Jimmy Massenet, PhD, is a postdoctoral associate in the lab of Pier Lorenzo Puri, MD, a professor in the Center for Cardiovascular and Muscular Diseases at Sanford Burnham Prebys.
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.
Institute News
Q & A with Postdoctoral Researcher Dominic Denk, MD, MHBA, from the Karin Lab
Meet one of our early-career scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute: Dominic Denk, MD, MHBA, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Michael Karin, PhD. Denk studies cancer and gastrointestinal malignancies with a focus on how the immune system reacts to tumors and how to improve immunotherapies.
When and how did you become interested in science? It was quite by chance. I’m a physician by trade in Germany, and the first way I got into science was through medical school. You learn about topics such as biochemistry and physiology, and it leads you to wonder about what processes behind the scenes. These subjects sparked my interest, and I started reading articles and books on my own time in the library.
And then the second reason is that, in Germany, you are expected to do research for a few months to earn your academic credentials. It naturally pushed me into the research world and made me realize how much I like running experiments and analyzing data.
What did you imagine you would be doing professionally, and how did it evolve? I had many ideas. For quite some time while I was younger, I wanted to be a sports journalist.
My mom is a physician’s assistant and was always watching medical shows on TV in the background when I was growing up. I was never pushed into healthcare, but it was always present. Once I got to high school and found I enjoyed health and science courses, I started to think about going to medical school.
And once I started, I never looked back because I love being a physician.
What are the key areas of research you focus on? I work on cancer and gastrointestinal malignancies. I want to better understand how the immune system reacts to tumors and how to improve immunotherapies. Immunotherapies have become the standard of care for many cancers, but not necessarily those in the gastrointestinal tract.
Back in Germany. I worked on colorectal cancer and now I’m looking at pancreatic cancer. We want to know what makes pancreatic cancer metastasize to the liver because it is a tumor that spreads to the liver quite often.
Once it does, the prognosis is much, much worse. If we can learn what attracts pancreatic cancer cells to the liver and why the disease becomes more malignant there, it may lead to methods for preventing the cancer from spreading and better treating it if it has spread.
What motivates you about your research? Ultimately, it is about improving patient care. I have had the privilege of working in a large academic center that takes care of a lot of GI cancer patients. I have seen many patients with hepatocellular carcinoma undergo liver transplantation and experienced a cure in the end.
But for most patients, it’s not the case. I have seen patients who came to the hospital concerned about weight loss only to be diagnosed with advanced stage cancers. I’ve cared for people over months and seen them deteriorate. It’s terrible and makes me wonder if there is something more we can do.
We’ve had great advances for many malignancies, but not for every patient. And research is how we will get to a better place for more patients and their families.
What do you like about working here? There is a great sense of community, I think, and tons of scientific seminars across different fields. Everybody is very friendly and collaborative.
One thing that stands out is that there is very little red tape when it comes to solving problems. Recently, we had an incubator breaking down. We wrote one email and it was fixed within an hour or so. And that could have been catastrophicand led to months of delays for many projects in our lab.
What are your career goals? Ideally, I will continue being a physician-scientist using the expertise I’m building upon here in the Karin lab. I would like to start a small lab so that I could continue to care for patients while working with trainees and mentees to maintainresearch momentum.
As a practicing physician and a researcher, I would love to help bridge the gap between the basic science laboratory bench and the clinic. Too many promising projects never make it past the lab bench to actually be tested in the real world. We’ll never know if some of these ideas could help people if we don’t advance them from petri dishes and animal models to see how they perform in clinical trials.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not in the lab? I’m doing tons of hiking and enjoy exploring the area. I try to spend as much time as possible on the beach, so my big non-science goal for 2026 is to learn how to surf.
Postdocs at Sanford Burnham Prebys are pushing the boundaries of science every day through curiosity, collaboration, and innovation. This series highlights their unique journeys, what inspires their work, and the impact they’re making across our labs.
Meet one of our early-career scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute: Ambroise Manceau, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Cosimo Commisso, PhD. Manceau studies pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma — the most common form of pancreatic cancer with only a 13% five-year survival rate.
When and how did you become interested in science? When I was very young, I was a bit of a nerd when it came to reading reviews of new scientific studies written for kids. Especially anything related to biology.
I lost sight of that interest at some point in my teenage years. I tried going into computer science, but I realized very quickly that it wasn’t a good fit for me. That forced me to do some deeper self-reflection about what I really wanted to do, and that brought me back to biology.
I started studying biology at college, and everything just clicked into place. I really found my way when I went to college.
What brought you to the Commisso lab at Sanford Burnham Prebys? I have an uncle that I always admired who is a researcher here in California. From talking with him, it sounded like a great place to work and live as a scientist. When I was an undergraduate in France, I decided to do a four-month internship abroad in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California.
I absolutely loved it, and I knew I wanted to return when I could. Because you can finish your graduate school program a bit faster in France, I decided to go back to France to earn my doctorate and then apply for postdoctoral positions in Southern California.
I was looking for labs conducting interesting research in the region, and that is when I found the Commisso lab. It has been a terrific fit for me.
What are the key areas of research you focus on? My broad focus is on metabolism and organelle biology in pancreatic cancer. My main project looks at macropinocytosis, which is a cellular process that allows cells to gather extra resources from their surrounding environments. Pancreatic cancer cells use this process as an adaptation because they exist in an environment where resources are scarce, and they need to find fuel for their expansion.
I study the contents taken in when pancreatic cancer cells contort their cell surfaces to create pockets called macropinosomes. By analyzing every single protein located on macropinosomes, I found that calcium and zinc transporter proteins present in macropinosomes also are required for macropinocytosis.
These proteins have never been targeted before in pancreatic cancer. By continuing to research them, our long-term goal is to use this strategy to cut the nutrient supply to tumors and see if we can inhibit tumor growth.
What motivates you about your research? One thing I enjoy is how you adjust your hypothesis based on what you are learning from the experiments. You need to adapt your hypothesis as you gain knowledge, but you don’t always realize it because it can happen one little step at a time.
Then you look at your project a year later, and it is very satisfying to see how much it evolved and how much you changed your mind by following the data.
Also, now that I have attended pancreatic cancer conferences and met with physicians and patients, I have more appreciation for the need to improve upon available therapies.
What do you like about working here? The people at Sanford Burnham Prebys embrace collaboration. They also are very curious, knowledgeable and kind. With the core facilities, workshops and other opportunities for learning and networking, we have so many resources available to us.
Then add on top of that the location in San Diego, which is a great hub for biomedical research and the biotech industry. And we have the Southern California coast, culture and weather for when we aren’t working.
Have you had an influential mentor? In addition to my uncle, my thesis mentor and principal investigator back in France were very influential in my professional development. Here, I feel like Cosimo is doing everything he can to get the best out of me, including supporting me to go to workshops and conferences.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not in the lab? I’m a bit addicted to rock climbing, and San Diego is a great place to be a climber. I have access to an incredible indoor climbing gym, but I also can go climbing outdoors within a 15-minute drive from where I live.
I also play a bit of tennis, go running and relax at the beach. And I’m painting some, which is something I used to do on rainy days in France. We don’t have many rainy days here, though, so I always want to be outside.
Postdocs at Sanford Burnham Prebys are pushing the boundaries of science every day through curiosity, collaboration, and innovation. This series highlights their unique journeys, what inspires their work, and the impact they’re making across our labs.
Meet one of our early-career scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute: Dana Mamriev, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Maximiliano D’Angelo, PhD. Mamriev studies the gateway between the DNA stored in the cell’s nucleus and the rest of the cell to better understand how changes in this junction contribute to cancer development.
When and how did you become interested in science? As a teenager, I was very into sports, and I was endlessly fascinated by the human body. I wondered what makes an athlete faster, stronger or better able to perform under pressure.
I started digging a bit into aspects of athletic performance and realized how much depth there is to molecular biology. I began to see that there are different types of muscle cells, how food is broken down to lipids, carbohydrates and amino acids, and that we have different metabolic pathways.
That was the beginning of my interest in science. When I started college, I took a few courses in biology and chemistry. I was immediately hooked. Before long, I knew I wanted to get some hands-on experience in research.
What did you imagine you would be doing professionally, and how did it evolve? Growing up, I was an athlete on the Israeli national team. I started racing kayaks. Later, I transferred to sailing in a two-person boat called a 470 because it is 470 centimeters long.
I raced in world championships, European championships, world cups and other events. It was fun, and I was quite serious about it until the age of 21 or so.
But even while training and competing, I was equally drawn to science. As an undergraduate, I joined a lab for what I thought would be a one-year research project on cancer and programmed cell death (apoptosis). I loved it so much that I stayed through my undergraduate studies, my master’s degree, and eventually my doctoral training. That experience cemented my commitment to a career in cancer research.
What brought you to the D’Angelo lab at Sanford Burnham Prebys? What drew me to the D’Angelo lab was its focus on fundamental mechanisms that drive cancer. Nuclear pore complexes are central to so many cellular processes and understanding how they go wrong in cancer has the potential to open new paths for treatment. That combination of basic science and translational impact made the lab the right fit for me.
During my PhD studies, my main project focused on breast cancer. So, I thought it could be a nice transition to study nuclear pore complexes in breast cancer. That ended up becoming my first project at Sanford Burnham Prebys.
What are the key areas of research you focus on? Our lab studies the nuclear pore complex. It’s basically a grouping of 32 proteins that are embedded in the nuclear envelope dividing the nucleus from the rest of the cell.
It is shaped like a pore and acts as a gate that controls what molecules come in and out of the nucleus where we store our DNA. In addition to this role in transport, the nuclear pore complex has many other functions, including in the cell cycle, gene expression and chromatin organization, and more.
The levels of some of the proteins in the nuclear pore complex are known to be elevated in different types of cancer. I focus on studying these changes in the nuclear pore complex in breast cancer and in lung cancer. I’m trying to understand how these changes are contributing to cancer developing and spreading to other parts of the body.
Middle image: Confocal image of an H1437 lung cancer cell showing nuclear pore staining (red) and mitochondria staining (green). Image credit: Dana Mamriev from the D’Angelo lab | Sanford Burnham Prebys.
What motivates you about your research? I think my main motivation is that I really like what I’m doing It’s the thrill of discovery and the challenge of solving difficult problems. Research often feels like piecing together a complex puzzle. When the data finally come together, it’s deeply rewarding. I especially enjoy the moments when a stubborn experiment finally reveals something new; those breakthroughs make all the effort worthwhile and inspire me to keep pushing forward.
What do you like about working here? We have a friendly and collaborative environment at Sanford Burnham Prebys. And we have many seminars that people attend and get to know each other, which helps with building collaborations. Also, the core research facilities here are top-tier and enable cutting-edge research.
Then you have San Diego as a hub for research, and especially here in La Jolla with all the great institutes around us. And we have all these biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies nearby as well. It is an outstanding place for scientists.
Have you had an influential mentor? Throughout my training, I’ve had, and still have, the privilege of working with mentors who are not only accomplished scientists but also generous teachers. Each brought something different: dedication, curiosity, discipline and patience. Their examples have been a constant source of motivation in my career.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not in the lab? I took up cycling after moving here and joined the San Diego Bicycle Club. I like to join their weekly rides, and sometimes I bike to work.
I started racing here as a cyclist. I’m familiar with racing in other sports, but racing in cycling was completely new for me. And I found it a bit funny that all the racing experience I have in kayaking and sailing is not helping.
I had to learn new strategies for when to conserve energy and when to go all out. I even got dropped from the peloton of competitors in my first race, so I’m learning the hard way. It just motivates me to better understand the sport, and to keep training and get better.
Postdocs at Sanford Burnham Prebys are pushing the boundaries of science every day through curiosity, collaboration, and innovation. This series highlights their unique journeys, what inspires their work, and the impact they’re making across our labs.
Meet one of our early-career scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys: Alexandra Houser, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Shengjie Feng, PhD. Houser is a structural biologist studying ion channels to better understand how the brain works.
When and how did you become interested in science? A family friend of ours was a scientist. When I was younger, she would take me to the woods near where my dad worked as a mechanic to look for owl pellets and put the tiny skeletons inside the pellets back together.
When I ended up going to community college, I found the science courses were the most interesting. I earned my associate’s degree in biology and then transferred to a university.
What did you imagine you would be doing professionally, and how did it evolve? I am always in awe of people that knew what they wanted to do their entire lives because I had no idea.
I remember back when I didn’t even know that research happened on university campuses. I was really surprised when people told me I could go work in a lab. I remember asking what class to sign up for and they said I could just go talk to a scientist if I was interested in what they were doing.
Soon after that, I started working in a lab on motor proteins such as kinesin, which I found fascinating. When I was getting closer to graduating with my bachelor’s degree, my mentor said I had a lot of potential as a scientist and that I should go to graduate school.
I told her that I couldn’t afford grad school, and she told me about tuition remission and getting paid a living stipend. I thought, “Oh, my god, I have to do this!”
Over time, I’ve gotten more and more into biochemistry, and now I’m here working as a biochemist.
What brought you to the Feng lab at Sanford Burnham Prebys? I learned about her research because we were working in similar fields. In grad school, I worked on sodium ion channels. Shengjie works on potassium ion channels.
I used to host an ion channel journal club in graduate school. I gave a presentation on one of her papers and loved it and then saw that she was starting a lab.
Sodium and potassium ion channels play a big role in the brain. What generates the electrical signal is the difference between sodium and potassium inside and outside the cell. It’s the balance of those two ion channels that turn neurons on or off.
In graduate school, I basically looked at how neurons turn on through sodium ion channels, and now I’m looking at how they turn off via potassium ion channels.
What are the key areas of research you focus on? Someone once told me that some people prefer areas of science that are broad in scope and where you have to make more generalized assumptions, and others like areas of science where you can unequivocally determine if something is this or that.
I am in the unequivocally this or that camp. I do what I like to call protein selfies. When you take a selfie, you take a bunch of pictures and pick the best one. With a protein selfie, I take more than a bunch. A few million more.
Because proteins are so small, I need to average these millions of pictures together to see what it looks like. And then with an image of the structure, we can get ideas of what the protein does and how.
What motivates you about your research? I’ve worked a lot of jobs in my life, but this feels different. Sometimes I just stay late because I’m excited and it’s fun. I may be seeing something for the first time that no one else has ever seen.
When you’re doing basic research, sometimes you just find really cool stuff!
What do you like about working here? I love the support that’s here for postdoctoral researchers. Honestly, it’s been almost universally positive. I don’t think that is true everywhere.
The postdoc community here is so active organizing standout events such as family day and holiday gatherings. We have tremendous opportunities for workshops and industry tours.
I’ve also enjoyed events put on by the Workforce Engagement & Belonging team, especially this summer’s book club. It was great getting to meet people from administrative offices and other labs, all the different people that make up Sanford Burnham Prebys.
How do you hope your work will advance science and/or improve health? As a basic scientist, I feel like my research will help other researchers make an impact in the future.
I’m doing everything I can to explain a protein’s structure and how it influences function. I imagine someone years from now will use my science to develop a new drug for this protein target. My work can help them understand areas where a drug could bind the protein, for example.
What are your hopes for the next stage in your career? I’d really like to go into industry. It often goes that the more successful you are as a principal investigator, the less time you can spend at the laboratory bench conducting experiments.
And I love being at the bench.
Have you had an influential mentor? My undergraduate mentor made a major difference in my career. I had a lot to learn. I didn’t know anything about academic science. He was really good at pushing me but also giving me room to fail.
He taught me so many things that I use all the time, such as how to focus on the big picture of your science. In structural biology, you can analyze your data for five years. Understanding your big question helps you know when you’ve reached the resolution needed to answer this question. Then you can move forward with the next question.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not in the lab? I’m a big reader. I read books all the time. My fellow lab members make fun of me because even when I’m eating lunch, I’m always there with my books.
I also like cooking dinner together with friends and going to the beach with my son and my dog.
Postdocs at Sanford Burnham Prebys are pushing the boundaries of science every day through curiosity, collaboration, and innovation. This series highlights their unique journeys, what inspires their work, and the impact they’re making across our labs.
Alexandra Houser, PhD, a postdoctoral associate at Sanford Burnham Prebys in the Feng lab, with Mesa-wide Postdoc Pitch Competition emcee R. Luke Wiseman, PhD, a professor at Scripps Research. Image Credit: Sanford Burnham Prebys.
Feng lab member Alexandra Houser impressed the judges with her pitch on the importance of turning off brain cells
Turning off neurons in our brain is just as important as turning them on, according to third-place Postdoc Pitch Competition contestant Alexandra Houser, PhD.
Houser, a postdoctoral associate at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in the Feng lab, discussed how our ability to have complex thoughts is due to a sequence of on and off signals—akin to a version of Morse code—that neurons use to communicate to one another. She studies proteins called voltage-gated potassium channels that are an important facilitator of these neuron-to-neuron interactions.
Better understanding of the structure of these proteins—and how it changes in aging or in diseases such as epilepsy—may help future scientists develop new treatments.
Joining Houser at the contest was fellow Sanford Burnham Prebys scientist Jessica Proulx, PhD, a postdoctoral associate in the Adams lab. She presented her work regarding how aging interferes with the harmonious balance of transcription factors and chromatin regulators that control which genes are turned on or off in different types of cells.
Proulx shared the team’s success in restoring the activity of a master transcriptional regulator of liver cell identity—HNF4 alpha—using viral-mediated gene delivery tools. This approach may underpin future treatments for age-associated liver dysfunction.
Houser and Proulx were selected to participate in the inaugural Mesa-wide Postdoc Pitch Competition held at Sanford Burnham Prebys on October 23, 2025, after being named the two best presenters at the qualifying event for the institute’s postdoctoral researchers on September 30.
Jessica Proulx, PhD, a postdoctoral associate in the Adams lab at Sanford Burnham Prebys. Image credit: Sanford Burnham Prebys.
The Postdoc Pitch Competition was hosted by the Torrey Pines Training Consortium and sponsored by local companies Yamay Bio, BD, Complete Genomics, Hamilton, TriLink Biotechnologies and Wilson Sonsini. The event featured scientists from Sanford Burnham Prebys, Scripps Research, the Salk Institute and the University of California San Diego. Participants were asked to present their work in a compelling, accessible and engaging pitch—and in three minutes or less.
Meet one of our early-career scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute: Rouven Arnold, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Peter Adams, PhD. Rouven is a geneticist studying how aging affects the identity of individual cells. His goal is to protect people from common age-related diseases such as heart disease, cancer and dementia.
What are the key areas of research you focus on? I’m interested in cell identity and how cell identity changes during aging. In our bodies, we have about 30 trillion cells, all with the same genetic information. So how does a liver cell know that it’s a liver cell and not a brain cell?
The answer is epigenetics, a layer of control governing the expression of genes in our DNA. With aging, we see a loss of cell identity or, in other words, epigenetic erosion. And that can eventually contribute to age-related diseases.
I’m particularly interested in a protein called HIRA, a histone chaperone. I study how this protein tries to maintain the cell’s identity as we age and prevents the onset of age-related diseases. The goal is to help people age healthier.
This is an important point to emphasize whenever we talk about aging research. The goal is not to live forever. We are trying to help people live healthier for longer.
When and how did you become interested in science? For me, it clicked when I was in high school and we covered genetics in biology class. I found it incredibly fascinating to learn how traits are passed on and how mutations lead to diseases.
I also realized that even small discoveries can make a huge impact. This gives every biomedical scientist a sense of purpose in advancing knowledge and improving health.
What did you imagine you would be doing professionally, and how did it evolve? I have always been connected to the research world because my parents are both biologists. I did not grow up knowing I would become a scientist. My fascination began in high school and didn’t fully solidify until college. At that point, genetics became my main focus and something I truly enjoyed pursuing.
What brought you to the Adams lab at Sanford Burnham Prebys? Before starting graduate school, I worked in several labs in Germany. I gained experience in cancer and heart research. When I started my PhD, I realized that much of my previous research was connected to aging.
As we age, many age-related diseases tend to pop up, such as cancer. After my PhD, I was looking for a postdoctoral research position in aging research and I found an opening in the Adams lab. I was already familiar with his work because he’s well-known in the field, so I was very excited to apply.
I haven’t regretted it at all as I’ve had a wonderful experience with this team.
What motivates you about your research? Sometimes, research can be very challenging. But there are other times where everything falls into place. And then you get this perfect moment, which is incredibly rewarding.
In those moments, you can reflect on the entire process, from generating your hypothesis and designing your experiment to executing it and seeing an exciting result, and everything just aligns. When you have one of these experiences, you remember why you are in science, and you reap the rewards of learning something completely new. That’s a pretty amazing feeling.
Being a scientist also means you share the same passion and curiosity with all the people around you. And that’s motivating you to do even better science, because you are inspired by the collective enthusiasm.
What do you like about working here? Sanford Burnham Prebys stands out for its collaborative environment. Everyone here is friendly and always eager to help you. Whenever I have a problem in the lab, I can walk down the hallway, talk to someone, and we come up with solutions.
I also think that the core facilities here are exceptional. They provide a tremendous boost to my research.
What are your hopes for the next stage in your career? My wife and I are both German, so we do plan to return to Europe. I want to take everything I have learned here and continue working as a scientist.
There are several places in Europe, such as Germany, Switzerland and Portugal, with emerging aging research institutes, and more and more universities are starting departments focused on aging research. I’m hopeful that I will be able to continue contributing to this field after my postdoctoral training.
Have you had an influential mentor? Peter (Adams) has been an incredible mentor. He is very supportive and always eager to connect me with people I can learn from or collaborate with to advance my project and grow as a scientist.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not in the lab? I enjoy rock climbing and being out in nature. Also, I feel like when you live in Southern California, you have to try surfing. It’s really challenging, but it’s also a lot of fun so I’m still working on getting better at it.
Postdocs at Sanford Burnham Prebys are pushing the boundaries of science every day through curiosity, collaboration, and innovation. This series highlights their unique journeys, what inspires their work, and the impact they’re making across our labs.
Meet one of our early-career scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys: Tsunghan Hsieh, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Xiao Tian, PhD. Hsieh studies stem cell biology and regenerative medicine to learn how to protect brain health during aging.
When and how did you become interested in science? When I was in high school, I became interested in biology. I started to study biology more and more so that I could go to university and advance to fields such as molecular biology and immunology.
Then I totally changed my track to focus on immunology because I found it so fascinating.
How has your scientific career evolved? After I completed my master’s degree in Taiwan, I wanted to see how people use biology in the business world. I went to industry for a few years, and there I was exposed to different companies and distinct products in a variety of fields.
I learned that I needed a PhD to get access to the most exciting technology in this field, so I started to apply for PhD programs around the world. Eventually I received funding from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University and went to Japan to complete doctoral studies in immunology.
What brought you to the Tian lab at Sanford Burnham Prebys? I was torn about staying in academia or going back to industry after earning my PhD. I decided that academia gave me the best chance to do something truly new and innovative.
After three years working in different roles in Japan and the Netherlands, I realized that I was most interested in the latest biotechnology. I needed to go to the country with the best biotechnology in the world.
Xiao and I connected on LinkedIn and began discussing his lab’s research on healthy aging. After one conversation, I decided to move to San Diego and join his lab.
What are the key areas of research you focus on? My major project is to study how to reverse the aging process of neurons and other cells. During the aging process, neurons and other cells gain a very different phenotype.
We’re interested in a common mechanism behind this aging phenotype. As cells age, the chromosome structure and transcriptomic profiles become quite distinct from younger cells. If we can reverse this process, we may be able to help the brain stay healthier as people age, and less prone to conditions such as dementia that are more likely to afflict older individuals.
What motivates you about your research? One thing that drives me is that I’ve found something that I truly like to do. Every day I walk into the lab with questions that I want to answer. If you have that kind of innate curiosity, science is a great outlet for it.
What do you like about working here? I learned in my early scientific career that I was not as excited about fundamental research. Here at Sanford Burnham Prebys and in Xiao’s lab, I’m working on more translational science that fits my interests. I want to work on technology that benefits people and has the potential to be approved by regulators, commercialized and disseminated.
How would you describe the culture here? Another one of the best things about working here is the people are friendly and open to collaboration. There are no hierarchies or traditions that get in the way of discussing potential collaborations.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not in the lab? Outside of work, I’m usually taking care of my kid, getting her everywhere she needs to go and trying to enjoy some time together as a family. And I am also enjoying the region’s delicious tacos and learning Spanish!
Postdocs at Sanford Burnham Prebys are pushing the boundaries of science every day through curiosity, collaboration, and innovation. This series highlights their unique journeys, what inspires their work, and the impact they’re making across our labs.
Glioblastoma brain cancer cells under a microscope. Image credit: Anna Durinikova/Shutterstock.
New editorial recommends a multimodal perspective examining glioblastoma from tumor biology through to surgery
Glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive and treatment-resistant forms of brain cancer. It also is the most common form of cancer that originates in the brain, making research into new and better therapies even more imperative.
Physician–scientist Theophilos Tzaridis, MD, a postdoctoral fellow at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in the lab of Peter Adams, PhD, recently surveyed promising glioblastoma studies after being invited to serve as a guest editor for a special issue of Frontiers in Oncology and Frontiers in Neurology.
More exact and safe surgeries
Tzaridis highlighted two studies focused on improving surgery for glioblastoma, as it continues to be the primary treatment for the disease. The recent publications discussed how to enhance the use of MRI to map out tumors and surrounding tissue, as well as other innovative mapping and monitoring techniques. These approaches would enable neurosurgeons to create better and safer plans for reducing risk of recurrence and avoiding side effects before starting surgery.
Targeted treatments and immunotherapies
Scientists have sought to add treatment options for glioblastoma beyond surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Some other cancers can be treated with targeted therapies that exploit a unique characteristic of certain tumors, but this approach has yet to yield long-term successes for glioblastoma patients. Tzaridis brought forward a case report of a patient whose tumors were nearly completely cleared by a targeted therapy after chemotherapy was unsuccessful. He suggests that future studies are warranted to identify patient subpopulations that can benefit from these treatments.
Theophilos Tzaridis, MD, a postdoctoral fellow at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute. Image credit: Sanford Burnham Prebys.
Immunotherapies that supercharge the immune system to better detect and eliminate cancer have transformed the treatment of many blood cancers and solid tumors. It has not, however, yet born fruit as an effective treatment for glioblastoma. Tzaridis spotlights a study discussing the potential use of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) natural killer (NK) cells in glioblastoma rather than the more common CAR T-cell therapies.
The blood brain barrier and brain cancer biology
In addition to demonstrating how research is contributing to improving existing treatments and finding new potential therapies, Tzaridis emphasized the importance of continued studies of brain cancer cell biology and the obstacle to treatment posed by the blood brain barrier. He highlighted two studies focused on overcoming the blood brain barrier along with another two studies regarding cellular models and the use of extracellular vesicles to package and deliver treatments.
“With a multimodal perspective from addressing challenges in neurosurgery to improving our understanding of tumor biology and achieving therapeutic delivery into the brain, we have the best chance of improving survival of patients with this devastating disease,” said Tzaridis.
Institute News
Q & A with Postdoctoral Researcher Arailym Sarsembayeva, PhD, from Eric Wang’s Lab
Meet one of our early-career scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys: Arailym Sarsembayeva, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Eric Wang, PhD.
What lab are you in, and what research are you working on? I’m currently working in Eric Wang’s lab, which specializes in chemical biology and the development of targeted protein degradation therapeutics against traditionally “undruggable” transcription factors. My project focuses on Helios, a transcription factor highly expressed in regulatory T cells and exhausted CD8+ T cells. I am investigating the effects of Helios degradation on T cell function and exhaustion phenotypes, with the aim of elucidating the underlying mechanisms that modulate tumor immune evasion. Ultimately, this work will not only clarify the role of Helios in T cells but may also guide the optimal deployment of Helios degraders in clinical settings.
When did you know you wanted to be a scientist? I grew up around medicine—my mother is a general practitioner—and was always curious about diseases and how the body works. That early exposure sparked my interest in biomedical science, which I pursued with a presidential scholarship at Dublin Technological University. During my studies, I became increasingly fascinated by immunology and the vital role the immune system plays in health and disease. This passion led me to Kazakhstan for a master’s program and then to Austria for my PhD, where I focused on cancer immunology. Specifically, I explored how cannabinoid receptors on immune cells interact with tumors, which opened my eyes to the complex ways our body fights cancer. It’s been an incredible journey, blending my love for medicine and science.
How did you find your way to Sanford Burnham Prebys? I discovered Eric Wang’s lab through LinkedIn. When I researched Sanford Burnham Prebys and saw the motto, ‘We translate science into health,’ I immediately felt it was the right place for me. The institute is the perfect size—not too big, not too small—and is situated in a highly collaborative environment in San Diego, which aligns perfectly with my goals and working style.
What do you like about working at the Institute? I love the collaborative and supportive atmosphere. My colleagues and collaborators are amazing, and the Office of Education, Training & International Services (OETIS) provides postdocs with great resources—from leadership seminars and writing workshops to grant training. The scientific environment here is excellent, with top-tier core facilities and seminars featuring scientists from across the U.S., which keeps me inspired and engaged.
What’s been a challenge in your postdoc journey? Since this is my first postdoctoral position, one of the biggest challenges has been transitioning from being a PhD student to an independent researcher. Initially, I wasn’t sure how to act or how much independence was expected. However, I’m learning as I go, and I’ve had great mentorship from Eric Wang and others. It’s a continuous process of gaining confidence and skills.
Congratulations on your fellowship! Can you tell us more about it? Thank you! I was recently awarded a three-year postdoctoral fellowship from the American Cancer Society. It’s fully funded, which is a huge relief and allows me to focus deeply on my research. I’m especially excited about the professional development support and opportunities for collaboration that come with the fellowship. It’s a great step forward as I continue to grow as an independent cancer researcher.
For almost 80 years, the American Cancer Society has been at the forefront of funding groundbreaking research that has transformed cancer prevention, detection, and treatment. I am extremely proud to be part of an organization with such a rich legacy, committed to supporting the best science to benefit cancer patients and their families for generations to come.
What are your goals for the next stage of your career? My goals for the next stage of my career are to deepen my research expertise while expanding my leadership and mentorship experience. I’m considering a transition into industry, particularly roles that allow me to work at the intersection of applied research and innovation. However, I still have a strong interest in leading my own research team in the future. This postdoctoral position offers an ideal opportunity to develop leadership skills through project management and interdisciplinary collaboration, while continuing to publish and refine my scientific contributions.
Have you had a mentor who made a big impact on you? Yes, especially my master’s advisor, Dr. Eva Reithmacher. She’s a strong woman in science who supported and encouraged me every step of the way. Her mentorship had a big influence on my path.
What do you enjoy outside the lab? Outside the lab, I really enjoy hiking, baking, horseback riding, and just walking along the beach. Being outdoors is really important to me and living in San Diego makes it easy to get outside and enjoy nature every day!
What advice would you give to aspiring scientists? Pursue your dreams and don’t give up. Science is full of ups and downs, but if you’re passionate and curious about discovering new things, it’s worth it. Be resilient and keep going.
Postdocs at Sanford Burnham Prebys are pushing the boundaries of science every day through curiosity, collaboration, and innovation. This series highlights their unique journeys, what inspires their work, and the impact they’re making across our labs.
