Burnham Institute Team Studies Molecular Basis of Bipolar Disorder
California Bipolar Foundation President Muffy Walker, Dr. Illyas Singec of the Burnham Institute and Dr. Evan Snyder of the Burnham Institute
A team from the Burnham Institute for Medical Research headed by Evan Snyder has won a Grand Opportunities grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to explore the molecular basis of bipolar disorder. The project, which was seeded by a $50,000 grant from the California Bipolar Foundation, represents the convergence of a series of cutting-edge technologies and approaches to better understand the molecular basis of the condition and, hopefully, identify better and more rational treatments.
Authentic laboratory models that represent aspects of bipolar disorder have been difficult to establish. The first cutting-edge technique to be employed by the team will be to use stem cells to develop a representative, predictive model system to explore function and regulation in brain cells that faithfully recapitulate the underlying defects of actual human patients with BPD. The team will use skins cells from people with bipolar disorder, turn them into stem cells and then brain cells and then subject those cells to phosphoproteomic analysis in order to understand how the cell controls various important functions. The resulting dataset will be made available to the broader research community.
The team is looking for volunteers from California’s bipolar community who might donate a tiny piece of skin from which these stem-like cells can be made and can be used for the study. If you are interested in participating in this study, please contact esnyder@burnham.org or either blarraga@burnham.org. There is no restriction on age of donor.
NSF Awards $20 Million to SDSC to Develop “Gordon”
The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego has been awarded a five-year, $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to build and operate a powerful supercomputer, which will be called Gordon and be dedicated to solving critical science and societal problems now overwhelmed by the avalanche of data generated by the digital devices of our era.
Among other features, this unique and innovative supercomputer will employ a vast amount of flash memory to help speed solutions now hamstrung by slower spinning disk technology. Also, new “supernodes” will exploit virtual shared-memory software to create large shared-memory systems that reduce solution times and yield results for applications that now tax even the most advanced supercomputers.
Expert on Genetics of Algae Joins UC San Diego
A renowned expert on the genetics of algae who heads a regional consortium seeking to develop new biofuels from algae has joined the faculty of the University of California, San Diego.
Stephen Mayfield, who since 1987 had been a professor of cell biology and associate dean of graduate studies at The Scripps Research Institute, or TSRI, is now a professor of biology in UC San Diego’s Division of Biological Sciences. He also holds the John Dove Isaacs Chair of Natural Philosophy at UCSD.
UC San Diego Embarks on $73 Million Energy Efficiency Program
The University of California, San Diego has embarked on a $73 million program to increase the energy efficiency of 25 of its older buildings to lower their combined energy consumption by at least $6 million a year. The project is part of a larger $247.4 million University of California initiative to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and cut energy costs at its 10 campuses by $36 million annually.
The $73 million project won’t actually cost UC San Diego a penny in the long run to complete because the university could receive an estimated $14 million in incentives from San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) over the next three years. The remaining $59 million will come from low-interest revenue bonds that UC San Diego will repay with cost savings.
“This innovative program will not only allow us to lower heating and cooling costs in 25 of our older buildings, but will also enable us to install additional energy-efficient lighting, air-conditioning controls and computer servers, and replace outdated laboratory freezers and other appliances with the most energy-efficient models available,” said Russ Thackston, assistant vice chancellor of Auxiliary and Plant Services. “The project will also be used to schedule the maintenance of energy-consuming equipment in order to minimize energy consumption.”
Scripps Team Shows Diet Switching Can Activate Brain's Stress System, Lead to 'Withdrawal' Symptoms
In research that sheds light on the perils of yo-yo dieting and repeated bouts of sugar-bingeing, researchers from the Scripps Research Institute have shown in animal models that cycling between periods of eating sweet and regular-tasting food can activate the brain's stress system and generate overeating, anxiety, and withdrawal-like symptoms.
"When many people diet, they try to avoid fattening foods that taste good, but ultimately end up going back to their regular eating habits," said senior author Eric Zorrilla, Ph.D., an associate professor and member of the Pearson Center for Alcoholism and Addiction Research and Harold L. Dorris Neurological Research Institute at Scripps Research. "We found that rats cycled in this way between palatable food and less tasty, but otherwise acceptable, food, begin to binge on the sweet food, stop eating their regular food, and show withdrawal-like behaviors often associated with drug addiction. As in addiction to drugs or ethanol, the brain's stress system is involved in each of these changes."
"Our research suggests that this eating pattern leads to a vicious circle," explained Pietro Cottone, Ph.D., who is co-first author of the paper with Valentina Sabino, Ph.D.; both are former postdoctoral fellows at Scripps Research who are now assistant professors and co-directors of the Laboratory of Addictive Disorders at Boston University School of Medicine. "The more you cycle this way, the more likely it is you cycle again. Having a 'free day' in your diet schedule is a risky habit."
Dr. A. Brent Eastman Elected Chair of Board of Regents of American College of Surgeons
Dr. A. Brent Eastman, FACS, was elected chairman of the Board of Regents of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) during the college’s annual Clinical Congress in Chicago Oct. 11-15. A general, vascular, and trauma surgeon, Eastman is chief medical officer of Scripps Health and the N. Paul Whittier endowed chair of trauma at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla. He is also a clinical professor of surgery-trauma at the University of California, San Diego.
In his role as chairman of the Board of Regents, Eastman will work closely with the ACS executive director and will chair the regents’ Finance and Executive Committees. The college’s 22-member Board of Regents formulates policy and is ultimately responsible for managing the affairs of the college. The board’s diversity and the variety of experiences and interests among its members enable the regents to represent views related to myriad issues in contemporary surgery.
Unraveling the Mechanisms Behind Organ Regeneration in Zebrafish
Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified an essential cellular pathway in zebrafish that paves the way for limb regeneration by unlocking gene expression patterns last seen during embryonic development. They found that a process known as histone demethylation switches cells at the amputation site from an inactive to an active state, which turns on the genes required to build a copy of the lost limb.
"This is the first real molecular insight into what is happening during limb regeneration," says first author Scott Stewart, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte, Ph.D., who led the Salk team. "Until now, how amputation is translated into gene activation has been like magic. Finally we have a handle on a process we can actually follow."
Salk Institute Recruits Three Top Young Scientists to Expand Research in Immunobiology, Biophotonics and Neuroscience
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies has recruited three assistant professors who exemplify the next generation of leading international scientists hired to forge new research territory and to build on existing investigative areas at the Institute.
Bjorn Lillemeier joins the Salk's Nomis Center for Immunobiology and Microbial Pathogenesis where he will study the organization of plasma membranes and their contribution to signal transduction in T-cells.
Also coming to the Nomis Center is Ye Zheng, from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, who researches how regulatory T-cells maintain immune system tolerance to prevent autoimmune diseases.
Neuroscientist Sreekanth Chalasani, who was recruited from Rockefeller University, uses a combination of genetics, functional imaging and behavioral analysis to study how the C. elegans worm's nervous system responds to changes in the environment, such as when food is in short supply. Chalasani's work in the Salk's Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory will provide new insights into how complex neural circuits process information and guide behavior.
Companies Show Up in Force for Science and Tech Job Fair Despite Weak Economy
Qualcomm, Cisco, Amazon, Intuit Inc., Microsoft and Yahoo were just a few of the companies at the Career Services Center Science and Technology Job Fair Thursday afternoon. Almost a 1,000 students and alums crowded the Price Center to explore job opportunities and network with industry professionals.
“Fall tends to be a busy time for technical companies,” said Andy Ceperley, director of the Career Services Center. “This is the time of year when they are hiring and making internship decisions. We are fortunate because although the tech job market is not what it was a few years ago, the prominence of our academic programs make UC San Diego a recruiting destination, even during this challenging employment climate.”
A survey of UC San Diego’s 2008 graduates revealed strong job placement and graduate school admissions. Of those responding to the survey, 28 percent are working in technology; 24 percent in business; 22 percent in human services; and 19 percent in life health sciences.