cancer center open house Archives - Sanford Burnham Prebys

Tag: cancer center open house

Institute News

Sanford Burnham Prebys event explores the science behind addiction

AuthorGreg Calhoun
Date

August 2, 2024

Nicholas Cosford, PhD, co-director of the Cancer Molecular Therapeutics Program, presents an overview of the many links between addiction and cancer.

Scientists and clinicians from three local research institutions converged July 31 to discuss new ways to treat multiple addictions at Sanford Burnham Prebys open house

The  NCI-designated Cancer Center at Sanford Burnham Prebys welcomed San Diego community members to the institute’s campus on July 31, 2024 for an open house focused on addiction research.  The Cancer Center team developed the event in partnership with scientists from Scripps Research and the University of California San Diego School of Medicine.

Ze’ev Ronai, PhD, director of the Sanford Burnham Prebys Cancer Center, formally opened the event and welcomed attendees before introducing David A. Brenner, MD, president and CEO of Sanford Burnham Prebys.

William Gerhart, chair of the Sanford Burnham Prebys board of trustees

William Gerhart, chair of the Sanford Burnham Prebys board of trustees, delivered welcoming remarks focused on the potential benefits to families of improving the treatment and prevention of addiction and addiction-associated cancers.

“As I have learned more about the research being presented here, I am impressed by just how much of a powerhouse we have on this mesa regarding both cancer and addiction science,” said Brenner.

William Gerhart, chair of the Sanford Burnham Prebys board of trustees; Nicholas Cosford, PhD, co-director of the Cancer Molecular Therapeutics Program; and Michael Jackson, PhD, senior vice president of Drug Discovery and Development at the Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics (Prebys Center), also provided opening remarks emphasizing the collaborative nature of the featured research as well as the potential benefits to families of improving the treatment and prevention of addiction and addiction-associated cancers.

Attendees had the opportunity to learn from and interact with the following scientists at stations featuring posters describing research underway at all three represented institutions:

In addition to his welcoming comments, Cosford also presented an overview of the many links between addiction and cancer.

  • Douglas Sheffler, PhD, is an associate professor in the Center for Therapeutics Discovery at Sanford Burnham Prebys. Sheffler discussed a drug discovery effort focused on treating nicotine addiction.
  • Benjamin Mckenna, PhD, is an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine and staff psychologist at Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System. Mckenna presented on the same drug as Sheffler with an update on phase I clinical trial results regarding safety, optimal dosage and efficacy.
  • Steven Olson, PhD, executive director of Medicinal Chemistry at the Prebys Center, presented on work being conducted at the center in collaboration with Jackson. Olson described a drug being studied as an alternative to opioids that has shown promising benefits for reducing pain and addiction-related behavior.
  • Kokila Shankar, PhD, is a postdoctoral associate at Sanford Burnham Prebys working in the Cosford lab. Shankar detailed efforts to find new drugs to treat alcohol use disorder, which is estimated to cause approximately one of every 25 cancer diagnoses.
  • Bryan Cruz, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow at Scripps Research working in the lab of Marisa Roberto, PhD, vice chair and Paul and Cleo Schimmel Endowed Chair in the Department of Molecular Medicine. Cruz discussed his research to uncover new ways of treating alcohol use disorder rooted in posttraumatic stress disorder, and thereby reduce cancer cases associated with excessive alcohol consumption.
  • Valentina Vozella, PhD, is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Molecular Medicine at Scripps Research. She also is a member of the Roberto lab. Vozella presented on studies regarding the effect of social isolation on the development of alcohol use disorder during adolescence, as well as on potential methods of treatment and prevention.

Participants were able to tour the Prebys Center, which is the institute’s comprehensive center for drug discovery and chemical biology. Visitors were able to see how the center’s researchers can quickly test the potential effectiveness of hundreds of thousands of compounds to find new prospective treatments. Many scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys partner with the Prebys Center to conduct drug discovery searches based on new research findings, including several of the event’s poster presenters.

The open house featured a reception with remarks from Robert Anthenelli, MD, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine. Anthenelli’s research focuses on developing new or improved treatments for cancer-causing tobacco and alcohol use disorders. He shared insights he has gained as a physician-scientist working in this area over the past 30 years.

The reception also included concluding remarks from Helen Eckmann, EdD, an NCI-designated Cancer Center Community Advisory Board member. The board hosts the center’s open house events. Its members strive to bridge the gap between biomedical science and the people who need it most: patients and the families and friends who love and support them.

Institute News

The Science Behind Addiction

AuthorGreg Calhoun
Date

July 25, 2024

Science Behind Addiction graphic

Scientists and clinicians from three local research institutions converge July 31 to discuss new ways to treat multiple addictions at Sanford Burnham Prebys Open House

The NCI-designated Cancer Center at Sanford Burnham Prebys welcomes San Diego community members to the institute’s campus for an open house focused on addiction research.  The Cancer Center team developed the event in partnership with scientists from Scripps Research and the University of California San Diego School of Medicine.

The event will take place Wednesday, July 31, 2024, at 3:30 pm at 10901 N. Torrey Pines Road in La Jolla. More information and the online registration form are located on the institute’s website.

Attendees will meet scientists working to better understand the science behind addiction. Here’s a sneak peek of presenters and topics:

  • Douglas Sheffler, PhD, is an associate professor in the Center for Therapeutics Discovery at Sanford Burnham Prebys. Sheffler will discuss a drug discovery effort focused on treating nicotine addiction.
  • Benjamin Mckenna, PhD, is an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine and staff psychologist at Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System. Mckenna will present on the same drug as Sheffler with an update on phase I clinical trial results regarding safety, optimal dosage and efficacy.
  • Michael Jackson, PhD, is senior vice president of Drug Discovery and Development at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics and co-director of the Cancer Molecular Therapeutics Program in the institute’s NCI-Designated Cancer Center. Jackson will talk about a drug being studied as an alternative to opioids that has shown promising benefits for reducing pain and addiction-related behavior.
  • Kokila Shankar, PhD, is a postdoctoral associate at Sanford Burnham Prebys working in the lab of Nicholas Cosford, PhD, co-director of the NCI-Designated Cancer Center’s Cancer Molecular Therapeutics Program. Shankar will detail efforts to find new drugs to treat alcohol use disorder, which is estimated to cause approximately one of every 25 cancer diagnoses.
  • Bryan Cruz, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow at Scripps Research working in the lab of Marisa Roberto, PhD, vice chair and Paul and Cleo Schimmel Endowed Chair in the Department of Molecular Medicine. Cruz will discuss his research to uncover new ways of treating alcohol use disorder rooted in posttraumatic stress disorder, and thereby reduce cancer cases associated with excessive alcohol consumption.
  • Valentina Vozella, PhD, is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Molecular Medicine at Scripps Research. She also is a member of the Roberto lab. Vozella will present on studies regarding the effect of social isolation on the development of alcohol use disorder during adolescence, as well as on potential methods of treatment and prevention.
  • Robert Anthenelli, MD, is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine. Anthenelli’s research focuses on developing new or improved treatments for cancer-causing tobacco and alcohol use disorders. He will share some of his insights as a physician-scientist working in this area over the past 30 years.

In addition to poster presentations from speakers, guests will have the opportunity to talk with  scientists, clinicians and research advocates during an informal evening reception.

The NCI-designated Cancer Center open house events are hosted by the center’s Community Advisory Board. Its members strive to bridge the gap between biomedical science and the people who need it most: patients and the families and friends who love and support them.

Institute News

Melanoma’s mysteries revealed at Sanford Burnham Prebys

AuthorGreg Calhoun
Date

March 26, 2024

crowd listens to poster presentation at March 2024 Cancer Center Open House

Cancer Center open house welcomes San Diego community to learn the latest about melanoma research

The Institute’s NCI-designated Cancer Center hosted the open house on Wednesday, March 20. It provided an opportunity for community members to meet scientists who seek to better understand melanoma and use this knowledge to improve treatment and prevention.

The event was sponsored by the center’s Community Advisory Board, an eight-member committee that focuses on advocacy, education and community engagement, as well as providing Cancer Center leaders and members with the perspectives of patients, survivors and their loved ones.

Open house participants could select from a variety of activities. Two labs provided brief poster presentations.

Ze’ev Ronai, PhD, director of the Sanford Burnham Prebys Cancer Center and the Jeanne and Gary Herberger Leadership Chair in Cancer Research, and his team discussed several areas of research, including the dissection of microbiota commensals which support the immune system’s fight against melanoma, the studies undertaken to understand melanoma addiction to the metabolic enzyme GCDH, and the development of new drugs to target the molecular machine that translates genetic instructions into proteins, which are known to be hyperactive in cancer cells.

Linda Bradley, PhD, professor in the Cancer Metabolism and Microenvironment Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys, and her group detailed their work on improving the immune system response to viral infections and cancer, including a new potential immune checkpoint therapy and efforts to rejuvenate overstressed immune cells to enhance the effectiveness of immunotherapy.

Attendees also could take tours of two different research facilities. Many participants enjoyed an insider’s view into the field of cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), a technology that garnered three key innovators the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The Cryo-EM core facility enables scientists to create 3D images of the cell and all its constituent parts that are accurate to the tiniest detail as it is able to capture individual atoms. Images taken using cryo-EM can be organized sequentially to develop films that show in real time how the cell’s many actors interact, helping scientists map interactions between drugs identified at Sanford Burnham Prebys and their target proteins, thereby advancing novel modalities for the treatment of melanoma and other cancers.

The second tour brought community members to the Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics. The Prebys Center is the Institute’s comprehensive center for drug discovery and chemical biology. Visitors were able to see the center’s state-of-the-art robots that enable researchers to quickly test the potential effectiveness of hundreds of thousands of compounds to find new prospective treatments. Many scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys partner with the Prebys Center to conduct drug discovery searches based on new research findings, including those studying melanoma and other cancers.

Many of the visitors had the opportunity to visit a melanoma research laboratory to learn about research projects in the Ronai lab and view melanoma cells as seen under the microscope.

Open House guests conversing in Chairmen's Hall

Following the tours, Ronai shared an overview of the Cancer Center and highlighted recent accomplishments. Attendees interacted with Gregory Daniels, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist and melanoma expert from University of California San Diego and Steven Silverstein, a melanoma survivor, former president of the Melanoma Research Foundation and a melanoma research advocate. The open house concluded with an opportunity for guests to speak with cancer scientists and featured speakers during the evening reception.

“We were honored to provide our valued guests with the opportunity to learn about the research conducted at our Cancer Center, including ongoing melanoma research,” says Ronai. “Our open houses, which focus on different unmet needs in cancer, allow us to welcome and engage with the San Diego community, to share our findings and be inspired by patients and their loved ones.”

Institute News

Behind the scenes at Sanford Burnham Prebys’ Cancer Center

AuthorMiles Martin
Date

March 28, 2023

A scientist - a young woman with glasses - presents her poster on colorectal cancer to a group of interested open house guests

Cancer Center open house connects San Diego community with scientists working toward cancer cures

The Institute’s NCI-designated Cancer Center hosted an open house to showcase the latest research advances in cancers of the digestive system. The event was sponsored by the center’s Community Advisory Board (CAB), which provides a link to community networks of people—including patients, survivors and their loved ones.

“These events are especially helpful for people affected by cancer because our researchers can explain the science behind the disease and the approaches we use to find new treatments,” says Associate Professor Cosimo Commisso, PhD, who co-hosted the event with Adjunct Associate Professor Pamela Itkin-Ansari, PhD “As researchers, it’s critical that we have community participation to influence our research—so we benefit as well.” 

The open house, which was free to the public, fulfills a key part of the CAB’s mission—to create awareness of the cancer research being done at the Institute and to promote dialogue between its scientists and the community. Guests had the chance to mingle with cancer researchers, and there was also a panelist table, where they could ask questions directly to a panel including two cancer survivors and a clinician.

The theme of the open house was cancers of the digestive system, which includes pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, stomach cancer and colorectal cancer. Although these cancers are very diverse, one thing many cancers of the digestive system have in common is that they take a long time to diagnose and are difficult to treat. 

“These are devastating cancers,” says Commisso. “We’ve doubled the survival rates for pancreatic cancer since I started working in this field over a decade ago, but it’s still only around 10%. And that’s just not good enough.”

Attendees also got behind-the-scenes tours of labs, including Commisso’s, where researchers are working to halt pancreatic cancer by blocking nutrients—in essence, starving tumor cells of the fuel they need to grow and proliferate. 

“We have a lot of researchers taking different approaches to cancer here at the Institute, and it’s important for people affected by cancer to know that while we’re still a long way off from ending cancer forever, we’re still making progress,” adds Commisso.

Institute News

Stepping into a scientist’s shoes at the Cancer Center Open House

AuthorMonica May
Date

June 20, 2019

Sanford Burnham Prebys Cancer Center Open House poster presentation

Cancer research has led to new insights and novel medicines that have transformed the lives of parents, grandparents and children around the world. Yet cancer remains the number-one cause of death in San Diego (nationally, it is the second-leading cause of death). The quest for new and better treatments—and a world free of the disease—remains urgent. 

On June 13, 2019, the San Diego community—including many cancer survivors and their loved ones—had a unique opportunity to step into the shoes of a cancer researcher and see how cancer drugs are discovered at the open house of our NCI-designated Cancer Center. The facility is one of only seven National Cancer Institute (NCI)–designated basic research cancer centers in the nation. 

Following an introduction by Garth Powis, D. Phil., professor and director of the NCI-designated Cancer Center, guests embarked on guided lab tours. Attendees discovered how we’re working to find better ways to combat cancer, viewed highly specialized equipment—such as machines that model the low-oxygen environment surrounding a tumor—and donned lab coats to catch a glimpse of our ultra-high-throughput drug screening robot in action at our Prebys Center for Drug Discovery. The state-of-the-art technology at the Prebys Center can screen hundreds of thousands of potential drug candidates in one run, accelerating the time it takes to find new, promising compounds that may become tomorrow’s cancer treatments.

Guests also learned how San Diego, with a multitude of world-class research institutes, universities and biotech companies, is shaping the future of cancer diagnosis and treatment. And our Community Advisory Board, comprised of cancer research advocates and cancer survivors, were on hand to share the importance of factoring in patients’ perspectives as breakthrough science moves from “bed to bedside.”

See the science in action in these event photos.

Missed the event? We hope you can join us at our next open house in November. The event is free and open to the public. Check for more details at sbpdiscovery.org/calendar.

Many thanks to our Community Advisory Board (CAB), the host of the open house. Comprised of nine cancer research advocates, including many cancer survivors, this committee strives to create a dialogue between our scientists and the community. We are grateful for CAB’s efforts surrounding the event, which included helping our scientists prepare lay-friendly presentations and posters that were critical to the event’s success.

Interested in keeping up with our latest discoveries, upcoming events and more? Subscribe to our monthly newsletter, Discoveries.

Institute News

Seeing is believing: cancer imaging

AuthorSusan Gammon
Date

June 28, 2018

Cancer Open House

SBP’s recent Cancer Center Open House event gave guests a unique opportunity to see cancer in a different light—through the eyes of scientists. More than 120 guests took guided tours of faculty labs, giving attendees a behind-the-scenes look into our scientists’ approach to finding new pathways to combat cancer—the second-leading cause of death in the U.S.

SBP Cancer Center Open House Guests

SBP Cancer Center Open House Guests

Nicholas Cosford, PhD, deputy director of SBP’s NCI-designated Cancer Center, welcomed visitors with an introduction, including an overview of how Dr. William Fishman and his wife, Lillian, moved from Tufts University in Boston to found the Institute with a pioneering spirit that helped make SBP into the renowned center of discovery it is today.

After light refreshments and mingling with cancer scientists, survivors and research advocates, guests signed up for tours:

Picture This: MRI Imaging
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) helps scientists analyze the structures and functions of proteins and their interactions with drugs. This information is essential for developing new, powerful therapies to treat cancer.
Francesca Marassi, PhD

Eye on Crystals: Crystallography
Using atomic models of proteins, scientists can visualize how molecules interact to create signals that promote cancer, and design drugs to block those interactions.
Robert Liddington, PhD

Getting Big to See Small: Cryo-Electron Microscopy
By assembling 3D maps of cells and their components, scientists can derive models to understand mutations that cause irregularities in cell functions leading to cancer.
Dorit Hanein, Ph.D.

In Focus: Optical Imaging of Cancer Cells
Fluorescent staining of cell proteins helps researchers visualize the cell signals and pathways that drive cancer progression.
Petrus de Jong, MD, PhD

Fluorescent science at SBP's cancer center open house​

“It’s an honor to host the supporters of SBP’s Cancer Center,” said Cosford. “On evenings like this, we learn so much about what the public wants—and needs to know about cancer research. The questions we get from them are always refreshing and out-of-the-box, which is a very valuable experience for us as cancer researchers.”

Special thanks to SBP’s Cancer Advisory Board for hosting the event and their support of our postdocs and graduate students who present their research. And thank you as well to Bobbie Larraga and Heather Buthmann who helped coordinate the very special evening.

Institute News

Maria Victoria Recouvreux, PhD, is awarded the 2017 Eric Dudl Award

AuthorHelen Hwang
Date

November 15, 2017

Bret Dudl, Dr. Jim Dudl, Maria Victoria Recouvreux, PhD, and Barbara Dudl

SBP is proud to announce that the 2017 recipient of the Eric Dudl Endowed Scholarship Award is Maria Victoria Recouvreux, PhD Each year, a promising postdoc is awarded this prestigious scholarship to further their career advancement. Dr. Recouvreux works on pancreatic cancer in the laboratory of Cosimo Commisso, PhD, assistant professor in the Cancer Center.

 

“Since I received the award, I’ve learned more about what an amazing man and researcher that Eric Dudl was. I’m touched at how he was working at the Institute up until his own cancer overtook him. It takes courage to do that. I’m truly grateful for Eric Dudl and all the supporters who help fund the Eric Dudl Award to keep his memory alive,” said Dr. Recouvreux. 

 

Pancreatic cancer is a particularly aggressive type of cancer with a very low survival rate and so few effective treatments. Dr. Recouvreux’s research focuses on understanding the metabolic adaptations of pancreatic cancer cells, meaning how they survive and grow. By developing a better understanding of how pancreatic cells metastasize, she can find drugs to slow or halt how the cancer cells grow.

 

With this award, she will attend an international conference and learn from leading scientists in the field.  

 

Though she became interested in studying biology as early as high school, she became even more devoted to the study of tumor biology when several members of her family were diagnosed with an inherited disease that cause tumors in endocrine organs. As a result, her family had their DNA sequenced and are now able to control the disease through regular medical check-ups.

 

Dr. Recouvreux herself understands firsthand how discoveries in medical science can truly save lives.

 

The Eric Dudl Endowed Scholarship Award recognizes a promising postdoctoral researcher working in the field of cancer. Eric Dudl was a dedicated SBP young researcher. He had just begun his postdoctoral training in 2006, when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. The cancer progressed quickly and would claim his life in just 9 months. Eric’s family established the award in his honor.

 

Dr. Jim Dudl, Eric’s father, presented the award to Dr. Recouvreux at the November 2017 Cancer Center Open House as Eric’s mother Barbara and Eric’s brother Bret looked on. Dr. Dudl asked, “Could you take the baton to continue cancer research for Eric?” Dr. Recouvreux replied she would be “honored.”  

 

Eleven years after his passing, Eric Dudl’s legacy lives on.

 

You can donate to the Eric Dudl Endowed Scholarship Fund by clicking here.

Institute News

SBP Cancer Center Open House Draws Huge Crowds

AuthorHelen Hwang
Date

June 15, 2017

SBP Cancer Center Open House

More than 150 visitors came to learn about the intricate workings and challenges of aging research at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) on June 8. It was an incredibly successful Cancer Center Open House, open to the general public. The theme was “Cancer and Aging” and featured four laboratories discussing the following topics:

  • Diet, Exercise and Aging – Peter D. Adams, PhD
  • Cellular Aging – Malene Hansen, PhD
  • The Aging Heart – Karen Ocorr, PhD
  • The Microbiome and Aging – Scott Peterson, PhD

Visitors perused posters, peered through microscopes and toured labs. One of the hands-on demonstration was to see firsthand what a damaged cell looks like, which in turn can lead to cells growing uncontrollably and developing into tumors.

In the Adams’ lab, guests were introduced to the concept of slowing down the aging process. Postdoc Aaron Havas, PhD, explained how diet and exercise can positively affect aging, which can hopefully reduce cancer risks.

C. elegan worms, or tiny, transparent roundworms, were used in Hansen’s lab to explain how autophagy, or cell recycling, can impact our aging process. Recent studies from Hansen’s lab show how mild heat stress and dietary restriction can increase your lifespan.

Ocorr exhibited the live beating heart of a fruit fly, which has virtually the same heart rate as a human heart surprisingly. Fruit flies give us insight into how heart disease develops. Her experiments are currently aboard the International Space Station to measure the effects of gravity on the heart, among other studies. See news coverage of Ocorr’s experiment in The New York Times.

The microbiome, which encompasses bacteria, viruses and fungi that mostly live in our gut, has a major impact on healthy aging, explained Peterson. He studies the “leaky gut,” which affects how bacterial toxins may enter the bloodstream through weak intestinal walls and affect other organs in our bodies.

Twice a year, the Institute opens its doors to the public to give them the opportunity to step into working laboratories and meet scientists to discuss their research.

Our next Cancer Center Open House is scheduled for Thursday, November 9. This event is open to the public. Check back on www.sbpdiscovery.org to register and a chance to visit SBP.

Institute News

Roberto Tinoco, PhD, wins the 2016 Eric Dudl Scholarship Award

AuthorHelen I. Hwang
Date

October 17, 2016

Guy Salvesen, PhD, Roberto Tinoco, PhD, and Dr. Jim Dudl, father of Eric Dudl

In a touching, heartfelt ceremony, Dr. Jim Dudl presented the Eric Dudl Scholarship Award to this year’s postdoctoral winner Roberto Tinoco. Dr. Jim Dudl is the father of Eric Dudl, a postdoctoral researcher who worked at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute up to four days before his death from lung cancer. Eric Dudl was only 33 years old.

Dr. Dudl told the audience how his son thought SBP was the best place on earth to work and a “place you don’t find very often.” Eric didn’t want to stop work early, even as the cancer took an excruciating toll on his body. “His mission was to give back to the world,” said Dr. Dudl. Eric gave what little life’s savings he had to give back to the Institute and help other postdocs launch their future careers.

“I feel very fortunate and honored to win the award in memory of Eric Dudl. I want to carry the torch for him in finding new immunotherapies,” said Roberto Tinoco, recipient of this year’s Eric Dudl Award. Tinoco himself lost both parents to cancer so his drive to improve patient treatments is not just professional. It’s personal.

Winning the Eric Dudl Award has been a significant boost for him, says Tinoco. In his sixth year as a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Linda Bradley, PhD Tinoco is ready to start his own laboratory. With the funds from the award, Tinoco said he “learned about the latest developments in immunotherapies” at a conference in New York City to help him develop his own ideas even further.

In the past year, he’s published as first author and is working in collaboration with Eli Lilly pharmaceutical company. His plans for research in his own lab involve “continuing to look at the mechanisms of T cell dysfunction in human and mice. We looked at melanoma in the past but I’m interested in expanding to other cancers.”    

Before the Cancer Center Open House tours began, Guy Salvesen, PhD, who runs a SBP laboratory and is also dean of SBP’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, introduced the award and helped present the award to Tinoco. 

Dr. Dudl poignantly told the audience that Eric “got his wish of giving back.”   

Institute News

Cancer center open house gives high school kids a foot in the door

AuthorHelen I. Hwang
Date

October 17, 2016

Torrey Pines High School students, Karishma Shah and Rachel J. Lian

Teenager  Rachel J. Lian got a chance to see the beating heart of a live fruit fly under a microscope for the first time at the open house held by the NCI-designated Cancer Center held at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) in October 2016. As a high school junior in San Diego, Lian knew that fruit flies are used as model systems in cancer research from her Advanced Placement biology class but she had never seen one up close like she did in the laboratory of Karen Ocorr, PhD

“It was really cool,” said Lian, who came with a group of parents and students from Torrey Pines High School. For the kids, it was also the first time they stepped foot into a professional scientific laboratory, an environment they aspired to work in the future.

Ocorr’s laboratory was one of five open to visitors at the open house, which was themed around how the environment and lifestyle affect cancer development. Twice a year, the Institute opens its doors to their laboratories for the community so they can get to know SBP.

Lian was at the open house with fellow junior Karishma Shah, who are both members of the school’s iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine) team. Regular club meetings at Torrey Pines High School prepare about 20 students for an annual competition in Boston. Teams of students work on solving global challenges in medicine or agriculture with synthetic biology.

“Seeing the applications in the lab really brought science to life,” said Shah. Shah also got a chance to see a mass spectrometer in action for the first time. Both young women aspire to be medical doctors with PhDs, combining clinical work with biomedical research.

Ocorr’s tour was centered on what flies can tell us about exercise and cancer. Visitors from the community also got to hear talks about inflammation and cancer from the laboratory of Carl Ware, PhD, the role of the microbiome in cancer from the laboratory of Scott Peterson, PhD, how obesity increases cancer risk from the laboratory of Maria Diaz-Meco, PhD, and how natural products inform drug discovery from Ian Pass, PhD, and Chris Larson, PhD, both scientists in the Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics.

One dad came on behalf of his 14-year-old son who wasn’t yet old enough to see for himself. Visitors have to be a minimum age of 16 to enter SBP’s laboratories.  “He’s interested in genetics,” said Ben Holtzman. “It’s good to expose him to what’s going on these days.”

The next open house will be held in June 2017. Check back on www.sbpdiscovery.org for more details.