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Institute News

LEAP scholars share research and celebrate a year of growth

AuthorCommunications
Date

June 16, 2025

LEAP Capstone - Group
From left: Rachel Khoury, Makeh Shah, Emerald Adeyan, Sarina Safavi, Kai Rauda, Isabel Sakowicz, Kyle Alvarez. Not pictured: Monica Jensen. Image credit: Sanford Burnham Prebys.

Last week, scholars in the LEAP (Lab Experience As Pathway) program shared their research at a capstone presentation event, marking the culmination of a year-long journey in the lab. Designed to bridge the gap between college graduation and graduate school, the LEAP program provides recent grads with hands-on research experience, professional development, and mentorship to prepare them for advanced studies in STEM.

The program was first launched by Dr. Ani Deshpande and has since been championed by Dr. Kevin Yip, who continues to lead and shape its success. With generous support from the Prebys Foundation, the LEAP program is led by the Sanford Burnham Prebys NCI-designated Cancer Center, with significant contributions from the Office of Education, Training and International Services (OETIS), Workforce Engagement and Belonging (WEB), a dedicated team of mentors, and many other Sanford Burnham Prebys colleagues.

In his closing remarks, Dr. Deshpande reflected on the purpose and promise of the program. “This is about you,” he told the scholars. “Your energy, your growth, your potential. I’ve been so impressed by your scientific curiosity and your confidence.”

Dr. Yip added, “It’s been a privilege to work with such a talented and motivated group. Watching them grow as scientists and individuals over the past year has been truly inspiring.”

As the event wrapped up, students headed to a poster session and photo session with plenty to celebrate: a year of lab experience, new skills, and a clearer path to graduate school and beyond.

The LEAP program students include:
Emerald Adeyan (Chavez and Heynen-Genel Labs)
Developing an Innovative Assay for High-Throughput Detection of ecDNA in MYC-Amplified Medulloblastoma
Kyle Alvarez (Jackson and Sinha Labs)
Tissue Morphology Predicts Telomere Shortening in Human Tissues​
Monica Jensen (Huang Lab)
Development and Validation of TREM2 Overexpression Lines in H9 Embryonic Stem Cells
Rachel Khoury  (Wang Lab)
Motor Neuron Rewiring in Aging & Cachectic Muscle Wasting Conditions​
Kai Rauda (Osterman Lab)
Skin-Deep Discovery: A Novel Vitamin C Metabolic Pathway in Cutibacterium acnes​
Sarina Safavi (Yip Lab)
Exploring Differential Expression in Alzheimer’s Disease Resilience​
Isabel Sakowicz (Kumsta and Tharp Labs)
Glucose-Driven Fibrotic Pathways: Connecting Metabolic Stress to Ovarian Fibrosis​
Mahek Shah (Spruck Lab)
Validating F5446 as an Inducer of Viral Mimicry in Human Breast Cancer Cells​

Institute News

Sanford Burnham Prebys celebrates newest graduate school alumni

AuthorGreg Calhoun
Date

June 4, 2025

2025 Grad School Graduation Ceremony group photo
Left to right: Diane Klotz, PhD; Alexandre Colas, PhD; Ryan Loughran, PhD; Guy Salvesen, PhD; Zhouting Zhu, PhD; Andrei Osterman, PhD; Alessandra Sacco, PhD; Barbara Ranscht, PhD; Jordan Friedlein, PhD; and Caroline Kumsta, PhD. Not pictured: Zong Ming Chua, PhD. Image Credit: Sanford Burnham Prebys.

The Institute’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences held its second Commencement ceremony to celebrate four recent graduates

Family, friends and colleagues gathered at the end of May 2025 to applaud the four newest alumni of the Sanford Burnham Prebys Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. These early-career scientists are the latest graduates to leave their mark on the institute and carry forth the graduate program’s motto, “Knowledge is the power to heal.”

On Friday, May 30, 2025, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences held its graduation ceremony at the institute’s La Jolla campus in the Victor E. LaFave III Memorial Auditorium.

“Each of you has made significant contributions to your field of science, created new knowledge and demonstrated the ability to perform independent research,” said Alessandra Sacco, PhD, dean of the institute’s graduate school and professor and director of the Development, Aging and Regeneration Program in the Center for Cardiovascular and Muscular Diseases.

“Today, we celebrate not only your academic journey, but also your years of dedication to get to this point, and the perseverance and intellectual curiosity that enabled you to reach this milestone.”

Following her remarks, Sacco introduced Ryan Loughran, PhD ’24, to speak on behalf of his fellow graduates.

“Graduate school is an experience unlike any other,” said Loughran. “You’re constantly drinking from a fire hose, learning new techniques, running experiments, coding data pipelines, writing and reviewing papers, preparing posters and giving talks.

‘I came to realize that it’s overwhelming by design. Somewhere in that chaos, something incredible happens. You’re forged by the fire. You begin to absorb information with an insatiable hunger. You think more critically and more creatively when confronting problems, and that is the true gift of the PhD experience.”

Loughran turned the podium over to Guy Salvesen, PhD, the inaugural dean of the graduate school, who provided the Commencement address.

“The graduates in front of you display the success of the program,” he said. “More importantly and more fundamentally, though, they have reached this milestone based on the merits of the hard-won accomplishments that they share with their mentors.”

Diane Klotz, PhD, chief learning officer at Sanford Burnham Prebys, then discussed the meaning of the hoods and symbols that are used in Commencement ceremonies. She invited the graduates forward and instructed faculty members to adorn them with the doctoral academic hoods signifying completion of a PhD program.

This year, the following graduates were recognized:

Andrei Osterman, PhD, the graduate school’s vice dean and associate dean of curriculum and a professor in the Center for Metabolic and Liver Diseases, provided the ceremony’s closing remarks.

“While today is primarily a celebration of individual intellectual achievements, it also recognizes your meaningful contributions to and interactions with the scientific community,” he said. “You have grown through peer review and collaborating with others, and these experiences will benefit you wherever your career takes you.”

More on this year’s graduates

Zong Ming Chua, PhD ’24, was born in Singapore. He developed a deep and early interest in biology after reading Darwin’s seminal work “On the Origin of Species” and various books by Richard Dawkins.

At Sanford Burnham Prebys, Zong Ming investigated the mechanisms that link cellular senescence and epigenetics. He discovered a new role of the histone variant H2A.Z R80C. He found that the histone variant influenced the transcriptomic profile of senescent cells.

Zong Ming moved to the Bay Area after graduating and is currently a computational biologist at GigaGen.

Jordan Friedlein, PhD ’24, was born and raised in Minnesota. From an early age, he expressed a desire to understand how the world worked. In high school, biology and physiology were his favorite classes.

Jordan joined the Bagchi Lab in 2019 and worked on investigating the role of circular RNA derived proteins in Myc-driven cancers. During his five years, Jordan enjoyed contributing to cutting-edge research and building lasting relationships with other grad students and institute members.

Ryan Loughran, PhD ’24, was born and raised in Greensburg, Penn. Growing up in a family with four generations of pharmacists, Ryan always imagined following in their footsteps and taking over the family-owned Loughran’s Pharmacy.

However, his path took a different turn during his undergraduate studies when he had the opportunity to spend a summer in New York City as an intern in the Emerling lab at Weill Cornell Medicine. He later moved with Emerling to help establish her new lab at Sanford Burnham Prebys as her lab manager. He later joined the Emerling lab as a graduate student.

Ryan plans to undertake a short postdoctoral position before transitioning into the pharmaceutical industry, where he aims to apply his knowledge and experience in cancer research to real-world applications.

Zhouting Zhu, PhD ’24, grew up in Changzhou city in the Jiangsu province of China. After completing a Master of Science in Surgery degree from Nanjing University in 2018, Zhouting joined the graduate program at Sanford Burnham Prebys.

She conducted her doctoral research in the lab of Tariq Rana, PhD, an educational affiliate professor in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Zhouting focused on RNA biology and cancer immunotherapy. Her work explored immune cell dynamics in tumors and spleens under various treatment conditions in mouse cancer models.

Zhouting is currently working toward MD-equivalency certification, with the long-term goal of becoming a board-certified physician-scientist.

Institute News

Welcoming rising stars in science to Sanford Burnham Prebys

AuthorGreg Calhoun
Date

May 6, 2025

Rising Stars 2025 group photo - image credit: Sanford Burnham Prebys

The annual Rising Stars Symposium featured nine doctoral-degree candidates representing the next generation of scientists

Nine doctoral-degree candidates from across the U.S. visited Sanford Burnham Prebys for the fourth annual Rising Stars Symposium, a research meeting and networking opportunity for future postdoctoral researchers.

James Marchant, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Alexandre Colas, PhD, at Sanford Burnham Prebys, opened the meeting by introducing the symposium’s keynote speaker, Mark Mercola, PhD, a professor of Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine and a professor in the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute.

“We’re so pleased to have a keynote address from a stem cell biology expert responsible for identifying many of the factors that guide the formation of the heart,” said Marchant. “This also is a homecoming for Mark, who was previously on the faculty here and continues to be an extended family member through collaborations and service on dissertation committees.” 

Mercola held a joint appointment as a professor at Sanford Burnham Prebys and the University of California San Diego from 2003-15 before joining Stanford. He began his lecture with a discussion of how his research evolved throughout his career, including the opportunities provided by the discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells. Mercola now focuses on developing treatments for heart failure that target mechanisms rather than symptoms.

“While drugs for heart failure have improved over time, they continue to generally improve heart function by altering conditions such as blood pressure and heart rate rather than target the underlying causes,” said Mercola. “I envision a day when treatment begins to resemble modern cancer therapies that are targeted based on understanding characteristics of tumors.”

Mercola also offered career advice to the Risings Stars. He emphasized the importance of pursuing a long-term vision that can guide how you seek training, apply for funding and build your network. Mercola suggested that this vision needs to be balanced with measurable short-term goals that can show your intermediate progress along the way. He also implored early career scientists not to stay isolated in their own labs.

“Be collaborative, and you’ll find that the work is always more enjoyable and successful when you are part of a team,” said Mercola.

Following the keynote address, four Rising Stars discussed their research projects:

  • Paola E. Peña García, a PhD candidate in the Poynter lab at the University of Vermont
  • Jaquesta Adams, a PhD candidate in the Landry lab at the University of California Berkeley
  • Michell Carroll, a PhD candidate in the Pattenden lab at the University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy
  • Janice Reynaga, a PhD candidate in the Blanco lab at the University of Pennsylvania

Lukas Chavez, PhD, an associate professor in the Cancer Genome and Epigenetics Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys, offered concluding remarks at the end of the symposium’s first day.

“With their excellent presentations, our Rising Stars have lived up to their name,” said Chavez. “It is exciting and reassuring to see that the next generation of biomedical research is in capable hands.”

David Brenner, MD, the president and chief executive officer of Sanford Burnham Prebys, began the symposium’s second day by sharing an overview of the institute and San Diego’s scientific community.

“There is something special in the intellectual environment here at Sanford Burnham Prebys and our neighboring research institutions,” said Brenner. “If you conduct a postdoctoral fellowship here, you will find it to be a very welcoming, collaborative and interactive ecosystem.”

Sanju Sinha, PhD, an assistant professor in the Cancer Metabolism and Microenvironment Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys, added his reflections on the importance of scientific meetings for early career researchers.

“I place great value on these kinds of symposia,” said Sinha. “I met many of my collaborators at a similar symposium in New York, so I encourage the Rising Stars to take advantage of this opportunity to get to know each other and investigators throughout the institute.”

After the opening remarks, five Rising Stars presented about their research:

  • Lanette LaComb, a PhD candidate in the Almo lab at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine
  • Danielle Johnson, a PhD candidate in the Jewett lab at the University of Arizona
  • Tracey Porter, a PhD candidate in the Wingert lab at the University of University of Notre Dame
  • Sarah Brashear, a PhD candidate in the Smith lab at the University of California Davis
  • Ariell Smith, a PhD candidate in the Eguiluz lab at the University of University of California Merced

In addition to the two days of scientific talks, the Rising Stars toured the Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics, learned about the institute’s core facilities and shared research resources, networked with institute scientists, and gained a better understanding of postdoctoral opportunities at Sanford Burnham Prebys.

The 2025 Rising Star Symposium was sponsored by the NCI-designated Cancer Center and was planned collaboratively by the institute’s Workforce Engagement and Belonging Council and planning and selection committees.

The planners expressed their gratitude to everyone who contributed to this institute-wide effort, including session moderators and facilitators, Cancer Center administration, the Research Administrative Services team, the Communications team and many volunteers.

Institute News

Queer Scientists and Allies Symposium featured scientific talks, networking

AuthorGreg Calhoun
Date

April 9, 2025

Qs and As on the Mesa group photo

The event at Sanford Burnham Prebys gathered San Diego scientists to discuss their latest findings and learn about local organizations

The Queer Scientists and Allies Symposium, or Qs and As on the Mesa, was held at Sanford Burnham Prebys on Friday, April 4, 2025. The event was developed to create community connections and highlight the work of LGBTQIA+ researchers on the Torrey Pines Mesa.

The symposium began with a series of discussions and scientific talks in Building 12’s Victor E. LaFave III Memorial Auditorium. David A. Brenner, MD, president and chief executive officer of Sanford Burnham Prebys, opened the event by welcoming the meeting participants.

Jaycee Baker-Saunders, director of Research Administrative Services at Scripps Research, spoke on behalf of the Pride Alliance at Scripps Research. Baker-Saunders detailed her career path in research administration and shared how she works with the Pride Alliance at Scripps Research to have constructive conversations with executive leaders about the concerns of LGBTQIA+ staff.

Christopher Anderson, PhD, postdoctoral fellow at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), spoke on behalf of the Queer Science Society and discussed his use of multi-scale engineering approaches to help understand, diagnose and treat heart diseases.

James Walker, PhD, postdoctoral fellow at the Salk Institute, was the symposium’s final speaker. Walker presented on behalf of the Salk Pride Society and described his research on developmentally regulated DNA methylation and its relationship to gene expression in plants.

Following the formal program, attendees enjoyed networking with each other and visiting tables sponsored by local organizations that promote engagement and belonging for queer scientists and allies:

The 2025 Queer Scientists and Allies Symposium was hosted by Sanford Burnham Prebys and its Office of Workplace Engagement and Belonging, the Salk Pride Society, Queer Science Society, the Pride Alliance at Scripps Research and the La Jolla Institute for Immunology.

Speaker introductions at Qs and As on the Mesa were provided by: Emma Robinson, graduate student at Scripps Research and co-founder of the Pride Alliance at Scripps Research; Anneliese Gest, PhD, postdoctoral fellow in the department of pharmacology at UCSD; and Todd Maxwell, environmental health and safety specialist at the Salk Institute and co-chair of the Salk Pride Society.

Institute News

Experts exchange advances in the science of healthier aging in San Diego

AuthorGreg Calhoun
Date

April 1, 2025

Tatiana Moreno presenting at the 2025 La Jolla Aging Meeting
Sanford Burnham Prebys graduate student Tatiana Moreno presented at the 2025 La Jolla Aging Meeting. She detailed her studies regarding aging and the body’s cellular recycling system, a process called autophagy.

Two scientific meetings in late March brought together researchers studying aging and its implications for disease

Scientists from San Diego and across the United States gathered March 26-27, 2025, to discuss the latest advancements in aging research. The NIH-funded San Diego Nathan Shock Center, a collaboration among the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Sanford Burnham Prebys and the University of California San Diego, opened the two scientific meetings with its 2025 symposium on Wednesday, March 26, at the Salk Institute in the Conrad T. Prebys Auditorium in La Jolla.

The event focused on the center’s primary research area, “The Heterogeneity of Aging.” Just as people and organisms age at different rates, scientists have demonstrated that tissues also age at their own speeds – even some cells within tissues age at a unique pace. This phenomenon, known as heterogeneity of aging, is of great interest to researchers as it may hold clues for how to develop interventions that enable people to lead healthier lives as they age.  

The San Diego Nathan Shock Center Symposium convened 193 in-person attendees and another 113 virtual participants over Zoom.

Shanshan Yin, PhD, a postdoctoral associate in the lab of Peter D. Adams, PhD, director and professor in the Cancer Genome and Epigenetics Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys, presented an update on her research regarding breast cancer and aging. She discussed results from investigating changes in gene expression and immune system activity in breast cancer tumors as mice age, leading to increased cancer incidence. Yin was awarded a San Diego Nathan Shock Center pilot grant in 2023.

The 8th annual La Jolla Aging Meeting was held on Thursday, March 27, also in Salk’s Conrad T. Prebys Auditorium. The event brought together 257 in-person attendees and featured mostly short talks from San Diego-based postdoctoral fellows and students researching the biology of aging.

Kelly Yichen Li, PhD, a postdoctoral associate in the lab of Kevin Yip, PhD, interim director of the Center for Data Sciences and professor in the Cancer Genome and Epigenetics Program, delivered a talk regarding her work on zombie-like senescent cells that persist but no longer divide like most normal cells. Li discussed her work exploring cell types in samples of liver tissue. She discovered differences in cell composition and gene expression based on the age of the samples. Li and her collaborators continue to work on methods to identify senescent cells in tissue samples, which would accelerate research in the field.

Tatiana Moreno, a graduate student in the lab of Caroline Kumsta, PhD, associate dean of Student Affairs in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and assistant professor in the Center for Cardiovascular and Muscular Diseases, detailed her studies regarding aging and the body’s cellular recycling system, a process called autophagy. Moreno discussed her findings measuring autophagy in blood samples drawn from human volunteers of various ages, including results regarding the effects of a 12-week exercise program.

Rouven Arnold, PhD, a postdoctoral associate in the Adams lab at Sanford Burnham Prebys, presented his work seeking to better understand how aging can lead to a loss of the unique cellular identity that allows cells to carry out specialized functions in different organs. Arnold focused on the HIRA protein, one of the histone chaperones responsible for helping to build spools out of histones used to hold DNA like a thread. Following studies of HIRA’s role in the aging liver, his results suggest that HIRA plays a protective role to preserve liver cell identity and promote healthy aging in the liver.

Alessandra Sacco, PhD, professor and director of the Development, Aging and Regeneration Program in the Center for Cardiovascular and Muscular Diseases at Sanford Burnham Prebys, and dean of the institute’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, was a cohost for both events. Adams was a cohost for the La Jolla Aging Meeting.

About the San Diego Nathan Shock Center 
The San Diego Nathan Shock Center (SD-NSC), led by Gerald Shadel, PhD, Audrey Geisel Chair in Biomedical Science and professor in the Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory at the Salk Institute, was established in the fall of 2020 with the overall goal of understanding the heterogeneity of aging in order to allow development of personalized interventions to increase the number of years of healthy life.

To this end, the center provides three novel scientific Research Resource Cores to develop new human cell models of aging and enable the integrated analysis of molecular, cellular and tissue heterogeneity. The SD-NSC also supports and advocates basic biology of aging research in general through the development, training and mentoring activities of a Research Development Core and robust outreach efforts. All of these activities are accomplished via a consortium of three premier research institutions on the La Jolla Research Mesa: the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Sanford Burnham Prebys and the University of California San Diego.

Alessandra Sacco serves as director of the SD-NSC Research Development Core and Peter Adams serves as co-director of the SD-NSC Heterogeneity of Aging Core.

Institute News

Getting to know Nowruz at Sanford Burnham Prebys

AuthorGreg Calhoun
Date

March 26, 2025

Nowruz celebration lunch

Attendees at last week’s event welcomed the arrival of spring and learned about this holiday’s traditions and flavors

Just one day after the Northern Hemisphere’s vernal equinox, the institute held an event on Friday, March 21, 2025, in Chairmen’s Hall to raise awareness of an ancient and enduring celebration of spring called Nowruz, or Persian New Year.

The tradition began in the Persian Empire more than 3,000 years ago and continues today. With roots in one of the world’s oldest monotheistic religions, Nowruz started as a sacred Zoroastrian commemoration of life, the rebirth of nature and the triumph of light over darkness.

Nowruz — “new day” in Persian — has transformed over thousands of years into a set of secular customs practiced by many communities. Thanks to the efforts of a dozen members of the United Nations, Nowruz is recognized by UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity effort to recognize and safeguard the invaluable role of cultural customs in bringing human beings closer together and ensuring exchange and understanding among them.

These traditions include a spring-cleaning ritual called khaneh tekani, or “shaking the house,” as well as a dancing event on the eve of the Wednesday prior to the equinox called Chaharshanbeh Suri or “Scarlet Wednesday.” Participants leap over fire and streams to cleanse themselves from the past year’s negativity.

group eating lunch at Nowruz celebration

Nowruz at Sanford Burnham Prebys included digital posters describing the celebration and its cultural practices. It also featured another notable tradition known as the Haft-Seen table, which includes items that symbolize different forms of hope for the new year. With “haft” meaning “seven” in Persian, there are seven foundational items that all start with the Persian letter ‘S’ or “seen.” These are:

  • sabzeh (sprouted wheat, barley or lentils)
  • samanu (sweet pudding made from wheat germ)
  • senjed (dried oleaster fruit, also known as lotus tree fruit)
  • seer (garlic)
  • seeb (apples)
  • serekh (vinegar)
  • somagh (sumac, a spice that symbolizes the color of sunrise)
Mehran Ghafari playing a santoor

Nowruz attendees also enjoyed customary food and santoor music provided by Mehran Ghafari, PhD, a postdoctoral associate in the lab of Xiao Tian, PhD, an assistant professor in the Center for Neurologic Diseases at Sanford Burnham Prebys.

This event was a continuation of the Holidays Around the World series at Sanford Burnham Prebys. This series is planned by volunteers from labs and departments across campus, the Workforce Engagement and Belonging Council and the Office of Workplace Engagement and Belonging. The goal is to bring the Sanford Burnham Prebys community together to learn more about the many cultures represented within the institute’s faculty, staff and trainees.

Institute News

Registration open for San Diego aging research meetings in March

AuthorGreg Calhoun
Date

March 12, 2025

abstract illustration of DNA and clocks

There are two exciting opportunities in March for individuals interested in learning more about aging research conducted in San Diego and across the country.

San Diego Nathan Shock Center Symposium

On Wednesday, March 26, 2025, the San Diego Nathan Shock Center will hold its annual symposium on “The Heterogeneity of Aging” at the Salk Institute in the Conrad T. Prebys Auditorium and on Zoom. Speakers and topics for the event include:

  • Hongkui Zeng, PhD, Allen Institute for Brain Science – “Dynamic changes of cell types in the aging brain” 
  • Tony Wyss-Coray, PhD, Stanford University – “Young blood for old brains and the quest to slow aging” 
  • Adam Salmon, PhD, Barshop Institute at UT Health San Antonio – “Understanding the translational potential of geroscience from cells to primates” 
  • Lingyan Shi, PhD, University of California San Diego – “Optical Metabolic Nanoscopy for Studying Aging and Diseases” 

More information is available on the symposium website.

Register online to attend by Monday, March 17, 2025.

La Jolla Aging Meeting

The La Jolla Aging Meeting follows the next day on Thursday, March 27, 2025. It also will be held at the Salk Institute in the Conrad T. Prebys Auditorium. The event will include scientific presentations and networking with a focus on postdoctoral researchers and students.  

Nathan Le Brasseur, PhD, director of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging at the Mayo Clinic, will present the keynote address. 

More information is available on the meeting website.  

Register online to attend by Monday, March 17, 2025.

Alessandra Sacco, PhD, professor in the Center for Cardiovascular and Muscular Diseases at Sanford Burnham Prebys, and dean of the institute’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, is a cohost for both events. Peter D. Adams, PhD, director and professor in the Cancer Genome and Epigenetics Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys, is a cohost for the La Jolla Aging Meeting.

About the San Diego Nathan Shock Center
The San Diego Nathan Shock Center (SD-NSC), led by Gerald Shadel, PhD, Audrey Geisel Chair in Biomedical Science and professor in the Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory at the Salk Institute, was established in the fall of 2020 with the overall goal of understanding the heterogeneity of aging in order to allow development of personalized interventions to increase the number of years of healthy life.

To this end, the center provides three novel scientific Research Resource Cores to develop new human cell models of aging and enable the integrated analysis of molecular, cellular and tissue heterogeneity. The SD-NSC also supports and advocates basic biology of aging research in general through the development, training and mentoring activities of a Research Development Core and robust outreach efforts. All of these activities are accomplished via a consortium of three premier research institutions on the La Jolla Research Mesa: the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Sanford Burnham Prebys and the University of California San Diego.

Alessandra Sacco serves as director of the SD-NSC Research Development Core and Peter Adams serves as codirector of the SD-NSC Heterogeneity of Aging Core.

Institute News

Demystifying Día de los Muertos at Sanford Burnham Prebys 

AuthorGreg Calhoun
Date

November 8, 2024

group of employees eating lunch at Institute Dia de los Muetos celebration

The Institute honored the holiday with a special event that connected participants with the tradition’s customs and cuisine.

On Wednesday, November 6, 2024, Chairmen’s Hall on the Sanford Burnham Prebys campus was transformed by the sights, smells and sounds of Día de los Muertos.

As attendees snacked on sweet breads and sipped Mexican hot chocolate and spiced coffee, they were encouraged to learn more about the holiday through a gallery exhibit featuring posters discussing the tradition’s origin and symbolism.

Día de los Muertos is held on November 1 and 2 each year. It provides an opportunity for families and communities to ceremonially welcome back the souls of deceased loved ones for a reunion. Central to the holiday are altars called ofrendas, or “offerings,” that include personal mementos and symbolic items meant to help guide back the souls of family members. Some symbols also highlight the celebration’s focus on enjoying the sweetness of life even while recognizing the inevitability of death.

The Día de los Muertos event at Sanford Burnham Prebys featured an ofrenda that was constructed through community participation. In the weeks prior, attendees were able to attend two arts and crafts sessions to make wooden sugar skulls and decorate picture frames for the ofrenda.

Institute Dia de los Muetos ofrenda
group of employees eating lunch at Institute Dia de los Muetos celebration
Dia de los Muetos Pan de muerto

Images courtesy of Sara Sandoval

In addition to the gallery exhibit and ofrenda, the event included traditional decorations such as colorful papel picado, a traditional Mexican craft made from perforated tissue paper, which was hung like streamers, as well as monarch butterflies that migrate through Mexico during the holiday and represent the returning souls of ancestors. A playlist of traditional Mexican folk music accentuated the crafts and cuisine, which included family recipes shared in a potluck meal.

This event was a continuation of the Holidays Around the World series at Sanford Burnham Prebys. This series is planned by volunteers from labs and departments across campus, the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) Council and DEIB program manager, Lauren Mitchell, MS, to bring the Sanford Burnham Prebys community together to learn more about the many cultures represented within the institute’s faculty, staff and trainees.

More information on the holiday can be found on the website for The Mexican Museum in San Francisco.

Images courtesy of Sara Sandoval.

Institute News

A Conversation About Aging and Cancer at Sanford Burnham Prebys 

AuthorGreg Calhoun
Date

October 24, 2024

A Conversation About: Aging and Cancer, event graphic

Event recording now available for panel discussion with scientists held on October 9, 2024

David A. Brenner, MD, president and CEO of Sanford Burnham Prebys, welcomed attendees to the launch of a new community engagement program called “A Conversation About” in the institute’s Victor E. LaFave III Memorial Auditorium on October 9, 2024.

The initial panel discussion in the A Conversation About series focused on the connection between aging and cancer and included information about a current breast cancer research collaboration. A recording of the event is available online.

Reena Horowitz, the founder of Group of 12 and Friends at Sanford Burnham Prebys, provided introductory remarks. Brooke Emerling, PhD, director of the Cancer Metabolism and Microenvironment Program, moderated the discussion among three featured panelists:

  • Peter Adams, PhD, director of the Cancer Genome and Epigenetics Program, Sanford Burnham Prebys
  • Xiao Tian, PhD, assistant professor in the Degenerative Diseases Program, Sanford Burnham Prebys
  • Kay Yeung, MD, PhD, associate clinical professor in the Division of Hematology-Oncology, University of California San Diego Health

By bringing together community collaborators and clinicians with Sanford Burnham Prebys researchers, A Conversation About offers a unique perspective on how clinical research and practice can be used to inform fundamental and translational science.

Watch Event Recording

Institute News

Treasuring science and fun at the 2024 Annual Biomedical Research Symposium

AuthorGreg Calhoun
Date

October 2, 2024

Ye Zheng giving keynote address at 2024 Biomedical Research Symposium

Annual event shines spotlight on research conducted by postdoctoral associates and graduate students at Sanford Burnham Prebys.

“When I reflect on the most fun I’ve had during my career as a scientist, it was during my postdoctoral fellowship,” said Ye Zheng, PhD, Becky and Ralph S. O’Connor Chair and professor in the NOMIS Center for Immunobiology and Microbial Pathogenesis at the Salk Institute, during his keynote address at the 23rd Annual Biomedical Research Symposium at Sanford Burnham Prebys on September 19, 2024.

“As a postdoc, every time I woke up, I would think about my scientific projects and then go to lab to work with interesting people and do exciting experiments. I had few, if any, distractions. It’s a unique opportunity, and I hope you treasure it.”

Zheng’s words of encouragement helped set the stage for a day filled with a variety of presentation formats to showcase the work of postdoctoral associates and graduate students at the institute. Peter D. Adams, PhD, director of the Cancer Genome and Epigenetics Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys, underscored the event’s importance in his opening remarks.

“This is how science works. You all convening and discussing your work today provides a platform for building new and innovative collaborations.

“You are the next generation of biomedical researchers, and there is no greater pleasure for me as a scientist than to see postdocs and students partnering with one another and enjoying working together.”

The symposium featured three scientific sessions with keynote presentations, podium lectures and brief “flash talks” in which speakers were limited to two minutes and a single slide to entice attendees to visit their posters. Participants voted in a science art competition and for best podium and flash talks.

Following the scientific sessions, Alicia Llorente Lope, PhD, a postdoctoral associate in the lab of Brooke Emerling, PhD, presented the 2024 Mentor of the Year Award to Alexandre Colas, PhD, the associate dean of admissions in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and associate professor in the Development, Aging and Regeneration Program.

Linda Bradley, PhD, a professor in the Cancer Metabolism and Microenvironment Program and the faculty advisor for postdoctoral training, provided the symposium’s closing remarks. She reminded the audience that the symposium was planned for this week because it was National Postdoc Appreciation Week from September 16-20.

“I want to thank our postdocs for their incredible efforts driving the research forward in our labs,” she said. “I hope we can continue to enhance our environment and provide the best possible opportunities for training and mentorship here at the Institute.”

The 23rd Annual Biomedical Research Symposium concluded with a poster session and happy hour reception. Postdoctoral associate and graduate school alumni were invited to these events to meet with current graduate students and postdoctoral associates and reconnect with their colleagues.

Symposium planning is coordinated by the Sanford Burnham Prebys Science Network, a group of postdoctoral associates and graduate students interested in professional development, networking and social events, and the institute’s Office of Education, Training and International Services.

Tatiana Moreno presenting her post to Soda Diop with other poster presentations in the background

The 23rd Annual Biomedical Research Symposium concluded with a poster session and happy hour reception. Postdoctoral associate and graduate school alumni were invited to these events to meet with current graduate students and postdoctoral associates and reconnect with their colleagues.

“It was a terrific experience working together to build this year’s program,” said Valeria Guglielmi, PhD, a postdoctoral associate in the lab of Maximiliano D’Angelo, PhD, and member of the institute’s Science Network. “I’m especially grateful to our speakers, poster presenters and scientific artists for bringing excellent work that we could highlight.”

Additional awards given at the symposium included:

  • Best podium talk – Judges’ selection
    Valeria Guglielmi, PhD
    Postdoctoral associate in the D’Angelo lab
  • Best podium talk – Popular vote
    James Marchant, PhD
    Postdoctoral fellow in the Colas lab
  • Best flash talk – Popular vote
    Theophilos Tzaridis, MD
    Postdoctoral fellow in the Adams lab
  • Best poster – Judges’ selection
    Armin Aabish Gandhi, PhD
    Pstdoctoral associate in the Adams lab
  • Best science art – Popular vote
    Carolina Cano Macip
    Graduate student in the Tian lab

Speakers at the symposium included:

Scientific Session I—moderated by Michaela Romero and Armin Aabish Gandhi, PhD

Carolina Cano Macip's winging science art image

Participants at the symposium were able to submit votes for a science art competition and the best podium and flash talks. Carolina Cano Macip, a graduate student in the lab of Xiao Tian, PhD, won the science art competition with her piece called “Love is in your gut <3” featuring a heart-shaped section of a mouse colon.

  • Cheng-Ju Kuo, PhD
    Postdoctoral associate in the Kumsta lab
    “Temporal and spatial regulation of the autophagy-regulating transcription factor TFEB/HLH-30 in hormesis and aging”
  • Ximena Diaz Olea
    Graduate student in the Ronai lab
    “Control of melanoma development by B. rodentium in germ free mice”
  • Huijie Huang, PhD
    Postdoctoral associate in the Huang lab
    “SORLA upregulation suppresses global pathological effects in aged taupathy mouse brain”

Scientific Session II—moderated by Katya Marchetti, Namratha Nadig and Chiara Nicoletti, PhD

  • Adarsh Rajesh
    Graduate student in the Adams lab, “A novel role of P21-CyclinD1-CDK6 complex in regulating interferon signaling in senescence and aging” 
  • James Marchant, PhD
    Postdoctoral fellow in the Colas lab, “Single-construct cardiac programming gene therapy for heart failure”
  • Valeria Guglielmi, PhD
    Postdoctoral associate in the D’Angelo lab
    “The nuclear pore complex component Nup358 regulates intestinal epithelium homeostasis”
  • Theophilos Tzaridis, MD
    Postdoctoral fellow in the Adams lab, flash talk
  • Evodie Koutouan
    Graduate student in the Pasquale lab, flash talk
  • Sviatlana Zaretski
    Graduate student in the Adams lab, flash talk

Scientific Session III—moderated by Linda Chang and Theophilos Tzaridis, MD

  • Gabriele Guarnaccia
    Graduate student in the Sacco lab
    “Serum amyloid protein A1 (SAA1) impairs myogenesis and myotube size in pancreatic cancer cachexia”
  • Jessica Proulx, PhD
    Postdoctoral associate in the Adams lab
    “Investigating the role and therapeutic potential of HNF4α in loss of hepatocyte cell identity with age”
  • Michaela Romero
    Graduate student in the Colas lab, flash talk
  • Shanshan Yin, PhD
    Postdoctoral associate in the Adams lab, flash talk
  • Guillem Lambies Barjau, PhD
    Postdoctoral associate in the Commisso lab, flash talk