Meet one of our early-career scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute: Kokila Shankar, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Douglas Sheffler, PhD. Shankar studies the brain stress signaling system to develop potential treatments for drug addiction.

When and how did you become interested in science?
My dad works in science, so I grew up seeing a little bit of that world. Within science, he works on the industry side which provided me with a perspective on how drug discovery works.

While I always liked science growing up, what really hooked me is when I learned about the field of neuroscience. You have to incorporate a lot of different types of knowledge to really understand neuroscience and neurobiology. And it’s one of the fields where I think that no matter how much we study it, there’s always going to be room to learn more and more.

What are the key areas of research you focus on?
I am really excited about the fact that I get to work in small molecule drug discovery for neurological and psychiatric disease. Currently, my focus is on treating drug addiction.

We use a drug discovery workflow to be able to take biological targets we’ve identified and develop small molecule chemicals that modify these targets. Essentially, we’re working on ways to either increase or decrease the activity of these targets as a strategy to potentially mitigate drug addiction symptoms.

More specifically, my main project is targeting the brain stress signaling system. By developing a small molecule that modulates a stress signaling receptor and some of its associated proteins, our goal is to change stress signaling in the brain. This is important because stress signaling is very involved in addiction. It can play a large role in people becoming addicted to substances and making their addiction worse and harder to quit.

What motivates you about your research?
I think in the field of drug discovery, people tend to portray making new medicines as a linear path. We have a small molecule identified through a screen that we know has some effects on a biological target. Then we just have to make it better, put it in cells, then in animals and finally we get it approved to put into people.

The reality is that there are so many things that can affect every single stage of that workflow. And there’s a lot of troubleshooting and interdisciplinary collaboration involved in keeping things on track. So even when things aren’t going smoothly, I remember that what I signed up to do as a scientist is solve problems. Each time we solve one, we also learn something new and that keeps me very motivated.

What do you like about working here?
Sanford Burnham Prebys feels like a very focused place to do research. Everyone’s goal is to work together to drive research forward. And you really feel that through the resources that are available, whether that’s the core facilities or the number of people that are available to collaborate or share reagents.

On top of that, the community here is very welcoming. Everyone is collaborative and wants to see each other succeed. And that’s rare to find in an academic research environment.

What are your career goals?
My goal is to transition to a role in biotech or the pharmaceutical industry. And it would be even better if I was able to work in neuroscience therapeutics development.

Beyond that, I think a special aspect of being in science, earning a PhD and completing postdoctoral training is that it all prepares you for so many different types of careers. That could mean staying at the bench in R&D or moving into areas such as business, communications and marketing or science policy.

I feel like I’m very fortunate that there’s a lot of opportunities, and I don’t want to close the door on any of them.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not in the lab?
I am an active volunteer with the Fleet Science Center, so I love doing their K-12 and their adult outreach programs to get more people excited about science.

Also, I used to be a competitive ballroom dancer. Right now, I’m enjoying the opportunity to work with students at the University of California San Diego to help them improve. And hopefully one day I’ll step back into competition.

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.

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Meet one of our early-career scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute: Alejandro Lillo, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Elena Pasquale, PhD. Lillo studies a family of protein receptors to uncover a new treatment approach for cancer patients.

When and how did you become interested in science?
When I was 15 years old, my parents told me that my mom was suffering from multiple sclerosis, a disease with no cure. At that time, I was a very good student interested in math, physics and biology.

I decided to focus all my efforts to become a scientist and be able to help people in the same situation. Even though I was frustrated, I tried to concentrate on positive things I could do to help people and contribute to new solutions as a researcher.

What are the key areas of research you focus on?
I am studying a small family of receptor tyrosine kinases called erythropoietin-producing hepatocellular receptors or EPH receptors. These receptors are highly implicated in different physiological and pathologic processes, including cancer.

Other experts have investigated these receptors as individual units, but we now know that these receptors can interact with each other to form groupings known as heterocomplexes. I am studying these heterocomplexes as part of a new potential therapeutic strategy for treating cancer.

What motivates you about your research?
Sometimes doing science can be frustrating. But I really love what I’m doing. Even when my hypotheses are wrong, I always try to think about why I got certain results and what I can learn from them.

I also reflect on why I chose this career, and it helps me to remember that I can benefit others by contributing to finding treatments for diseases with no cure.

What do you like about working here?
Most important to me is the family-like environment that we have here. Everybody is so collaborative and so helpful. Every time that I need something that we don’t have at the lab, I send an email and in five minutes I have a solution. We are collaborating with a lot of groups. And it goes both ways, so whenever other labs need something from us, we do our best to help out.

Also, something that is especially important for us postdocs, we have many different workshops, seminars and other resources to help us grow in our careers. And it is important for me to mention all the core facilities we have as they have been so supportive.

Thanks to them, I’ve developed skills in confocal microscopy, flow cytometry and mass spectrometry, adding to what I am learning inside the lab from my mentor.

What are your career goals?
I want to be a principal investigator in academia. I am building my skills in proposal writing, leadership, public speaking and other areas needed to successfully build and run an independent research lab.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not in the lab?
I love going to the beach and going hiking. And I enjoy going to the gym. It helps me to deal with stress and maintain my mental health.

Also, I am a food lover. Experiencing different kinds of cuisine makes me happy.

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.

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Meet one of our early-career scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute: Nilofer Sayed, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Debanjan Dhar, PhD. Sayed studies the progression of fatty liver disease to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma to identify new potential treatments that could reverse or halt disease advancement.

When and how did you become interested in science?
Empathy for the sick led me to pursue a career as a physician in India. However, during my medical practice, I came to a point of understanding that I cannot help patients when existing treatment options are insufficient.

That insight led me to shift my gears and move towards a career in research to help find new therapies.

What are the key areas of research you focus on?
I work in a liver condition called metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, or MASH, which involves the liver getting fatty and inflamed. The problem with this condition is that if it’s not treated on time, then it can progress to a much more severe form. 

At this stage, healthy liver tissue is replaced by scar tissue. This impairs the liver and can progress further into cancer.

I’m studying ways to stop this progression into more severe forms of liver disease. My major focus is on a particular immune cell population in the liver called macrophages. By manipulating this cell population, I’m trying to alter the immune landscape of this disease and inhibit its progression.

This is becoming increasingly important as the incidence of MASH continues to rise. We need to be able to prevent patients from developing cirrhosis, liver failure or hepatocellular carcinoma. 

How do you think about translating your findings to advance human health?
I believe that what I am researching has great potential to one day reach and help patients in the clinic. Once we can clarify the targets and the mechanisms, we will be able to test peptides or small molecules that modify the targets in order to inhibit the progression of the disease.

We’re fortunate to have drug screening capability here at the institute. This makes us more confident in our ability to move things forward when we identify promising druggable targets.

What motivates you about your research?
The underlying motivation is to improve the lives of people that are sick. Because that is a long-term goal, though, I think it is important to have other sources of motivation that are more immediate.

Every day I wake up, I love heading to the lab to explore my ideas. As I plan and design my experiments, I’m excited to see what answers I get from them. Another fun part of being in the lab for me is troubleshooting. I enjoy figuring out what might be going wrong in experiments, not only for myself, but also for my fellow lab members or colleagues who are feeling stuck. I love the feeling of fixing something that isn’t working and getting the research back on track.

I also get motivated by attending as many of the scientific talks and seminars as I can. The speakers’ creativity and their meticulous experiments inspire me and provide insight into many areas of biomedical research.

What do you like about working here?
The work environment here gives researchers what they need to thrive. Collaboration is encouraged and the support that I get for my experiments from core facilities is wonderful.

I think Sanford Burnham Prebys has talented principal investigators that excel at generating ideas and guiding emerging scientists in the right direction. Also, this is a very translational research institute, which excites me because I know that what I achieve during my postdoctoral research has the potential of going forward and reaching patients.

This pushes me to work hard and accomplish something that can have an impact beyond scholarly publications by benefiting people.

What are your career goals?
I would like to stay in academic science and eventually run my own research lab that would focus on developing targeted immunotherapies for hepatocellular carcinoma.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not in the lab?
I love going to church and visiting people who are sick in their hospital rooms or in their homes to try and bring some cheer and comfort.

I also enjoy cooking and going on long walks to admire nature.

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.

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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.

Explore the Full Series