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Institute News

18th Annual Fishman Fund Award ceremony celebrates the next generation of biomedical trailblazers

AuthorSusan Gammon
Date

September 23, 2019

2019 Fishman Fund Award winners, left to right: Jennifer Hope, PhD, Aaron Harvas, PhD, Mafalda Loreti, PhD

Three talented early-career researchers were presented with a prestigious Fishman Fund Award at the annual ceremony on September 19. More than 100 generous benefactors, past award winners and family and friends joined the celebration held at the Sanford Consortium. The awards honor the Institute’s founders, Dr. William and Lillian Fishman.

Reena Horowitz, who along with her close friend Mary Bradley established the Fishman Fund Awards, welcomed the audience and shared how the Fishmans truly believed that young researchers need a boost from time to time—and that these awards do exactly that. Recipients who are selected from a pool of Sanford Burnham Prebys postdocs use the $10,000 stipend to attend workshops, network and travel to national and international conferences to learn about the latest developments in their research fields. 

“The young researchers at Sanford Burnham Prebys make discoveries that have an impact in San Diego as well as helping advance science and health around the world,” said Horowitz. “The Institute motto could not ring truer: From Research the Power to Cure.”

Professor Hudson Freeze—one of the very first Fishman Fund Award winners and now director of the Institute’s Human Genetics Program—shared how his nearly 40 years of research has established him as a magnet for a global community of families seeking treatments for rare childhood diseases. He encouraged this year’s winners to take advantage of working in a world-class research center and to pursue meaningful research that will open new avenues to improve human health.

Jennifer Hope, PhD, was presented with the Lenka Finci and Erna Viterbi Fund Prize by Horowitz and Institute supporter Judy White. Dr. Hope works in the laboratory of Professor Linda Bradley, where she is studying cellular and molecular mechanisms that drive the development of T cells that attack cancer. Jennifer’s career goal is to become an independent investigator focused on research to promote patient responsiveness to cancer therapies.

Mafalda Loreti, PhD, was presented with the Jeanne Jones and Kathryn Fishback Fund Prize by Fishman Fund co-founder designee Jeanne Jones and longtime Institute supporter Sam Horowitz. Dr. Loreti is studying the mechanisms that promote muscle growth and repair in the laboratory of Associate Professor Alessandra Sacco. Her career goal is to become an independent researcher in an academic setting, where she will explore the biology of muscle pathologies and approaches to improve muscle health.

Aaron Havas, PhD, received the Reena Horowitz and Mary Bradley Fishman Fund Prize from Horowitz and Institute supporter Doreen Schonbrun. Dr. Havas works in the lab of Professor Peter Adams, where he studies how aging affects gene regulation. His career goal is to work in the biotech industry exploring drugs that target the process to promote healthy aging.

Since the fund’s inception in 2001, 64 prizes have been awarded. Every other year, a 24-month fellowship that provides salary support is given to a deserving postdoc. The fellowship was awarded in 2018, so it will be given again at next year’s ceremony.

The generosity of our Fishman Fund donors enables the tradition of providing career advancement opportunities. On behalf of all of us at Sanford Burnham Prebys, we thank you for your support.

Institute News

Meet the 2019 Sanford Burnham Prebys graduate student class

AuthorMonica May
Date

September 23, 2019

2019 new Graduate Students; left to right: Benjamin Van Espen, Linda Chang, Jordan Friedlein, Zong Ming Chua, Michaela Lynott, Steven Sakuma

For nearly fifteen years, Sanford Burnham Prebys has been honored to educate the scientists of the future through our Graduate Program. Today, more than 40 alumni are advancing biomedical research at esteemed institutions around the world.

Who are the scientists who will join this illustrious group of alumni? Read on to learn about our new students and the bold projects they will undertake as part of our 2019 incoming class.

Linda Chang

  • Hometown: Tainan City, Taiwan
  • Joins us from: UC San Diego, where she studied skin innate immunity and the host defense mechanism in the Department of Dermatology.
  • As a PhD student: She will study brain immune cells and molecules that contribute to Alzheimer’s disease, under the guidance of Huaxi Xu, PhD
Graduate Student Linda Chang

Zong Ming Chua

  • Hometown: Singapore
  • Joins us from: UC San Diego, where he worked on ENCODE, an ambitious project that aims to identify all functional elements in the human and mouse genomes.
  • As a PhD student: He will focus on better understanding the pathogenesis of the blood cancer acute myeloid leukemia (AML), under the guidance of Peter Adams, PhD
Graduate Student Zong Ming Chua

Jordan Friedlein

  • Hometown: Rockford, Minnesota
  • Joins us from: California State University, Fresno, where he completed his master’s degree in biology. While a student, he sought to understand how certain cancers become resistant to cell death signaling.
  • As a PhD student: He will search for vulnerabilities in how cancer cells proliferate and survive in order to develop new targeted therapies, under the guidance of Anindya Bagchi, Ph.D.
Graduate Student Jordan Friedlein

Michaela Lynott

  • Hometown: Alexandria, Virginia
  • Joins us from: San Diego startup CB Therapeutics, where she produced plant compounds from genetically modified yeast cells.
  • As a PhD student: She will work to find medicines that boost the heart muscle by mapping novel cardiac pathways and leveraging an automated screening pipeline under the guidance of Alexandre Colas, PhD
     
Graduate Student Michaela Lynott

Steven Sakuma

  • Hometown: Shingletown, California
  • Joins us from: Sanford Burnham Prebys, where he studied the physiological importance of certain pieces of nuclear pore complexes—the gatekeepers to the cell’s nucleus, where DNA lives—in the lab of Maximiliano D’Angelo, PhD
  • As a PhD student: He will continue his research into the biology of nuclear pore complexes, including their role in aging and disease, under the guidance of D’Angelo.
Graduate Student Steven Sakuma

Benjamin Van Espen

  • Hometown: Charleroi, Belgium
  • Joins us from: UC San Diego, where he researched the underlying causes of autoimmune diseases.
  • As a PhD student: He will research signaling pathways that regulate cellular stress response, under the guidance of Ze’ev Ronai, PhD
Graduate Student Benjamin Van Espen

For more information about the Sanford Burnham Prebys’ Graduate Program, visit our website.

Institute News

Summer program inspires a new generation of scientists

AuthorMonica May
Date

July 24, 2019

SBP Preuss interns 2019

Usually the opportunity to experience research firsthand is reserved for college seniors or recent graduates. This summer, however, nine talented high school students had the unique opportunity to work alongside scientists conducting cutting-edge biomedical research through the Institute’s Preuss program. 

Hailing from The Preuss School UC San Diego—a distinguished charter school for students who would be the first in their families to graduate from college—the soon-to-be juniors spent two weeks rotating among four labs at Sanford Burnham Prebys. 

Working with fruit flies, worms, zebrafish and mice—excellent models for understanding the heart, aging, tissue regeneration and the immune system, respectively—the students used sophisticated laboratory techniques such as micropipetting, microscopy and gel electrophoresis to experience how biomedical researchers uncover the underlying causes of disease. This was the first time the participants had set foot inside of a real lab. 

At the program’s conclusion, the students presented their research findings to Institute scientists, staff and supporters, including Malin Burnham; the Preuss School’s director of development, Tamika Franklin; and the students’ family members. All attendees were impressed by the students’ grasp of the complex science they learned during the two-week program. 

The Preuss program launched in 2008 thanks to the generous contributions of Peggy and Peter Preuss and Debby and Wain Fishburn. For more than a decade, this summer program has inspired future scientists by introducing high school students to laboratory research. 

Thank you to the labs of Malene Hansen, PhD, Rolf Bodmer, PhD, Duc Dong, PhD, and Linda Bradley, PhD, for hosting the program’s participants.

Institute News

West Coast meets East Coast: Dr. Wechsler-Reya makes special trip to thank students

AuthorMonica May
Date

July 17, 2019

Willam's Warriors and Robert Wechsler-Reya

In the summer of 2015, 5-year-old William Schultz began to experience odd and increasingly worrying symptoms, including frequent vomiting. After two emergency-room visits, doctors ushered his parents, Jim and Margaret Schultz, into a small office and gave an unimaginable diagnosis: William had a brain tumor, ultimately revealed as medulloblastoma—the most common malignant childhood brain cancer. Standard treatment proved ineffective. The tumor returned, and William later died due to treatment complications.

William’s parents quickly channeled their pain into action. Mr. and Mrs. Schultz launched William’s Warriors, a foundation that supports art therapy for all children battling cancer, both in and out of the hospital, and raises funds in support of a cure for pediatric brain cancer—the deadliest form of childhood cancer. Even with aggressive treatment, many children don’t survive, and those who do often suffer severe long-term side effects from the therapy. Half of the foundation’s fundraising goes to William’s Superhero Fund, which supports the work of Robert Wechsler-Reya, PhD, professor and director of the Tumor Initiation and Maintenance Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys, and program director of the Clayes Center for Neuro-Oncology and Genomics at the Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine.

On May 31, 2019, Wechsler-Reya traveled to New York’s Bay Shore High School, where Mrs. Schultz teaches art—and many teachers and students volunteer with the foundation—to provide an update on his research. As part of his goal to develop safer and more effective treatments for pediatric brain cancer, his lab explores potential personalized treatments based on a child’s specific tumor type, nanotechnology approaches that improve drug delivery and immunotherapy to train patients’ immune systems to eradicate the cancer.

The visit, organized by William’s Warriors volunteer and New York State Master Science Teacher Erin Garland, provided students with a unique opportunity to learn firsthand about the drug development process and how their funds directly impact medical research. During the trip, Wechsler-Reya addressed an assembly of students and teachers, attended a student-centered science symposium, met one-on-one with science students and participated in a question-and-answer session with STEAM teachers. Following his address, the Bay Shore Girls Basketball Team and Brother Sister Organization, presented Wechsler-Reya with a donation of funds they raised in support of his research.

“From the bottom of our hearts, we sincerely thank Dr. Wechsler-Reya for taking time out of his very busy schedule to make this visit. But, more importantly, we are grateful for his unwavering commitment to finding a cure for childhood brain cancer,” says Mrs. Schultz. “While William’s life couldn’t be saved, knowing that researchers are working to find a treatment that might help children like him means the absolute world to us.” 

Read William’s story

Donate to William’s Superhero Fund 

The Bay Shore Girls Basketball Team and Brother Sister Organization presented Wechsler-Reya with a donation of funds they raised in support of his research.

The Bay Shore Girls Basketball Team and Brother Sister Organization presented Wechsler-Reya with a donation of funds they raised in support of his research.

Institute News

Meet Clyde Campbell: A new PhD graduate

AuthorMonica May
Date

June 17, 2019

PhD graduate Clyde Campbell with his daughter and wife in front of Sanford Burnham Prebys sign

When Clyde Campbell was 6 years old, his life changed overnight. 

“I went to sleep, and everything was completely normal. But when I woke up, my knee had swollen to three times its usual size and was stuck in a 90-degree position. I learned I had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, which then spread throughout my body—and no one knew why this had happened.”

Like the adult form, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis occurs when the immune system attacks healthy tissue. But much remains unknown—including the initial trigger that causes the body to misfire—and treatments are limited. This mystery sparked Campbell’s interest in science and desire to understand the ‘why’ behind disease—and thus create better medicines.

After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from UC San Diego, Campbell applied to Sanford Burnham Prebys’ Graduate School in hopes of working with his scientific hero, Duc Dong, PhD, assistant professor in the Human Genetics Program. 
 
“When I completed my work at UC San Diego, everyone spoke highly of Dr. Dong and the thoroughness of his science. I knew very early on that I wanted to work with him,” says Campbell. “Sanford Burnham Prebys’ graduate school was attractive to me because the program allows you to start working with your PhD advisor right away—so I met with Dr. Dong and began my research.”   

Last month, Campbell completed his doctorate, the 40th PhD awarded by the Graduate School.  His thesis, completed under Dong’s guidance, demonstrated his success in reprogramming developing cells within a zebrafish (mesoderm- and ectoderm-derived cells) into the cells that become the pancreas (pancreatic progenitors), an important advance for people with type 1 diabetes (insulin is released from cells in the pancreas). Current cell-based treatments rely upon cadaver-sourced cells, which are effective but are unable to meet patient demand.

Campbell will carry his training and knowledge of cellular differentiation to Iowa State University, where he’s accepted a position as an adjunct associate professor. There, he will continue his regenerative medicine work, with a new focus on blood cell differentiation. This work could lead to treatments for children with leukemia and people battling other blood disorders. As a father to a 3-year-old daughter, his research now takes on special meaning.

“As a society, one of the most important things we can do for future generations is impart new knowledge. With research comes powerful insights—which could lead to cures. One day, I hope no child or adult will have to go through my experience.” 

Learn about Sanford Burnham Prebys’ Graduate School. 

Check out our upcoming SBP Insights event, held on June 20, 2019, which features a doctor, scientist and patient discussing rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases.

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

Institute News

Inspiring future scientists at the STEM EXPO

AuthorMonica May
Date

March 25, 2019

STEM EXPO 2019-Sanford Burnham Prebys

Armed with wiggly worms and striped zebrafish, on Saturday, March 2, more than 20 volunteers from Sanford Burnham Prebys helped kids and their families learn about the power of DNA at the San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering’s EXPO Day. 

One of the largest STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) festivals in the U.S., this year’s event featured more than 130 interactive exhibits designed to ignite a passion for science in K–12 students. Despite an uncharacteristically rainy morning, an estimated 17,000 people attended. 

For Joseph Lancman, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher at our Institute who was the first in his family to graduate from college, the festival was an opportunity to provide children with the experience he wishes he’d had as a kid.

“Growing up, I knew I was interested in human health, but I had no idea that research was an option,” Lancman says. “Like many kids, I thought I wanted to be a doctor. But in college, I quickly learned that I wanted to know more. I wanted to know what causes disease and how scientists go about finding cures.” 

STEM EXPO 2019 Joseph Lancman and son

Dr. Lancman and his son

At our booth, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students and staff helped children don paper lab coats and explore DNA-themed activities. 

Children were able to see live worms with DNA mutations that affect their movement, courtesy of the lab of Malene Hansen, PhD, professor in the Development, Aging and Regeneration Program. Compared to normal worms, some mutant worms moved mindlessly in circles, and others remained relatively immobile—illustrating how changes in a DNA sequence can dramatically affect life.

At the adjacent station, provided by the lab of Duc Dong, PhD, assistant professor in the Human Genetics Program, children squinted through microscopes and peered into fish tanks to observe how DNA changes can dramatically affect the heartbeat of zebra fish—one of the most powerful model organisms used to study vertebrate biology. 

Lancman, who works in Dong’s lab, took care to explain the exhibit in child-friendly language (he credits his four-year-old son for helping him develop this skill). 

“I want kids to know that science is like a puzzle,” he explains. “It takes time to put all the pieces together, but when you’re done, you can see the big picture—and that big picture can lead to improving human health.”

Institute News

American Heart Association awards postdoctoral fellowship to SBP scientist

AuthorMonica May
Date

January 23, 2019

Chiara Nicoletti, PhD, Sanford Burnham Prebys

It’s no surprise that muscles are important to our metabolism: it’s why building muscle at the gym can accelerate weight loss. 

Scientists are particularly interested in how muscle metabolism affects the heart, arguably the most important muscle in the body. With heart disease remaining the number-one killer of men and women in the U.S., the hunt is on to better understand the molecular mechanisms of the heart so we can develop better treatments. (Learn more about heart disease at our upcoming SBP Insights event.) 

Research is revealing that altered communications between skeletal and heart muscle increases the risk of heart disease. But the molecular mechanisms behind this link are currently unknown. 

Now, the American Heart Association has awarded a two-year postdoctoral fellowship to SBP’s Chiara Nicoletti, PhD, to study the genetic basis of metabolic changes in skeletal muscle that ultimately lead to heart disease. Nicoletti works in the lab of Pier Lorenzo Puri, MD, professor in the Development, Aging and Regeneration Program at SBP. 

Findings from Nicoletti’s work could uncover therapeutic targets for heart disease and/or lead to a prognostic tool that could predict heart disease risk. Both developments would be much-needed advances in the battle against heart disease. 

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

Institute News

2018 Fishman Award Ceremony honors postdoctoral scholars

AuthorSusan Gammon
Date

September 26, 2018

Fishman Fund Awards 2018

More than 100 supporters of SBP came out to celebrate this year’s Fishman Award recipients: Usue Etxaniz Irigoien, PhD, Koen Galenkamp, PhD, Laura Martin-Sancho, PhD, and Ee Phie Tan, PhD The annual awards ceremony, held September 20 at the Sanford Consortium, recognizes postdocs who have made extraordinary efforts and encourages their passion for careers in science.

The evening began with a warm welcome from founder Reena Horowitz, who described how she began the Fishman Fund with the late Mary Bradley (her dear friend) to honor Dr. William and Lillian Fishman. The Fishmans were the founders of SBP and firmly believed in helping young postdoctoral scientists become great principal investigators—and these awards help boost young researchers to meaningful careers in science.

Jeanne Jones, the Fishman Fund’s co-founder designee, shared that since the fund’s inception, 64 recipients have been awarded. The career development awards—bestowed annually to three postdocs—provide a generous $10,000 stipend to allow them to attend workshops and travel to national and international conferences to learn the latest developments in their research fields. Additionally, a Fishman Fund Fellowship Award, which provides salary support for two years in addition to benefits and a career-development stipend, was awarded this year for the second time in SBP history.

The keynote speaker was Aman Mann, PhD, who won the Fishman Award in 2011. Today, Mann is a research assistant professor at SBP and an entrepreneur and founder of AivoCode, a neuroscience company that licenses technology originally developed at SBP. Mann reflected on how the award gave him added confidence and resources to pursue his career goals—and he encouraged this year’s recipients to similarly follow their dreams.

If you are interested in donating to the Fishman Fund, click here.

The 2018 Fishman Fund Fellowship winner, Usue Etxaniz Irigoien, PhD, was presented with her award by Reena Horowitz. Irigoien, originally from the Basque region of Spain, is the first in her family to pursue a graduate degree in science. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Lorenzo Puri, PhD, and is studying the communication between nerves and muscles. Irigoien’s research is providing insights that may lead to improved therapies for neuromuscular diseases such as ALS. In the future, she hopes to become a principal investigator of her own lab.

The Fishman Fund Awardees:

Koen Galenkamp, PhD, was presented with his award by Andrew Viterbi, a distinguished scientist and former SBP trustee. Galenkamp works in the laboratory of Cosimo Commisso, PhD, and specializes in seeking ways to starve pancreatic tumors of the food they need to survive and grow. Originally from Amsterdam, Galenkamp thanked his colleagues and wife—who is also a postdoc in San Diego—and shared his plans to use the funds to attend a comprehensive pancreatic cancer conference at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories.

Laura Martin-Sancho, PhD, a postdoc in the lab of Sumit Chanda, PhD, received her Fishman Fund Award from Armi Williams, a Fishman Fund Board member and longtime SBP supporter. Martin-Sancho is working to develop antiviral medicines that will combat infectious diseases such as influenza, dengue, and West Nile and Zika viruses. Martin-Sancho’s career goal is to be an independent investigator in an academic organization. She will use her stipend to attend a Keystone RNA virus conference in Dublin, Ireland.

Ee Phie Tan, PhD, originally from Malaysia, joined SBP in 2016 to work in the lab of Malene Hansen, PhD Tan is studying autophagy—a cell process that tidies up cell debris and recycles parts to maintain health. Defects in autophagy are linked to many aging-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and even cancer. Tan received her award from Reena Horowitz and will use the funds to attend a Gordon Research Conference in Texas and a Keystone Symposium in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 
 

Institute News

SBP women awarded American Heart Association Fellowships

AuthorSusan Gammon
Date

June 15, 2018

AHA fellowship

There has never been a more exciting time to embark on a career in biomedical research. Fortunately, the American Heart Association (AHA) is supporting early-career scientists with passion, commitment and focus by providing fellowships that fund their pursuit of cardiovascular research. Recently, three SBP scientists were awarded AHA grants to finance projects that align with the AHA mission of building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular disease and stroke.

Katja Birker (left)
Birker, a graduate student in the lab of Rolf Bodmer, PhD, will be studying genes that could possibly contribute to hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS)—a condition that affects roughly 2–4 out of every 10,000 babies. Today, the cure for HLHS is a three-step invasive surgery that begins two weeks after the baby is born.

Birker will be collaborating with the Mayo Clinic to identify and test whether candidate HLHS genes found in patients have similar consequences in the hearts of fruit flies, which are an established model organism for cardiovascular research. She will use the flies to work toward her goal of validating novel genes that could be used in the future for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes related to cardiovascular diseases.

EePhie Tan, PhD (middle)
Tan’s research is taking a deeper dive into previous research showing that the cell recycling process called autophagy provides health benefits—including life extension—in response to reduced food intake. This project will examine the cell networks that govern autophagy, and a specialized form of autophagy called lipophagy (fat recycling). Lipophagy is a relatively new field of biomedical research, but scientists have already learned that malfunctions in lipophagy can lead to the accumulation of toxic fat deposits and contribute to heart disease.

Tan, a postdoc in the lab of Malene Hansen, PhD, will use a small worm called C. elegans as a model system to study proteins involved in the lipophagy process. Since the core machinery of lipophagy is conserved in all organisms (from humans to C. elegans), Tan’s findings may be used to find future treatments that target toxic fat deposits in heart disease.

Clara Guida, PhD (right)
Guida will study why children from obese parents have an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease. The research may lead to the development of biomarkers that can predict heart conditions caused by parents that eat a high-fat diet (HFD), and may lead to new drugs that can prevent the negative effects of a parental HFD on the heart function of offspring.

Guida, a postdoc in Bodmer’s lab, will study the inheritance of DNA modifications called “epigenetic marks” in fruit flies fed a HFD. These epigenetic marks are thought to cause heart problems in the next generation. She will be testing potential drugs to see if they can erase the inherited abnormal gene changes and prevent the negative effects of a parental HFD. The research is especially relevant to lipotoxic cardiomyopathy—a condition associated with fat accumulation in the heart.

Institute News

Usue Etxaniz Irigoien awarded Fishman Fund Fellowship

AuthorSusan Gammon
Date

June 13, 2018

fishman fund

Congratulations to SBP postdoc Usue Etxaniz Irigoien, PhD—the recipient of the 2018 Fishman Fund Fellowship. This prestigious award is a “super stipend” given to exceptional young researchers in recognition of their research accomplishments and in support of their future research plans. Etxaniz Irigoien will use the financial support to continue her research on muscle biology—explorations that may lead to treatments for disorders such as muscular dystrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

“I’m honored to receive this special fellowship,” says Etxaniz Irigoien. “I came to SBP to pursue my interest in muscle development and regeneration, and have been so fortunate to work with world-renowned, collaborative scientists with similar interests. This award makes the whole experience even better, and secures my ability to continue making discoveries that may one day improve human health.”

Etxaniz Irigoien, a postdoc in the laboratory of Pier Lorenzo Puri, MD, PhD, professor in the Development, Aging and Regeneration Program at SBP, studies a type of muscle cell called fibro-adipogenic progenitors, or FAPs. These are the cells that act as intramuscular sensors and effectors, which means that FAPs can detect “alert” signals and generate different responses by orchestrating other cells’ activity upon different muscle perturbations. In healthy conditions, when muscle suffers an injury, FAPs cue muscle stem cells to repair the damaged muscle fibers. However, in disease (i.e., muscular dystrophies or neuromuscular disorders such as ALS), FAPs’ activity results in fibrosis, fat deposits and other detrimental events that contribute to disease progression.

“If we can begin to uncover how FAPs support muscle regeneration, or contribute to muscle degeneration in different environments, i.e., healthy versus disease tissue, we can look for potential therapeutics that will move the process toward the healthy state,” says Etxaniz Irigoien. “This is so important because today there are no effective therapeutics for dystrophies or ALS, and it’s time we make progress to help these patients.”

Etxaniz Irigoien has come a long way from her hometown of Getaria, a small fishing village located in the Basque Country of Northern Spain. She says, “I had a biology teacher who inspired my interest in science, and I have always known I wanted a career in research. My family, most of whom still live in Getaria, are very supportive and excited about my career and this award. In fact, some of them will be traveling to San Diego for the Fishman Fund ceremony in September. I’m very excited for them to visit SBP and meet some of my colleagues.”

Getaria, located in the Basque Country of Northern Spain​
Getaria, located in the Basque Country of Northern Spain
 
Usue as young girl in Getaria​
Usue as young girl in Getaria

The Fishman Fund Fellowship
The Fishman Fund Fellowship was established in honor of Dr. William and Mrs. Lillian Fishman, co-founders of SBP. Applicants must have a doctoral degree, no more than five years of training at any institution, and at least one full year of postdoctoral study at SBP. Fellowship support is for two years in length and covers salary, benefits and a professional-development allowance.

SBP is thankful for the generous Fishman Fund donors who make career development awards possible. If you would like to donate to the Fishman Fund to support young scientists click here.