her mentors studying the effects of nutrition on public health, including the landmark dietary approaches to stop hypertension (DASH) clinical trial. Because of the challenges in achieving significant heart disease prevention benefits outside of the controlled environments used in studies such as the DASH trial, Anderson was determined to explore other approaches.
“I put together this concept that instead of asking the individual to figure it all out from our dietary recommendations, maybe we could figure out how to have a healthy, sustainable food system,” said Anderson.
“I see a sustainable food system as one that maintains our ability to get lots and lots of nutrition and where you meet the current population’s needs without compromising what future generations might also need.”
In addition to discussing her scientific journey, Anderson provided insight into her experience serving with other experts to provide input into two different iterations of the federal government’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans. These guidelines from the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Agriculture set the standards for food in federally funded programs such as public school and day care lunches as well as the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) special supplemental nutrition program. Anderson shared her experience working collaboratively to provide science-based counsel in an ecosystem that also contains political considerations such as the interests of industries involved in agriculture and food production.
Anderson (at right) opened the event discussing her career journey focused on how to develop a healthy, sustainable food system. The event also featured a fireside chat and audience question-and-answer session with Anderson and Liou.
Lukas Chavez, PhD, MS, associate professor in the Cancer Genome and Epigenetics Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys and scientific director of the Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Molecular Tumor Board at Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine, then moderated a fireside chat and audience question-and-answer session with Anderson and Angela Liou, MD, physician-scientist and pediatric oncologist with a dual appointment at Rady Children’s Health and the Cancer Genome and Epigenetics Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys. Topics included: how new scientific insights are translated to reduce population-level health risks or guide care for children facing serious illnesses; how new technologies change the way you conduct research and deliver patient care; what can be done to ensure that scientific discoveries can be equitably accessed and lead to better outcomes for all; and what do future clinicians and scientists need in terms of skills, mindset and institutional support to succeed as public health researchers and physician-scientists.
The Women in Science Lecture Series, featuring quarterly events that are free and open to the public, is part of broader efforts at Sanford Burnham Prebys to foster an environment that nurtures the success of individuals from all backgrounds. The series is hosted by the Office of Workforce Engagement & Belonging and highlights 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 May 13, 2026.
Carcinoma cells via fluorescence microscopy.
Image courtesy of Frederick Keeney, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia.
Mouse brain vasculature, as imaged by light sheet fluorescence microscopy.
Image courtesy of Ali Erturk, Munich, Germany.
Cell stress response protein implicated in cancer progression, yet it also weakens resistance to immunotherapies
Metabolic disorders such as obesity and type 2 diabetes place extra stress on the liver. Liver cells try to protect themselves from the accompanying surge in dysfunctional proteins by activating factors that help restore an appropriate protein balance.
One of these factors is a protein called activating transcription factor 6 alpha (ATF6α) that was recently shown to drive the onset of liver cancer if left permanently active. In a Nature study published February 4, 2026, an international team of scientists demonstrated that activating ATF6α in mice caused liver disease that progressed to liver cancer.
In data from human liver cancer patients, ATF6α activation was linked with more aggressive tumors, a suppressed immune system surrounding tumors and reduced patient survival.
The researchers also uncovered ways that ATF6α might be used to advance the treatment of liver cancer. Liver cells with ATF6α switched off developed fewer tumors. While high ATF6α activity levels were associated with cancer progression, they also were found to make tumors more susceptible to certain immunotherapies.
These findings suggest the need for future clinical trials to test drugs that directly target ATF6α to treat the disease. Additionally, it might prove advantageous to screen liver cancer patients for ATF6α activity to find those most likely to benefit from existing immunotherapies.
Randal Kaufman, PhD, is a professor in the Center for Metabolic and Liver Diseases at Sanford Burnham Prebys and a co-corresponding author of the study. Image credit: Sanford Burnham Prebys.
To learn more, read the German Cancer Research Center press release.
Xin Li, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), shares first authorship of the study with co-corresponding author Cynthia Lebeaupin, PhD, principal scientist at Pfizer and former postdoctoral researcher at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute.
The other co-corresponding authors are Dirk Haller, PhD, Technische Universität München; Randal Kaufman, PhD, Sanford Burnham Prebys; and Mathias Heikenwälder, PhD, University of Tübingen and DKFZ.
Scientists and science communicators detail how caustic compounds meant to deter eaters of plants were harnessed to treat diabetes
The US Food and Drug Administration approved Metformin for use as a diabetes drug more than 30 years ago. This medicinal compound—prescribed to patients to help control high blood sugar—was discovered in nature through a toxic herb found in a variety of medieval remedies.
Sanford Burnham Prebys scientists Ani Deshpande, PhD, and Pamela Itkin-Ansari, PhD, recently released episode six of the Discovery Dialogues Podcast focused on Metformin and other medications with origins as plant poisons. The podcast features surgeon and writer Ambarish Satwik, MD, as well as endocrinologist David Nathan, MD, and Nir Barzilai, MD, a geneticist and longevity researcher.
The new episode of the Discovery Dialogues Podcast is available on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Stereomicrography of bacterial growth in a petri dish.
Image courtesy of Neil James Egan, PPG Industries, Cleveland, Ohio.
A human donor central retinal artery was cannulated (intubated) and perfused with Lectin FITC, a specific protein chemically linked to a fluorescent dye. The microvasculature of the optic nerve head area at the center is visible.
Image courtesy of Dong An, Lions Eye Institute, Australia.