training Archives - Sanford Burnham Prebys

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Institute News

SBP is building capabilities in project and alliance management

AuthorJessica Moore
Date

November 29, 2016

project planning meeting

Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) has long been known for exceptional science, and now a new program at the Institute focused on project and alliance management is helping scientists further develop their capabilities. With this investment, researchers will have better tools to plan and execute their projects and work effectively with project collaborators, increasing their chances of success in the competitive funding landscape. The first nine-week project management course put together specifically for SBP scientists and staff graduated its first class in early November.

The course, designed by UC San Diego Extension and taught by Yves Theriault, PhD, PMP, president of The California Institute for Performance Management, is just the first step towards SBP’s goal—building a culture of effective planning and execution of research projects. Those who have completed this course are already scheduling regular lunches to help each other work through challenges. Plus, another training in alliance management—strategies that ensure successful partnerships with other organizations—will be held in the spring, and both will be repeated annually.

SBP is making this investment because its leadership believes in developing the Institute’s people. As CEO Perry Nisen, MD, PhD, said prior to the certificate ceremony, “We want to provide our staff with the resources they need to succeed, and project management is the key to making science run smoothly.”

Participants in the course are already seeing benefits. “Having applied these ideas—especially standardizing and documenting procedures and thinking ahead to what might go wrong—to my project, where we send fruit flies into space to understand the effects of low gravity on the heart, I feel much more prepared for the next launch,” said Erika Taylor, research technician in the lab of Rolf Bodmer, PhD

“Having a dedicated project manager will make our grant proposals more competitive,” added Peter Teriete, D.Phil., staff scientist in the laboratory of Nicholas Cosford, PhD

Improved management capabilities should also improve SBP labs’ chances at forming new partnerships with industry.

“We believe in developing our people,” added Letizia Amadini-Lane, PharmD, VP of Strategic Alliances and the driving force behind the new training. “Investing in project management and alliance management capabilities will contribute to the success of the Institute going forward. We want to be known as leaders in non-profit research and drug discovery, and to be the partner of choice for biotech and pharma. To get there, we have to speak their language—these courses will help bridge the gap between academia and industry.”

Participants in first project management class​
SBP’s first project management class. Participants included staff scientists, postdocs, managers, and administrators.
Institute News

Gearing up for summer internships

Authorjmoore
Date

April 13, 2016

Header image

Scientific staff at SBP’s Lake Nona campus are excited to welcome this year’s crop of high school interns in June. The highly competitive program—one of very few in Florida to offer such extensive hands-on research—received 48 applications from students for seven coveted slots. The majority of the academically talented, highly motivated students have taken advanced science coursework at area schools including Edgewater, Winter Park, Jones, East River, Trinity Prep, Timber Creek, Dr. Philips, Boone, Seminole and many others.

“We hope to provide transformative experiences—to immerse students in real, modern research using sophisticated techniques,” said Peter Crawford, MD, PhD, associate professor and director of the Cardiovascular Metabolism Program, who will oversee the internship program this year.

The interns will be involved in cutting-edge projects such as:

  • Analyzing levels of thousands of types of fat molecules to identify possible biomarkers of early Alzheimer’s disease
  • Using chemical profiling and mouse models to understand the metabolic origins of diabetes and heart disease
  • Large-scale production of recombinant proteins using bioreactor systems

In their two to four weeks at SBP, trainees will work one-on-one with staff scientists and postdocs. In addition to lab training, they’ll be exposed to research from across the Institute through weekly seminars and discuss their work in lab meetings.

 

This involvement in the scientific community helps summer interns gain a lot more than knowledge of how to do experiments. Past intern Christina Lee, now a sophomore at UCLA preparing for medical school, reflected that she acquired “an invaluable perspective on how quickly the scientific community is moving forward.”

“What surprised me most in the lab,” said intern Mitchell Thomas, “is the unwavering motivation researchers have. Though some procedures are very time consuming and may not work the first time, they continue on.”

Appreciating the pace of scientific progress and the rigors of laboratory research will be a great benefit for these students, who plan to pursue life science careers. The 50 SBP Lake Nona internship alumni are now pursuing higher education at such prestigious universities as Duke, Stanford, the University of Florida, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Institute News

Mirco Guigli graduates SBP’s PhD program, will continue project at Vala Sciences

Authorjmoore
Date

March 18, 2016

Header image

Mirco Guigli, who defended his PhD thesis on February 25, represents another success for SBP’s graduate program. He not only developed a prototype microscope that has generated commercial interest, but has a clear plan for his future—he will join Vala Sciences to continue this work.

Guigli knew before coming to SBP that he intended to work in industry, which made him a good fit for the laboratory of Jeffrey Price, MD, PhD, an associate professor here and president and CEO of Vala. Price’s lab develops high-performance imaging technologies to support drug screening.

When asked how he decided on SBP for his graduate training, Guigli explained, “Jeff contacted me and suggested I come back to his lab to do a PhD—I had done an internship with him in 2009 as part of my masters program. I was actually pretty happy where I was, working as an electrical engineer designing a dialysis machine for a company in Italy, but I was 25 and had nothing to lose.”

His background in engineering was helpful for Guigli’s project, in which he designed, built, and adapted software for a microscope that offers a promising alternative to confocal microscopy. This system offers similar resolution to confocal, but takes up much less space and uses less intense illumination, allowing imaging of biological processes in real time.

This high resolution is possible because the microscope employs structured illumination, in which portions of the specimen are illuminated in sequential complementary grid patterns. While this approach has already been employed in commercially available microscopes, the key to this new system is the use of a digital micromirror (also used in IMAX projection) to control which parts of the specimen are illuminated. Because digital micromirrors are not microscopic, they’re easier to synchronize with image collection, which could make this microscope faster than what’s currently available.

While this project, focusing on technology rather than biology, is unusual for SBP, Guigli greatly values the knowledge he gained. “I was basically learning what a protein was at age 27. My fellow students, who mostly had experience in biological research, were really helpful. As we were discussing our projects over beers, they really wanted to help me understand their work. From those discussions, I also got a feel for biology as a whole, since they’re working on everything from HIV to muscle regeneration to Alzheimer’s.”