Sanford Burnham Prebys hosts a unique educational program to train Ph.D. candidates, postdoctoral scientists, and clinical fellows in cutting-edge translational stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. Importantly, stem cell biology broadly includes regenerative medicine, gene or cell therapy, molecular medicine, developmental biology, tissue engineering, oncogenesis, degeneration, aging, disease modeling, genome editing, drug discovery, bioinformatics, and artificial intelligence. We embrace CIRM’s (the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine’s) overall mission which is to improve human health and well-being through the broader principles of developmental and stem cell biology.
The goal of the program is to educate highly-skilled, rigorous stem cell and regenerative medicine scientists and clinicians, who will expand the pool of researchers not only in California but worldwide, working towards the development of novel therapies for a broad range of diseases.
Sanford Burnham Prebys is committed to promoting diversity and strongly encourages applications to this CIRM Training Program from Ph.D. students from backgrounds historically underrepresented in biomedical research.
Project title Understating the regenerative potential of muscle stem cells (MuSCs) in dysferlinopathy
Lab skills/techniques Bulk, single cell, single nuclei RNA-seq, ChIP-seq analysis, cell line culture, molecular biology (RNA and protein-based), muscle dissection from in vivo murine models
Project title Uncovering dosage and temporal effects of drug and gene combinatorial perturbations through single-cell multi-omics integration in leukemic stem cells
Sophie Hao Graduate student Dong Lab Sanford Burnham Prebys
Project title The Extrahepatic Duct as a Novel Source of Liver Stem Cells
Win Ning Chen Graduate student Huang Lab Sanford Burnham Prebys
Project title Deciphering TREM2 Dysfunction On Tau Pathology In Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)
Lab skills/techniques Cellular transfection, biochemistry, stem cell biology, molecular cloning and biology, in vivo model (mouse models), xenotransplantation, in vitro mode
Yu-Ling Linda Chang Graduate student Colas Lab Sanford Burnham Prebys
Project title Investigation of the role of JUNB- interactants during cell fate reprogramming
Postdoctoral fellow
Mohammad Abdul Auwal Postdoctoral fellow Zaya’s Lab San Diego State University
Project title BRN3/POU4 homologs are required for mechanosensory neuron regeneration in planarians
Graduate students
Luisjesus Santiago Cruz Graduate student House Lab San Diego State University
Project title Role of macrophages in the development of ovarian cancer stem-like cells
Mallory Cathell Palatucci Graduate student Zaya’s Lab San Diego State University
Project title SoxB1-mediated chromatin remodeling in stem-cell-based tissue regeneration
Postdoctoral fellows
David McBride Postdoc Schultz Lab and Johnson Lab Scripps Research
Project title Development of a long-acting, local injectable formulation of a mesenchymal stem cell differentiating agent to promote regeneration in osteoarthritis
Lab skills/techniques Drug delivery formulation, immunology, high-throughput screening, bioinformatics
Delphine Leclerc Postdoc Miller Lab Scripps Research
Project title Development of potent and safe CRISPR tools for in vivo gene editing using
Lab skills/techniques CRISPR-Cas9, base editing, prime editing, synthetic biology, directed evolution, building bacterial selection circuits, high throughput sequencing
Fang Zhou Postdoc Schultz Lab Scripps Research
Project title Selective delivery of DYRK1A inhibitors for β-cell regeneration
Lab skills/techniques Peptide and small-molecule synthesis, purification and characterization by HPLC, mass spectroscopy and NMR, protein expression and purification, antibody drug conjugates and peptide drug conjugates synthesis, purification and characterization, biochemical and cell-based assays
Liping Liu Postdoc Schultz Lab Scripps Research
Project title Human Retinal pigment epithelial(hRPE) cells expansion for Retinal Repair in age-related macular degeneration (AMD)
Project title Single cell in vivo perturb seq study tissue aging
Lab skills/techniques In vivo perturb seq, Immunofluorescence and confocal analysis, CRISPR screening library construction
Graduate students
Ariana Sulpizio Graduate student Lairson Lab Scripps Research
Project title Targeting oligodendrocyte progenitor cells for the treatment of multiple sclerosis
Lab skills/techniques Drug discovery, chemical biology, remyelination
Corey Switzler Graduate student Lairson Lab Scripps Research
Project title Modulating Extrinsic Factors of OPC Remyelination Using Small Molecules
Lab skills/techniques Stem cell isolation, culture, and differentiation, in vivo animal studies, chemical biology techniques
Justice Fleischmann Graduate student Young Lab Scripps Research
Project title Investigating a novel trispecific T cell engaging antibody for enhanced anti-tumor responses
Lab skills/techniques Transgenic murine models, cell engineering, co-culture assays, flow cytometry, CRISPR, protein engineering, primary cell isolation from whole blood, tissue culture, bio-layer interferometry, lentivirus production, ELISA, PCR, molecular cloning, gel electrophoresis, western blot, confocal microscopy
Kayla Nutsch Graduate student Bollong Lab Scripps Research
Project title Small Molecule Inhibitors of YAP for Oncology
Lab skills/techniques Cell culture, cellular and biochemical assay development, high-throughput screening, protein purification, immunoprecipitation, click-chemistry, qPCR, molecular modeling in drug discovery
Maya Bulos Graduate student Bollong Lab Scripps Research
Project title Identifying New Pharmacological Mechanisms for Targeting the Hippo Pathway
Lab skills/techniques Cell culture, western blotting, immunoprecipitation, protein purification, fluorescence microscopy, qPCR
Michael Bula Graduate student Lipton Scripps Research
Project title Investigating role of Microglia in 3D cerebral organoid cultures
Lab skills/techniques Maintenance, differentiation, and quality control of iPSC/hESC lines, immunostaining, DNA extraction, RNA extraction, DNA cloning, qRT-PCR/PCR, western blotting, southern blotting, ELISA, molecular cloning, luciferase reporter assays, transfection
Clinical fellows
Harrison M. Penrose, MD, PhD Gastroenterology Clinical fellow Boland-Ghosh Lab UC San Diego
Project title Stem-cell Based Models of Inflammatory Bowe Disease as Platforms for Drug Discovery
Raffaella Lucciola, PhD Postdoctoral fellow Gage Lab Salk Institute
Project title Epigenetic Entropy and Drivers of Neuronal Identity Loss in Alzheimer’s Disease
Lab skills/techniques Our lab is at the interface between Stem Cell Biology and Neuroscience; Molecular Biology, Genomics, Sequencing Technology, Cell Reprogramming Technology
Silvia Vicenzi Postdoctoral fellow Crews Lab UC San Diego
Project title Wnt pathway receptors as novel biomarkers for the identification and characterization of multiple myeloma cancer stem-like cells
Lab skills/techniques Cellular and molecular biology, in vitro assays, in vivo techniques in zebrafish and mouse animal models, fluorescence live imaging and flow cytometry, optogenetics
Graduate students
Alma Renero Graduate student Manor Lab UC San Diego
Project title Partial reprogramming enhanced rescue of inner ear cochlear hair cell function
