Neurodegenerative and Neuromuscular Diseases Archives - Sanford Burnham Prebys

Dr. Piña-Crespo earned a PhD in Pharmacology from University College London (UCL), England under the supervision of Profs. Alasdair Gibb & David Colquhoun FRS. He completed postdoctoral training as a Pew Fellow/Research Associate with Prof. Steve Heinemann in the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory at The Salk Institute, La Jolla, California. Dr. Piña-Crespo has held faculty positions as Instructor and Assistant Professor at Universidad Centroccidental, Venezuela and as Lecturer in the Biology Department at the University of San Diego, California.

Education and Training

  • Postdoctoral training (Pew Fellow/Research Associate) The Salk Institute, California
  • PhD in Pharmacology University College London (University of London), England
  • Veterinarian (D.V.M.) Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado, Venezuela

Honors and Recognition

Pew Fellow in the Biomedical Sciences

Neuroscience Discovery Research

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Targeted protein S-nitrosylation of ACE2 inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Oh CK, Nakamura T, Beutler N, Zhang X, Piña-Crespo J, Talantova M, Ghatak S, Trudler D, Carnevale LN, McKercher SR, Bakowski MA, Diedrich JK, Roberts AJ, Woods AK, Chi V, Gupta AK, Rosenfeld MA, Kearns FL, Casalino L, Shaabani N, Liu H, Wilson IA, Amaro RE, Burton DR, Yates JR 3rd, Becker C, Rogers TF, Chatterjee AK, Lipton SA

Nat Chem Biol 2023 Mar ;19(3):275-283

Dr. Anne Bang is an experienced cell biologist and stem cell expert who leads efforts at the Prebys Center to develop patient cell specific and human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-based disease models for drug screening and target identification. Dr. Bang has over 20 years of experience in the fields of developmental and stem cell biology. She obtained a BS degree from Stanford University, a PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of California, San Diego, and did postdoctoral training in the Neurobiology Laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences where her studies focused on nervous system development. 

Anne’s experience in stem cell biology began in 2005 when she joined ViaCyte, Inc. where she served as Director of Stem Cell Research and managed an interdisciplinary group working to develop human embryonic stem cells as a replenishable source of pancreatic cells for the treatment of diabetes. Her efforts focused on optimization of the differentiation process, and then on advancing the cell therapy product into development, scaled manufacturing, product characterization, and safety assessment. Anne is a co-inventor on multiple ViaCyte patents, and her team’s contributions played a key role in securing a $20 MM California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Award. 

In June of 2010, Sanford Burnham Prebys recruited Anne as Director of Cell Biology to lead efforts in stem cell-based disease modeling at the Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics. Her role includes leading internal research projects, as well as external collaborations with academic and industry partners.  Anne’s research program is primarily focused on neurological and neuromuscular disease, with the aim of designing human cell-based models and assays that recapitulate disease phenotypes, yet have the throughput and reproducibility required for drug discovery. Towards this goal her group has worked to develop a suite of foundational high throughput assays to monitor neuronal morphology, mitochondrial function, and electrophysiology, using high content screening, and multi-electrode array formats. They have conducted high-throughput drug screens on muscular dystrophy patient cells, hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes, and hiPSC-derived neurons, including from Alzheimer’s patient specific hiPSC. Anne is a principal investigator for the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) National Cooperative Reprogrammed Cell Research Groups consortium and has also received research support from rare disease foundations and pharma sponsored collaborations. She also serves on advisory boards for multiple biotechnology companies.

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Guy Salvesen earned his PhD in biochemistry from Cambridge University in 1980. He conducted postdoctoral research at Strangeways Laboratory and MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, followed by further post-doctoral training at the University of Georgia. In 1991 he was appointed Assistant Professor at Duke University. Dr. Salvesen was recruited to Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in 1996, where he is professor and director of the Apoptosis and Cell Death Research Program and dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. He also holds an adjunct position as professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of California, San Diego.

Education

1981: PhD, Cambridge University, England, Biology
1977: B. Sc., London University, London, England, Microbiology

Other Appointments

Adjunct Professor, Department of Pathology, University of California, San Diego

Honors and Recognition

2014: Organizer, Keystone Meeting on Cell Death, February
2013: IUBMB Gold Medal Recipient, October
2010: Keynote Speaker, European Cell Death Organization Conference,
2010: Keynote Speaker, Gordon Research Conference on Cell Death
2009: Lifetime Achievement Award of the International Proteolysis Society
2008: Keynote Speaker, Queenstown Molecular Biology Conference
2008: Chair, Gordon Research Conference on Cell Death
2005: Helmut Holzer Memorial Prize
1999: International Proteolysis Society, Elected Secretary
1999: Keynote Speaker, Gordon Research Conference on Matrix Metalloproteinases
1988: American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, State of the Art Lecture
1996: Chair, Gordon Research Conference on Proteolytic Enzymes and Their Inhibitors

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Dr. Tautz develops novel drugs targeting protein tyrosine phosphatases that are implicated in cancer, thrombosis, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Tautz earned his PhD in Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Karlsruhe (Germany) with Dr. Janos Retey in 2002. He continued his research at the Burnham Institute with Dr. Tomas Mustelin, first as a postdoc and later as a staff scientist. In 2009 Dr. Tautz joined the faculty of the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute.
 

Education

2002: PhD, University of Karlsruhe, Germany, Chemistry, Biochemistry
1997: MS, University of Karlsruhe, Germany, Chemistry

Funding Awards and Collaborative Grants

American Heart Association Innovative Research Grant
 

Honors and Recognition

2014: Semifinalist, Stadtman Investigator Search, National Institutes of Health
2008/2006 : Society for Biomolecular Sciences Travel Awards
2006: American Chemical Society Travel Award
2006: William and Lillian Fishman Award for Exceptional Postdoctoral Research
2002: PhD in Chemistry magna cum laude, University of Karlsruhe, Germany

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Douglas Sheffler studies the many facets of addiction, including addiction to the nicotine found in tobacco products. Smoking continues to be the leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States, and the second leading cause of preventable deaths worldwide after hypertension (of which smoking is a risk factor).

With Peter Cosford, PhD, Sheffler, in collaboration with colleagues at UC San Diego and Camino Pharma LLC, a San Diego-based biotechnology company Cosford co-founded, are conducting clinical trials to advance an investigational drug called SBP-9330.

SBP-9330 targets a neuronal signaling pathway that underlies addictive behaviors, including tobacco use. If ultimately approved for market, it would be a first-in-class oral therapeutic to help people quit smoking.

“Our research suggests that SBP-9330’s mechanism of action—how it works—may also be effective for other types of addiction, such as cocaine, opioid and methamphetamine. In the future, we hope to explore and broaden the drug’s therapeutic uses.”

Prior to coming to Sanford Burnham Prebys in 2012 as a research assistant professor, Sheffler served in the same capacity at Vanderbilt University. He earned his PhD in biochemistry from Case Western Reserve University and his Bachelor of Science degree from Saint Vincent College.

Education

2005-2010: Post-doctoral Training, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN Mentor: Jeffrey Conn, PhD
1999-2005: PhD, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH Mentor: Bryan Roth, MD, PhD

Honors and Recognition

2013 NARSAD Young Investigator Award Brain and Behavior Research Foundation

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Dr. Yu Xin (Will) Wang received his PhD at the University of Ottawa where he identified cellular asymmetry and polarity mechanisms regulating muscle stem cell self-renewal and skeletal muscle regeneration. He then carried out postdoctoral training at Stanford University School of Medicine developing single cell multi-omic approaches to characterize the regenerative process and what goes awry with disease and aging.  

“I’ve always had a passion for science and became fascinated with how the body repairs and heals itself when I was introduced to the potential of stem cells in regenerative medicine. I was struck by the ability of a small pool of muscle stem cells that can rebuild and restore the function of muscle. My lab at Sanford Burnham Prebys aims to better understanding the repair process and harness our body’s ability to heal in order to combat chronic diseases and even counteract aging.”

Education and Training

Postdoctoral Fellowship, Stanford University School of Medicine
PhD in Cellular Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, Canada
BS in Biomedical Sciences, University of Ottawa, Canada

Prestigious Funding Awards

2020: NINDS K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award

Honors and Recognition

Governor General’s Gold Medal – Canada

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Evan Y. Snyder earned his MD and PhD (in neuroscience) from the University of Pennsylvania in 1980 as a member of NIH’s Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP). He had also studied psychology and linguistics at the University of Oxford. After moving to Boston in 1980, he completed residencies in pediatrics and neurology as well as a clinical fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at Children’s Hospital-Boston, Harvard Medical School. He also served as Chief Resident in Medicine (1984-1985) and Chief Resident in Neurology (1987) at Children’s Hospital-Boston. In 1989, he became an attending physician in the Department of Pediatrics (Division of Newborn Medicine) and Department of Neurology at Children’s Hospital-Boston, Harvard Medical School. From 1985-1991, concurrent with his clinical activities, he conducted postdoctoral research as a fellow in the Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School. In 1992, Dr. Snyder was appointed an instructor in neurology (neonatology) at Harvard Medical School and was promoted to assistant professor in 1996. He maintained lab spaces in both Children’s Hospital-Boston and at Harvard Institutes of Medicine/Beth-Israel Deaconess Medical Center. In 2003, Dr. Snyder was recruited to Sanford Burnham Prebys as Professor and Director of the Program in Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology. He then inaugurated the Stem Cell Research Center (serving as its founding director) and initiated the Southern California Stem Cell Consortium. Dr. Snyder is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics (FAAP). He also received training in Philosophy and Linguistics at Oxford University.

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Probing the lithium-response pathway in hiPSCs implicates the phosphoregulatory set-point for a cytoskeletal modulator in bipolar pathogenesis.

Tobe BTD, Crain AM, Winquist AM, Calabrese B, Makihara H, Zhao WN, Lalonde J, Nakamura H, Konopaske G, Sidor M, Pernia CD, Yamashita N, Wada M, Inoue Y, Nakamura F, Sheridan SD, Logan RW, Brandel M, Wu D, Hunsberger J, Dorsett L, Duerr C, Basa RCB, McCarthy MJ, Udeshi ND, Mertins P, Carr SA, Rouleau GA, Mastrangelo L, Li J, Gutierrez GJ, Brill LM, Venizelos N, Chen G, Nye JS, Manji H, Price JH, McClung CA, Akiskal HS, Alda M, Chuang DM, Coyle JT, Liu Y, Teng YD, Ohshima T, Mikoshiba K, Sidman RL, Halpain S, Haggarty SJ, Goshima Y, Snyder EY

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2017 May 30 ;114(22):E4462-E4471

Pier Lorenzo Puri earned his MD at the University of Rome “la Sapienza” in 1991. Dr. Puri completed his internship in Internal Medicine at the hospital “Policlinico Umberto I” (Rome) from 1992 to 1997, and defended an experimental thesis on the vascular effects of angiotensin II to graduate as Specialist in Internal medicine at the University of Rome “la Sapienza” in 1997. During this time he was frequently working at the Freien University of Berlin, as visiting scientist at the Deprtment of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, to perform experiments of protein and DNA microinjection in cultured cells. Dr. Puri trained as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), in the department of Cell Biology, under the supervision of Dr. Wang, from 1997 to 2001. He was appointed as Staff Scientist at the Salk Institute (La Jolla) in 2001, and became an Assistant Telethon Scientist at the Dulbecco Telethon Institute in Rome in 2002. He was upgraded to Associate Telethon Scientist at the Dulbecco Telethon Institute in Rome since 2007 and became Senior Telethon Scientist, Dulbecco Telethon Institute, in 2012, but declined this position. Dr. Puri joined Sanford Burnham Prebys as an Assistant Professor in 2004. He has been promoted to Associate Professor in 2010 and full Professor in 2015. From 2008 to 2016 Dr. Puri served as Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego. From 2008 to 2013 Dr Puri was an Associate Member of Sanford Children’s Health Research Center. Dr Puri has been Director of the laboratory of Epigenetics and Regeneration at Fondazione S. Lucia, Roma, Italy, but stepped down this position since 2019.

Education

University of California San Diego, Postdoctoral, Department of Biology
University of Rome La Sapienza, PhD, Internal Medicine
University of Rome La Sapienza, MD, Internal Medicine
University of Rome La Sapienza, Undergraduate, Internal Medicine

Other Appointments

2020-2024: Member of the Science Advisory Board (SAB) European Commission-funded Consortium BIND (Brain Involvement In Dystrophinopathies)
2015-2019: Standing Member, NIH Study Section (SMEP)
2010-present: Member of Editorial Board of Skeletal Muscle

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Elena Pasquale earned her PhD in biology from the University of Parma, Italy. She did postdoctoral work at Cornell University, after which she was appointed Research Assistant Professor at University of Parma. Following a second postdoctoral training period at the University of California in San Diego, Dr. Pasquale was appointed Assistant Research Biologist at that institution. Dr. Pasquale was recruited to Sanford Burnham Prebys in 1990.

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Nicholas Cosford, PhD has served on the Sanford Burnham Prebys Board of Trustees since 2023. He is the first faculty member to do so.

Cosford joined the Sanford Burnham Prebys faculty in 2008 as an associate professor. In 2013, he became a full professor. His lab investigates the interactions of small molecule compounds with therapeutically important proteins and cellular signaling pathways. With a specific focus on the discovery and optimization of compounds that might treat cancer, central nervous system diseases and infectious diseases.

Prior to joining Sanford Burnham Prebys in 2005, Cosford worked in both the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.  At Sibia Neurosciences and at Merck Research Laboratories, he directed multidisciplinary research teams focused on small-molecule hit-to-lead optimization and was responsible for moving several lead compounds through to the clinical phase, including a nicotinic agonist (Altinicline) from research to Phase II clinical trials for treating Parkinson’s disease.

He is an author of more than 90 peer-reviewed, published scientific papers, and has been issued more than 40 issued patents, with an additional 40 patent applications pending.

Cosford has a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the University of Bath in England and Doctor of Philosophy degree in organic chemistry from Emory University in Atlanta, GA.  

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