Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders 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

Barbara Ranscht earned her PhD in Cell Biology/Developmental Neurobiology from the University of Tübingen, Germany in 1981. Her postdoctoral training was at King’s College in London, U.K., and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dr. Ranscht joined Sanford Burnham Prebys in 1987, and holds an adjunct professorship in the Department of Neurosciences at University of California, San Diego. From 1989 to 1992, Dr. Ranscht was the recipient of a McKnight Scholarship.

Education

1981: PhD, University of Tübingen, Germany Neurobiology

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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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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

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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