Targeting childhood brain cancer

Robert Wechsler-Reya, Ph.D., and his colleagues study the relationship between normal human development and cancer. They’re interested in how normal stem cells decide when to divide, when to specialize into other types of cells, and what tissues to become. When those processes break down, cancer can develop.

Dr. Wechsler-Reya’s group was the first to identify a new type of stem cell that develops into many different cell types in the cerebellum. But if this stem cell acquires certain mutations, it can result in medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain cancer in children. Medulloblastomas are often treatable through surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, but these treatments can dramatically reduce cognitive function and a child’s overall quality of life.

Dr. Wechsler-Reya’s team is identifying drug candidates that more specifically target tumors seen in medulloblastoma, to avoid the dangerous side effects of radiation and chemotherapy. Over the next few years, they hope to use this information to develop more effective therapies.

Converting cancer stem cells into normal cells

What if the best way to stop a tumor is not to kill it, but to turn it into something else? That’s the idea behind “differentiation therapy,” a new approach that prompts cancer stem cells to change into healthy, functioning cells—stopping tumors at their earliest stages.

In a recent study by Sanford-Burnham’s Robert Oshima, Ph.D., Masanobu Komatsu, Ph.D., and others, a mouse model of aggressive breast cancer was treated with bosutinib (SKI-606), a drug currently under development to treat advanced malignant tumors. The potential drug prevented the appearance of tumors in more than half of the treated mice, and it reduced tumor growth in older animals with pre-existing tumors.

Bosutinib was successful not because it killed cancer cells, but because it induced them to change into normal functioning cells. Unlike chemotherapy and radiation, which kill every cell they encounter, differentiation therapy disarms cancer cells without the dangerous side effects. Dr. Oshima’s team is now searching for other drug candidates that might induce cancer stem cell differentiation.

Carbohydrates that are good for you

One of the ways that tumors develop is when carbohydrates on a cell’s surface, which influence many cellular functions, become misplaced or malfunction.

Minoru Fukuda, Ph.D., and his team found that one type of carbohydrate, called “core 3 O-glycans,” suppresses tumor formation and metastasis—and it’s this same carbodydrate that’s seen at abnormally low levels in cancer cells.

Dr. Fukuda’s lab found that when core 3 O-glycans were artificially expressed on human prostate cancer cells, those cells produced much smaller tumors and almost no metastases. Parent cancer cells that do not express core 3 O-glycans, in contrast, produce robust tumors. Dr. Fukuda’s team also learned that the expression of core 3 O-glycans decreases the formation of integrin complexes, which play a role in a cell’s ability to migrate—a defining feature of cancer metastasis.

This means that certain carbohydrates on normal cells, such as core 3 O-glycans, and the enzymes that synthesize them, can act as tumor suppressors. Drug therapies that boost the activity of those enzymes may prove effective in treating cancer tumors.

Visit us again next week to learn about our research into how cell signaling is leading to new cancer treatment approaches. Also go to Facebook.com/CancerResearchMonth to learn more about National Cancer Research Month and follow the conversation on Twitter, #NCRM13.

“Sanford-Burnham can really make an impact in the field,” said Vipul Patel, M.D., FACS, founder of the IPCF and internationally renowned prostate cancer surgeon at Florida Hospital’s Global Robotics Institute, as he acknowledged Dr. Perera’s work to identify molecular markers for prostate cancer. Given IPCF and Sanford-Burnham’s shared goal to develop better diagnoses and treatments, this postdoc grant will hopefully only be a first step in a long and mutually beneficial partnership.

In Sanford-Burnham’s Lake Nona labs, Dr. Perera and his team are currently working on early prognostic markers for prostate cancer. The goal is to be able to diagnose prostate cancer earlier, through a simple urine or blood test instead of an invasive biopsy. “This research is urgently needed as professionals from all aspects of the field have been calling for these molecular markers. Not just for prostate cancer, but other malignant tumors as well,” explained Perera.

But how would these molecular markers work? Dr. Perera and others have found that the 97 percent of RNAs (messenger molecules) in the human cell that are not coding for a protein actually do have functional roles. Some non-coding RNAs perform important functions, such as switching genes on and off. However, they are also involved in the development of cancer. Higher or lower levels of certain RNAs have been found to play a role in the development of prostate cancer. Measuring these elevated or lowered RNA levels in the blood could consequently be an early marker for the disease.

As Dr. Patel pointed out during the ceremony, “We at Florida Hospital have operated on thousands of prostate cancer patients with various states of disease. We have a large database and a diverse pool of patient samples while Sanford-Burnham has deep basic medical research expertise.” When clinicians and medical researchers work together new therapies and diagnostic tools can be developed more rapidly.

You can read more about Dr. Perera’s research in a recent Florida Trend article, which you can find here. More information about the Dr. Patel and the International Prostate Cancer Foundation can be found here.

Their study was published online today by Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. The findings suggest that the development of drug therapies to selectively inhibit endothelial Dkk1 signaling may help limit arteriosclerotic disease.

“I think the strategy going forward is to find ways to modulate or inhibit Dkk1 function, but we’re going to have to do it in a time-sensitive and cell type-specific fashion,” said Dwight A. Towler, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Cardiovascular Pathobiology Program at our Lake Nona campus and senior author of the study. “In diseases such as chronic renal deficiency or diabetes, where unregulated Dkk1 signaling can be destructive, it may be appropriate to restrain the action of Dkk1 for a prolonged period of time,” Dr. Towler added.

When the inflammatory response goes awry

The Dkk1 protein, when functioning normally, is important for aiding in wound repair. But inflammatory responses triggered inside artery walls after the onset of hyperglycemia, and other metabolic injuries associated with diseases like diabetes, can trigger prolonged and destructive Dkk1 signaling.

Dkk1 triggers the conversion of cells that line the interior surface of artery walls, called endothelial cells, into mesenchymal cells, which can direct connective tissue formation. This process is known as the endothelial-mesenchymal transition. The resulting fibrosis inside arterial walls leads to a dangerous stiffening of vessels that increases systolic blood pressure and ultimately impairs distal blood flow.

Drug therapy strategies to target Dkk1

Drug therapies should focus on the places where Dkk1 inhibition is called for—the arteries, in the case of atherosclerosis—because healthy Dkk1 signaling regulates normal processes such as cartilage and joint remodeling. To enable this targeted approach, Dr. Towler said he hopes to develop a therapeutic drug that would include a Dkk1 inhibitor and a peptide—a short chain of amino acids—engineered to target specific vascular tissues.

Longtime Sanford-Burnham researcher and past president Erkki Ruoslahti, M.D., Ph.D., developed these homing peptides, which have been used to deliver cancer drugs to where they’re most needed. “If we can target a Dkk1 antagonist to endothelial cells using the Ruoslahti peptides—or a similar strategy—that would be very, very powerful,” Dr. Towler said.

Dkk1 is from a family of molecules that arose during the development of vertebrates and is involved in heart formation in embryos. Researchers initially thought the protein’s only role was to inhibit a molecular pathway known as canonical Wnt signaling, which controls cell differentiation. However, these new data identify surprising “cross-talk” between Dkk1 and a bone-inducing pathway previously shown to promote the endothelial-mesenchymal transition.

Dr. Towler and his team will continue to study Dkk1 and Wnt signaling to identify potential drug targets to prevent the hardening of arteries in patients with atherosclerosis.

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This research was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (grants HL81138, HL69229, and HL88651) and the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation.

Cheng, S., Shao, J., Behrmann, A., Krchma, K., & Towler, D. (2013). Dkk1 and Msx2-Wnt7b Signaling Reciprocally Regulate the Endothelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Aortic Endothelial Cells Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology DOI: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.113.300647

“László is an international expert in studies of how genes are turned on and off in different cell types and at different times, particularly in response to hormones. He’s also made valuable contributions to our understanding of the roles these processes play in the development of common metabolic diseases,” said Daniel Kelly, M.D., director of our Diabetes and Obesity Research Center and scientific director of the Lake Nona campus. “He will apply his expertise in genomics to decipher the complexity of processes driving cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes, a first step toward personalizing our approach to therapies.”

About László Nagy

Nagy uses systems-based molecular biology approaches, including epigenetics, to unravel the cellular communication networks regulated by nuclear hormone receptors. Nuclear hormone receptors are proteins that directly bind to DNA to turn genes on or off in response to hormones or other signals. Some of these receptors play key roles in immunity and inflammation. Nagy’s team is looking for ways to influence nuclear hormone receptors as a therapeutic strategy to alleviate infectious and chronic inflammatory diseases.

“I am thrilled about the opportunity to join Sanford-Burnham. The Institute’s commitment to technology-driven research programs and deep basic research expertise perfectly complement my background in genomics and nuclear hormone receptor research,” Nagy said. “As head of the new research program, I hope to help advance the Institute’s goal of developing new treatment strategies for metabolic diseases.”

Nagy received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Debrecen’s Faculty of Medicine in Hungary. He received postdoctoral training at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and later at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif. Nagy has held appointments at the University of Debrecen since 1999. He will remain on the faculty there as an adjunct professor.

Nagy is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Boehringer Ingelheim Research Award, a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship in Biomedical Sciences, and three Howard Hughes Medical Institute International Research Scholar Awards. He was also elected EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization) Young Investigator in 2000 and a member of EMBO and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2007. He became a member of Academia Europaea (The Academy of Europe) in 2012.

Ballistics injuries that penetrate the skull have amounted to 18 percent of battlefield wounds sustained by men and women who served in the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the most recent estimate from the Joint Theater Trauma Registry, a compilation of data collected during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. “A major contributor to the mortality associated with a penetrating brain injury is the elevated risk of intracranial infection,” said Chen, a neurosurgeon with UC San Diego Health System, noting that projectiles drive contaminated foreign materials into neural tissue. Under normal conditions, the brain is protected from infection by a physiological system called the blood-brain barrier. “Unfortunately, those same natural defense mechanisms make it difficult to get antibiotics to the brain once an infection has taken hold,” said Chen.

DARPA hopes to meet these challenges with nanotechnology. The agency awarded this grant under its In Vivo Nanoplatforms for Therapeutics program to construct nanoparticles that can find and treat infections and other damage associated with traumatic brain injuries. “Our approach is focused on porous nanoparticles that contain highly effective therapeutics on the inside and targeting molecules on the outside,” said Sailor, the UC San Diego materials chemist who leads the team. “When injected into the blood stream, we have found that these silicon-based particles can target certain tissues very effectively.”

Several types of nanoparticles have already been approved for clinical use in patients, but none for treatment of trauma or diseases in the brain. This is due in part to the inability of nanoparticle formulations to cross the blood-brain barrier and reach their intended targets. “Poor penetration into tissues limits the application of nanoparticles to the treatment of many types of diseases,” said Ruoslahti, distinguished professor in our NCI-designated Cancer Center. “We are trying to overcome this limitation using targeting molecules that activate tissue-specific transport pathways to deliver nanoparticles.” Ruoslahti’s team has already developed peptide-based biomolecules that can specifically target tissues such as brain tumors, atherosclerotic plaques and blood clots in the heart. Now they have set their sights on infections of the brain.

Treating brain infections is becoming more difficult as drug-resistant strains of viruses and bacteria have emerged. Because drug-resistant strains mutate and evolve rapidly, researchers must constantly adjust their approach to treatment. In an attempt to hit this moving target, the team is making their systems modular, so they can be reconfigured “on the fly” with the latest therapeutic advances. Nanocomplexes that contain genetic material known as short interfering RNA, or siRNA, developed by Bhatia’s research group at MIT, will be key to this aspect of the team’s approach. “The function of this type of RNA is that it specifically interferes with processes in a diseased cell. The advantage of RNA therapies are that they can be quickly and easily modified when a new disease target emerges,” said Bhatia, a bioengineering professor at MIT and partner in the research.

But effective delivery of siRNA-based therapeutics in the body has proven to be a challenge because the negative charge and chemical structure of naked siRNA makes it very unstable in the body and it has difficulty crossing into diseased cells. To solve these problems, Bhatia has developed nanoparticles that form a protective coating around siRNA. “The nanocomplexes we are developing shield the negative charge of RNA and protect it from nucleases that would normally destroy it. Adding Erkki’s tissue homing and cell-penetrating peptides allows the nanocomplex to transport deep into tissue and enter the diseased cells,” she said.

Bhatia has previously used the cell-penetrating nanocomplex to deliver siRNA to a tumor cell and shut down its protein production machinery. Although her group’s effort has focused on cancer, the team is now going after two other hard-to-treat cell types: drug-resistant bacteria and inflammatory cells in the brain. “The work proposed by this multi-disciplinary team should provide new tools to mitigate the debilitating effects of penetrating brain injuries and offer our warfighters the best chance of meaningful recovery,” Chen said. Team leader Sailor adds, “The DARPA funding agency often uses the term ‘DARPA-hard’ to refer to problems that are extremely tough to solve. What makes this a DARPA-hard problem is the fact that it is so difficult to deliver therapeutics to the brain. This is an underserved area of research.”

But researchers at Sanford-Burnham recently discovered three children (pictured above) with CDG who are mosaics—only some cells in some tissues have the mutation. For that reason, standard exome sequencing initially missed their mutations, highlighting the technique’s diagnostic limitations in some rare cases. These findings were published April 4 in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

“This study was one surprise after another,” said Hudson Freeze, Ph.D., director of Sanford-Burnham’s Genetic Disease Program and senior author of the study. “What we learned is that you have to be careful—you can’t simply trust that you’ll get all the answers from gene sequencing alone.”

Searching for a rare disease mutation

Complicated arrangements of sugar molecules decorate almost every protein and cell in the body. These sugars are crucial for cellular growth, communication, and many other processes. As a result of a mutation in an enzyme that assembles these sugars, children with CDG experience a wide variety of symptoms, including intellectual disability, digestive problems, seizures, and low blood sugar.

To diagnose CDG, researchers will test the sugar arrangements on a common protein called transferrin. Increasingly, they’ll also look for known CDG-related mutations by whole-exome sequencing, a technique that sequences only the small portion of the genome that encodes proteins. The patients are typically three to five years old.

A cautionary tale for genomic diagnostics

In this study, our researchers observed different proportions and representations of sugar arrangements depending on which tissues were examined. In other words, these children have the first demonstrated cases of CDG “mosaicism”—their mutations only appear in some cell types throughout the body, not all. As a result, the usual diagnostic tests, like whole-exome sequencing, missed the mutations. It was only when Freeze’s team took a closer look, examining proteins by hand using biochemical methods, did they identify the CDG mutations in these three children.

The team then went back to the three original children and examined their transferrin again. Surprisingly, these readings, which had previously shown abnormalities, had become normal. Freeze and his team believe this is because mutated cells in the children’s livers died and were replaced by normal cells over time. However, better transferrin did not reverse all symptoms.

“If the transferrin test hadn’t been performed early on for these children, we never would’ve picked up these cases of CDG. We got lucky in this case, but it just shows that we can’t rely on any one test by itself in isolation,” Freeze said.

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This research was funded by The Rocket Fund at Sanford-Burnham and the U.S. National Institutes of Health—National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases grant R01DK55615 and National Human Genome Research Institute grant 1U54HG006493.

Ng, B., Buckingham, K., Raymond, K., Kircher, M., Turner, E., He, M., Smith, J., Eroshkin, A., Szybowska, M., Losfeld, M., Chong, J., Kozenko, M., Li, C., Patterson, M., Gilbert, R., Nickerson, D., Shendure, J., Bamshad, M., & Freeze, H. (2013). Mosaicism of the UDP-Galactose Transporter SLC35A2 Causes a Congenital Disorder of Glycosylation The American Journal of Human Genetics, 92 (4), 632-636 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2013.03.012

Researchers discovered that small pieces of genetic material called microRNAs link the two defining characteristics of fit muscles: the ability to burn sugar and fat and the ability to switch between slow- and fast-twitch muscle fibers. The team used two complementary mouse models—the “marathon mouse” and the “couch potato mouse”—to make this discovery. But what’s more, they also found that active people have higher levels of one of these microRNAs than sedentary people. These findings, published May 8 in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, suggest microRNAs could be targeted for the development of new medical interventions aimed at improving muscle fitness in people with chronic illness or injury.

“In this study, we wanted to determine, on a molecular level, what makes a muscle fit during development or following exercise. This information is relevant to our efforts to improve muscle fitness in many health conditions, such as aging, cancer, and heart failure. These findings may also prove useful for our active members of the military, who become ‘detrained’ during injury and recovery time,” said Daniel P. Kelly, M.D., director of Sanford-Burnham’s Diabetes and Obesity Research Center and senior author of the study.

Marathon vs. couch potato mice

Fit muscle is known for its ability to do two things: 1) burn fat and sugars and 2) switch between slow-twitch and fast-twitch muscles. According to Kelly, muscle fitness only occurs if both are functioning properly.

Increased muscle endurance cannot occur without boosting both of these muscle components.  Kelly and his team set out to determine what connects muscle metabolism and structure. To do this, they turned to two different mouse models, each specially engineered to produce distinct but related proteins that turn muscle-specific genes on and off.

The first model, dubbed the “marathon mouse,” has a muscle-gene regulator called PPARβ/δ. These mice can run much further than normal mice. The second model, known as the “couch potato mouse,” produces a different muscle-gene regulator, called PPARα. These mice are able to burn a lot of fuel, but they can’t run very far.

MicroRNAs in muscle fitness

To identify the link between muscle metabolism and muscle fiber type-switching, Kelly’s team compared the molecular differences between these two disparate mouse models.

First, the team found that PPARα couch potato mice have the optimal metabolic switch, but lack the muscle fiber switch. In contrast, PPARβ/δ marathon mice have the whole package necessary for muscle fitness.

The two mouse models also differed in molecular profiling, according to this study. The team discovered that marathon mice produce certain microRNAs that are capable of activating the fiber switch. By comparison, this same circuitry is suppressed in couch potato mice.

Digging a little deeper, Kelly’s team determined that PPARβ/δ is connected to microRNAs via an intermediary called estrogen-related receptor (ERRγ). This protein collaborates with PPARβ/δ to turn on microRNAs. That’s why marathon mice are fitter and have more type I muscle fibers than couch potato mice—their PPARβ/δ and ERRγ induce the right microRNAs.

Muscle-boosting potential for patients

To determine if their findings were relevant to human health, Kelly and his team worked with Steven R. Smith, M.D., director of the Florida Hospital—Sanford-Burnham Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes. From there, the team obtained muscle tissue from sedentary people (those who don’t exercise regularly) and active people in good shape.

Sure enough, ERRγ and one of the microRNAs elevated in PPARβ/δ marathon mice were also increased in active people, but not the sedentary group.

“We’re now conducting additional human studies to further investigate the ERRγ-microRNA circuit as a potential avenue for improving fitness in people with chronic illness or injury,” Kelly said. “For example, next we want to know what happens to this circuit during exercise and what effect it has on the cardiovascular system.”

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This research was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (grants RO1DK045416, R01DK095686, R01AR41928, R01AG030226), American Heart Association, Robert A. Welch Foundation, Jon Holden DeHaan Foundation, Fondation Leducq TransAtlantic Network of Excellence in Cardiovascular Research Program, ERC, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Swiss National Science Foundation, and Novartis Clinical Innovation Fund.

Gan, Z., Rumsey, J., Hazen, B., Lai, L., Leone, T., Vega, R., Xie, H., Conley, K., Auwerx, J., Smith, S., Olson, E., Kralli, A., & Kelly, D. (2013). Nuclear receptor/microRNA circuitry links muscle fiber type to energy metabolism Journal of Clinical Investigation DOI: 10.1172/JCI67652

Obtaining funding to support basic research has always challenged scientists and entrepreneurs.  However, in today’s tumultuous economic climate and looming sequester cuts, the future of life science funding is more uncertain than ever.  Since San Diego has been rated among the top life science biotech regions in the US and is home to some of the world’s top research institutions, one of the things that San Diego can rely on is that we are great at innovation. So, how can we, as a community, ensure that this innovation is financially supported despite these circumstances?  A panel of local science communication experts gathered to discuss these issues at SDBN’s April 29^th Biotech Journalism Panel event. The panelists were Brad Fikes (San Diego Union Tribune), Heather Chambers (California Healthcare Institute), and Brian Orelli (Freelance Journalist). The panel was moderated by Carin Canale, Founder of Canale Communications and member of the Biocom board.

The Success Story – San Diego, the Media, and Stem Cell Research

Let’s face it, scientists have experiments to do and grants to prepare.  Most don’t want to be bothered with the particulars of how and with whom to communicate their science, outside of their sphere.  But what if there was evidence that effective science communication to the public actually impacted funding?  This question started the panel discussion and we quickly focused our attention on San Diego’s own success story: stem cell research.  It is clear that media coverage of the stellar stem cell research community helped put our city on the map in this field.  Raising public awareness of the innovative science we were doing ultimately impacted funding decisions made in Congress, the NIH, and alternative funding sources, including the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).  Within the last 5 years, San Diego has become the one of the premiere regions for stem cell research and works closely with CIRM which is bringing top-rate scientists, employment opportunities and funding into the region.

However, it won’t come to anyone’s surprise that this wasn’t easy and basic research is a hard sell.  So, what reagents were added to the stem cell research ‘media beaker’?  Turns out, just as the science, the solution was basic as well.   The main components were:

1. Articles were written that appealed to a mass audience and were very broad.  Hyperlinks were added to the articles if someone wanted to obtain more detailed information.
2. The articles brought in the patient perspective.  Disease-related basic research is relevant for patients and they’re very keen to find out the latest news.
3. Blogs targeting the more engaged or educated consumer.

San Diego’s Next Success Story – You

Photo courtesy Ramy Aziz, who Tweeted it during the event.

A general rule of thumb and what is most important is that scientists need to know how to tell their story to different audiences.  If you are able to effectively communicate your work with your peers, a layperson, various funding agencies, your institute’s Public Information Officer and a reporter, this will increase your chance for exposure because all of these individuals will share your interesting story. The panelists provided some helpful tips on things to keep in mind when trying to ‘sell your story.’

1. To avoid being misinterpreted, talk slowly and restate what you’re saying or have the individual explain your story back to you.
2. Treat interviews as a conversation; provide analogies; don’t just read from a polished abstract or press release.
3. Explain why your work is unique from other research in your field.
4. Hit the ‘high points’ not ‘all points’; Decide what are the most important elements of your story that you want to share.

Taking Matters into Your Own ‘Tweets’

One great way to get your message out there is Twitter.  Scientists tend to be risk-averse when they are experimenting with new models of scientific communication (they have enough experiments to do).  However, we know that life scientists have used social media platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and blogging, to obtain funding, find jobs, and build collaborations.  The platform that has most recently gained a lot of momentum in the life science realm is Twitter. Twitter is an online networking tool that allows users to engage in a world-wide conversation by sharing text- based content—called tweets—of up to 140 characters. It is estimated that 3-5% of life scientists are currently using Twitter and this percentage is rapidly growing.  Tweeting has evolved into a great resource where the dynamics have helped create an environment of positive scientific exchange.  In fact, attendees at the SDBN event were tweeting and you can follow their virtual conversation here.

To reserve your spot on the 10 a.m. or 2 p.m. PT tours, please contact Molly Townsend at (858) 795-5111 or mtownsend@sanfordburnham.org.

Mrs. Fishman and her late husband, Dr. William Fishman, moved to San Diego in 1976 to establish a research organization with a unique mission: “Our big idea was to create an independent medical research institute dedicated to the emerging field of oncodevelopmental biology. We wanted to hire bright young scientists and give them the freedom to do their research, unencumbered by administrative bureaucracy and departmental politics,” she said. With a meager budget, the Foundation’s scientists took a joint-effort approach to medical research challenges, and worked collaboratively to advance discoveries effectively, a means that the Institute prides itself on today.

One of the scientists who has worked closely with the Fishmans is Dr. José Luis Millán, professor in our Sanford Children’s Health Research Center. “Throughout the 37 years that I have known Lil, I have always admired her ability to focus on the good in people, never lingering on the bad, and to praise successes, small as they might be. I’ve often invited Lil to have lunch with my lab members and they all admired her young spirit and energy and the can-do attitude that very likely was instrumental in enabling Bill and Lil to found this Institution,” he reflects on the decades the two have been close partners.

Sanford-Burnham’s commitment to the pursuit of improving human health can be attributed to the founding principles the Fishmans had originally established for the Institute. Mrs. Fishman explains, “when we started the La Jolla Cancer Research Foundation in our retirement years, we lived it, we ate it, and we slept it. It was a part of us. We were determined to find solutions that would help cure human diseases. I believe the Institute is still true to its core mission. We are trying to uncover new knowledge about being human beings and the mystery of life itself.” This firm dedication to seeking cures is what makes breakthrough discoveries possible at Sanford-Burnham. Mrs. Fishman’s reflections of the Institute’s past offer a valuable perspective of the Institute’s mission to meet the challenges of accelerating advancements in medical research.

The evening began with a lively reception to get our guests into the camping spirit: They sang along to campfire songs and tested their skills at beer and wine toss games. They then enjoyed dinner and a warm welcome from the event’s co-chairs, Stath and Terry Karras, along with former San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders and his wife Rana Sampson who geared up the crowd for a night of friendly competition. Before the camp games began, guests participated in a live auction and “fund-a-need” drive where bid paddles were raised to support our stem cell research to tackle diseases like diabetes, Alzheimer’s, ALS, brain tumors, and heart disease, as well as spinal cord and brain injuries.

Finally, guests from each table were invited to participate in six rounds of interactive challenges, where they showcased their camping expertise in fishing, hiking, and scavenger hunting. The night proved to incite a uniquely “un-gala” energy that carried with it the promise of furthering medical research.

The campers also heard from Robert Wechsler-Reya, Ph.D., professor and director of the Tumor Development Program in Sanford-Burnham’s NCI-designated Cancer Center, who offered a reflection on his laboratory and their efforts to study the relationship between brain development and brain tumor formation. Additionally, Pamela Itkin-Ansari, Ph.D., adjunct assistant professor in our Del E. Webb Center for Neuroscience, Aging, and Stem Cell Research discussed her work studying the signaling pathways controlling growth and differentiation in the human pancreas and touched upon her first-hand experience working with patients with type 1 (juvenile) diabetes.

Visit our Facebook page in the coming days to see more photos from Camp Bring It!, and follow our Events feed on Twitter to stay up-to-date about other events.

Learn more about Sanford-Burnham’s Stem Cell Research Center.

Camp Bring It! would not have been possible without the generous support of our sponsors: Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Lisa & Steve Altman, Bernstein Global Wealth Management, Malin & Roberta Burnham, CONNECT, Cooley, Creative Fusion, Cruzan Monroe, Cuatro Cuatros Winery, Cushman & Wakefield, San Diego Regional EDC, DLA Piper, Marleigh & Alan Gleicher, Jeanne & Gary Herberger, Terry & Stath Karras, Life Technologies, Mintz Levin, NAIOP, Eric Northbrook, Pegasus Building Services, Erin & Peter J. Preuss, Sempra Energy, Underground Elephant, and Willis Insurance Services.

First, though, let’s talk about why science communication is so important. As the online media landscape is developing, the public hears from many anti-science ‘voices’ such as sources that tell them vaccinating is a bad idea and that global warming is a hoax. We crunched the numbers from a recent Pew report (the data are on p. 11 and the analysis can be found in this Google doc) and found that there has been an 11% decrease in support for life science funding over the past 26 years. Surely the reasons for this are varied, and the Pew report also points out that the public has become more austere in other areas as well (p. 6). However, if your lab/institution/company has not yet felt the effects of shrinking government and investor support, you are definitely in the minority. Science communication is now more important than ever, especially as new sources of information are taking hold.

Figure 1. US public’s support for increasing life science funding has declined 11% since 1987. Image links to supporting data.

Great San Diego Science Communication Examples

1. Life Technologies’ Anti-Sequestration Campaign. In an effort to stop the government’s across-the-board sequestration funding cuts, Life Technologies implemented a campaign making it easier for scientists to contact their congressional representatives. According to Robin Smith, Sr. eMarketing Manager at Life Technologies, the campaign generated at least six thousand responses in a month (12 minute mark in video). Of course we all know that the sequester happened, but that doesn’t mean the efforts didn’t raise awareness. Indeed, the conversation is very active currently (follow #sciquester on Twitter) and life scientists should be vocal to their friends and families as to the impact on their work and lives. Life Technologies took a bold step and likely used a significant budget to back this campaign, they should be applauded.
2. San Diego Entrepreneur’s Exchange (SDEE). The SDEE is a fantastic resource for startups and small companies, with frequent events and lots of ways to get involved. I attended an event titled “Built To Last, Not For The Exit” in which three local entrepreneurs presented their inspiring stories of how to create a long-lasting life science company in San Diego. SDEE is also active in supporting funding of small companies, providing education about getting Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grants and support of pro-SBIR legislation.
3. Sanford-Burnham’s Beaker Blog. We had Heather Buschman, Scientific Communications Manager at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, on our panel last October to discuss blogging from an academic institution standpoint. Heather is the tour de force behind Sanford-Burnham’s Beaker blog which is an excellent example of science communication as it offers news and insights to scientists as well as to the public. Don’t take our word for it, the blog has gotten numerous awards. We wish each of our outstanding research organizations had a blog such as Beaker. It would be even better if they also provided the infrastructure for every lab to have a blog. We can dream, can’t we? We provided a list of San Diego life science institution news and resources pages on our last #SDScicomm post.
4. SciVee. One of the founders of SciVee is UCSD’s Phil Bourne, and the vision of this project is to allow researchers to communicate their research through video presentations. SciVee provides software to facilitate creation of presentations, and each can be paired with an uploaded document. Dr. Bourne is a long-standing advocate of science communication and open access, and is the Founding Editor in Chief of PLoS Computational Biology and Associate Director of the Protein Data Bank, in addition to being UCSD’s Associate Vice Chancellor for Innovation and Industrial Alliances. We are dying to get Dr. Bourne to speak at one of our ScienceOnline San Diego events, but as you can imagine he’s very busy!
5. Salk Mobile Science Laboratory. I heard about Salk’s Mobile Science Laboratory from a colleague and had a hard time finding it on their website, it seems like a great but perhaps not widely publicized resource. The bus visits 18 schools a year, reaching 2200 students each year for the past ten years. The lab focuses on DNA-related experiments—wouldn’t it be great to have a bus for each area of life science?
6. San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering (SDScienceFest). The SDScienceFest has been going strong since 2009 and I volunteered for the expo this past March at Petco Park. Through 35 events, 55,000 children and adults are exposed to the great science and engineering happening in San Diego. I overheard one child saying “This was the best day ever!” upon leaving the expo and several asked us when the next event would take place. Outreach to the public is incredibly important, and I saw only a small percentage of our 400+ biotech companies participating in the event. The SDBN hopes to improve the number of biotech companies participating in future SDScienceFest events.
7. Crowdfunding. An interesting development in research funding is the use of so-called ‘crowdfunding,’ or raising money through public requests. The most popular initiative is SciFund, and the founders aim to help scientists better communicate their research through their campaigns. A few local groups have begun to use crowdfunding, including a lab at TSRI, a local company trying to cure Malaria, and an online forum for scientists. These efforts are all in their early stages, and time will tell whether this funding model is viable. If you’d like to get started with your own crowdfunding campaign, check out this great training program from SciFund.

There are many resources to help you get started doing more communication and outreach such as ScienceOnline and Nature’s SpotOn science outreach initative. We will highlight the above and other local life science communication efforts at our biotech journalism event, and perhaps you know of others you’d like to share? Please leave them below, thanks!

In anticipation of our Biotech Journalism event Monday, we’re providing resources related to San Diego life science communication tagged here with #SDScicomm (also the hashtag for the event). Over the five years since the SDBN’s creation, we’ve seen a lot of changes such as the SDUT’s acquisition of the North County Times, the rising popularity of news organizations such as Xconomy, and more local companies starting blogs. Keeping in touch with the local life science news is important for many reasons: to learn about advances, funding, jobs, and events. We cover many sources in our news feeds, which you can subscribe to, and we’ve also created a Facebook interest group you can follow. If you have another news source, contact us and we’ll add it. Also, encourage your organization to provide more news and information online, preferably with an RSS feed, as this is how we combine them into a single source. Share news and events with your colleagues and friends too, this helps science in the region gain more visibility.

So, tell us, which of news sources do you use? Comment below!

San Diego Biotech News Sources

*Requires filtering for San Diego news.

Their team, sponsored by Technical Safety Services, Inc., won the American Cancer Society Relay For Life 9th Annual Golf Tournament in Oceanside, Calif. on April 12. These golfers spend their day jobs conducting and supporting cancer research, and now, by participating in this event, they are also helping to raise money, celebrate the lives of cancer survivors, and remember loved ones lost. Way to go!

What: 14th International Tumor Necrosis Factor Conference
When: July 7-10, 2013
Where: Loews Le Concorde, Quebec City, Canada
Who: Hosted by the International Cytokine Society; attended by more than 300 academic and biopharma industry scientists from around the world
Registration: Visit www.tnf2013.com

The Tumor Necrosis Factor Conference is a biennial meeting focused on the biology of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family of ligands and receptors. TNF family members are cytokines, signaling molecules that help direct the immune system. TNF inhibitors are sometimes used to treat autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. 

Conference attendees will discuss new findings on the roles TNF family members play in normal and disease processes, including cellular communication, tissue development, infectious diseases, innate and adaptive immunity, and cancer. The translation of these research advances into new therapies will also be discussed.

The conference is co-organized by Linda Burkly, Ph.D., Biogen Idec, and Jen Gommerman, Ph.D., University of Toronto. Carl Ware, Ph.D., director of Sanford-Burnham’s Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases Center, is a member of the organizing committee.

“This is a generational conference, ongoing since the early 1980s,” Ware said. “This conference continues as the venue  heralding the new discoveries about TNF-related cytokines, and their role in diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.”

Young scientists with new ideas will be able to attend this meeting with funds raised by Ware through the Arthritis National Research Foundation, a non-profit foundation that seeks to support the research of innovative young scientists.

To read more about Ware and his work, check out these blog posts:
Immune system expert takes on leukemia and lymphoma
Ask the experts: What are the risks associated with first FDA-approved HIV prevention drug?
Recruiting new troops in the war on cancer
Breast cancer research: from bench to bedside—and back
A scientist’s life: 10 things Carl Ware has done
Basic research bolsters clinical care
New insights into children’s health
Carl Ware & secrets of the immune system

“We’re looking forward to the valuable information-sharing opportunities and discussions that only occur when stem cell researchers, patient advocates, and representatives of many other stakeholder groups converge at the World Stem Cell Summit. Occasions like these help us advance our research on the basic biology of stem cells and spur the development of new, more personalized, medical applications for this science,” said Evan Snyder, M.D., Ph.D., director of Sanford-Burnham’s Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Program.

Snyder will co-chair the Summit with TSRI Professor Jeanne Loring, Ph.D., Bernard Siegel of the GPI, Andre Terzic, M.D., Ph.D., of the Mayo Clinic, and Alan Trounson, Ph.D., of CIRM.

The event is expected to attract more than 1,200 attendees from 40 nations, and 200 sponsors, media partners and endorsing organizations. The conference provides an exhibition hall, country pavilions, specialized symposia, networking receptions, awards, and more.

“We are delighted to return to California for our 9th Summit and to showcase San Diego as a global hub for these emerging technologies,” said Siegel, Summit founder and GPI executive director.

The event will be held at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, One Market Place, in downtown San Diego.
To learn more, visit www.worldstemcellsummit.com.

San Diego is the ideal spot for investors and innovators to make beautiful music together, and that’s just what the Rock Stars of Innovation Summit helps them do. It is the premier industry gathering in Southern California, where the nation’s top venture capitalists and institutional investors meet with the most cutting-edge early stage companies, leading researchers, and prominent life science and technology executives.

It’s not too late to register!

Here’s the schedule:

Rock Star VC Jam Session & Networking Reception

April 11, 6-8pm

Rock Stars of Innovation Summit

April 12, 8am–3pm

Location
Hard Rock Hotel
207 5th Avenue
San Diego, Calif. 92101

The Summit will feature:

• The nation’s most influential Venture Capital (VC) speakers
• Rapid-fire panels and keynote presentations of leading VCs, scientific researchers, and company CEOs
• Presentations by San Diego’s hottest emerging companies seeking funding
• Extensive high-level networking opportunities, including the VC Jam Session

Sanford-Burnham is a sponsor of the event, along with Morrison Foerster, the Legler Benbough Foundation, Qualcomm, Pfizer, and other leading companies with San Diego operations.

Many Sanford-Burnham scientists work near the intersection of research and industry, often partnering with companies or spinning off their own, to take their findings to the next stage. Organizations like CONNECT help facilitate the process, through this summit and numerous other offerings, linking inventors and entrepreneurs with the resources they need for success.

So, if you’re in San Diego, come rock out with us.

How can you participate?

•  Watch the Rally live at www.rallyformedicalresearch.org

•  Use social media to talk about the Rally and the importance of medical research. On Twitter, use the hashtag #RallyMedRes and connect with @AACR and @SanfordBurnham. Find the full Twitter list of participating organizations here: twitter.com/AACR/research-health-orgs

•  Tweet members of Congress with a message or post on the member’s Facebook page.

•  Send an email to or call congressional offices. Find your representative here.

•  Write letters to the editor and place op-eds in local newspapers. Here are a few ideas for making the case for medical research.

•  Gather a group and schedule a meeting with members of Congress’ district office

The preceding information was provided by the American Association for Cancer Research.

Our 400 biotech companies and 5 major research institutions are covered in only a handful of news stories every week. Local life science press releases detailing exciting advances sometimes go unnoticed, likely due to shifts in today’s media landscape. Could we be attracting more funding by expanding our communication efforts to reach the public and the broader investment community as well? Could we also be attracting more large companies to open facilities here, improving our biotech economy and progress? Let’s start a discussion with top journalists on how we could improve our funding through better communication of our value as a leading biotech hub. Click here to register and join the discussion!

Questions for discussion:

1. How do we better reach the public, investors, and companies to affect change?
2. What features unique to our region may be preventing more open communication models?
3. How can we convince busy researchers about the importance of communicating their findings?
4. Could crowdfunding, which asks the public directly to fund research, work in San Diego?

As always, we’ll get questions from you during registration and we’ll have many researchers, company representatives, and writers in the audience to facilitate a lively discussion. We hope new alliances will be formed which will improve our region’s profile. This event is being co-planned with ScienceOnline San Diego, an organization dedicated to promoting online science communication. You’ll network with science communication thought leaders, journalists, entrepreneurs, and others passionate about growing life science research and business in San Diego, click here to register.

Panelists

	Heather Chambers, Associate Director of Public Relations and Communications, CHI-California Healthcare Institute
	Bradley Fikes, Biotechnology Reporter, San Diego Union Tribune
	Brian Orelli, Freelance Writer (The Motley Fool, BioWorld, Nature Biotechnology, and other publications)
	Cara Santa Maria, Science Communicator and Former Science Correspondent for the Huffington Post
	Carin Canale-Theakson, Panel Moderator and Founder of Canale Communications

Sponsors

Premier



Sponsorships are still available, contact us soon for more details.

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Event Details

Who: Life science researchers and professionals in the greater San Diego area
What: April 29th SDBN Biotech Journalism Panel: How Can We Improve Life Science Funding Through Better Communication?
When: Monday, April 29th, 2013, 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Where:Green Flash Brewery Tasting Room, 6550 Mira Mesa Boulevard San Diego, 92121 (directions below)
Cost: $25/20 (Academic), $50 for recruiters, dinner provided, beer and soda available for purchase.
Contact: http://sdbn.org/contact
For more information about the event: http://sdbn.org/april
Directions: From the west: From the 805 North or South exit Mira Mesa Blvd, head east for 2.0 miles, the Green Flash Tasting Room will be on the left/north side of the street at Flanders Drive. From the east: From the 15 North or South exit Mira Mesa Blvd, head west for 3.6 miles, the Green Flash Tasting Room will be on the right/north side of the street at Flanders Drive.
Parking: The Green Flash lot holds about 70 cars, so come early and carpool if you’d like to park there. You can also park on the street, but be very mindful that there are some poorly marked ‘no parking’ areas, especially on Sequence where there is a center lane.

The idea for this event came from our friends at the Michelson Prize & Grants in Reproductive Biology, Found Animals Foundation (FAF), who are sponsoring. The Michelson Prize & Grants in Reproductive Biology offers a $25 million prize and grants of up to $250,000 per year for scientists to pursue development of a single dose, permanent, non-surgical sterilant for cats and dogs.

I learned about the Michelson Prize & Grants a few months ago and really wanted to get the word out about funding for great research aimed at preventing pet overpopulation. While discussing potential speakers for an event with friend and colleague Lorna Neilson, she mentioned the San Diego Zoo and their work in this area. Not knowing much about reproductive biology, or anyone at the zoo, I thought it was a long shot. It turns out that Barbara Durrant was very approachable, and her team works on animal contraception, not just reproduction, which fits well with the goals of the FAF. We expect to have a very stimulating discussion about reproductive biology and how we can advance this important research. Register here, hope to see you there!

Speakers

	Barbara Durrant, Director of Reproductive Physiology, Henshaw Chair, San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research
	Becky Cyr, Program Coordinator, Michelson Prize & Grants in Reproductive Biology, Found Animals Foundation

Sponsor

Special thanks to Lorna Neilson, Scott Struthers (Michelson Grant recipient), and Chris Hoover for helping plan this event.

Event Details

Who: Life science researchers and professionals in the greater San Diego area
What: February 25th Reproductive Biology Research At The San Diego Zoo and Beyond Event
When: Monday, February 25th, 2013, 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Where:Green Flash Brewery Tasting Room, 6550 Mira Mesa Boulevard San Diego, 92121 (directions below)
Cost: $25/20 (Academic), dinner provided, beer and soda available for purchase.
Contact: http://sdbn.org/contact
For more information about the event: http://sdbn.org/february
Directions: From the west: From the 805 North or South exit Mira Mesa Blvd, head east for 2.0 miles, the Green Flash Tasting Room will be on the left/north side of the street at Flanders Drive. From the east: From the 15 North or South exit Mira Mesa Blvd, head west for 3.6 miles, the Green Flash Tasting Room will be on the right/north side of the street at Flanders Drive.
Parking: The Green Flash lot holds about 70 cars, so come early and carpool if you’d like to park there. You can also park on the street, but be very mindful that there are some poorly marked ‘no parking’ areas, especially on Sequence where there is a center lane.

Last October the SDBN did a grand experiment and hosted a ScienceOnline satellite meeting. In the end, it was a great success, we pulled together a fantastic panel, got an attendance of 75, and had a stimulating discussion. However, to be completely honest it was a lot of work organize it and times I thought the event was going to be a flop! Here are some tips for those of you who want to start a ScienceOnline satellite, as well as how to participate in San Diego.

1. Think outside the (micro)blog. I follow the ScienceOnline community through Twitter and assumed that a local satellite would need to start with scientists who were already using the application. I tried mapping Twitterers in the area and got dismal results, but I did connect with Justin Kiggins aka @neuromusic and he’s an important part of ScienceOnline San Diego (#ScioSD) now. Justin also commented that “San Diego scientists tend to do science online, but they don’t necessarily talk about it online.” Justin told us about several initiatives he knew about in the area: the Neuroscience Information Network/Neurolex, the Whole Brain Catalog, WholeSlide, Figure Zero, and Neurolinx. We were lucky to get Stephen Larson from OpenWorm on our panel at the October event. I started thinking about local resources I had used as a researcher such as the Protein Kinase Resource and the associated San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC). Of course, we contacted Phil Bourne of SDSC, the RCSB/Protein Data Bank, and SciVee as well and hope he can participate in future meetings. Someone else reminded me about Andrew Su and his work with BioGPS and GeneWiki. In addition, during a trip to TSRI I was reminded that Art Olson has been a pioneer in science communication for many years through his lab’s visualizations and models. So, in preparing for the event, I sent many personal invitations, made phone calls, etc. I even put up fliers and was reprimanded by a security guard at one local institution! In summary, cast a wide net for your first event, and leverage existing groups and institutions.
2. Consider your region’s ‘flavor’ and needs. I realized some differences between San Diego and the existing ScienceOnline community. The east coast, where the ScienceOnline conversations are centered, is home to more science journalists and bloggers due to the influence of the media hub of New York City, and Washington DC brings more government interests (e.g., NASA) and an emphasis on education. These elements are less pronounced in San Diego, where startups, funding, and intellectual property are very important. This is not to say that we don’t hope to grow in areas such as education, we have had a few people step forward with interest in this and other areas. Personally, I think there isn’t enough media attention to San Diego biotech locally, and that this could be tied to funding issues (something we’d like to address in ’13). We hope to continually gauge interest in different topics, and understand we may need to tread some new ground. We were very happy to have the support of Kevin Lustig and Assay Depot at our event, and they are involved in a ‘DIY Bio’ lab is set to launch in Carlsbad soon.
3. Consider your audience VERY carefully. For the SDBN events, we charge a fee to cover dinner and space rental, and choose to hold more regular events with this model rather than waiting until we can guarantee sponsorship and a reduced rate. It works well for us, but we found that…how should I say it…the #ScioSD audience was less prone to pay for an event. In addition, Heather Buschman, another important part of the #ScioSD team from the Sanford Burnham Medical Research Institute (SBMRI), indicated she thought our venue in Sorrento Valley, while very convenient for biotech, was too far away from the academic center, which is closer to La Jolla. While we had a great turnout in October, let me tell you that it was a lot of hard work, and likely would have been easier if we’d served our audience better. The next event, a watch party for the ScienceOnline conference in North Carolina, has a lower registration fee and and will be held at SBMRI. (Thanks to Heather for securing the venue and to Gareth Morgan and the TSRI Society of Fellows for sponsoring).
4. Lean on the masters. As I mentioned in an earlier post, serendipity played a role and ScienceOnline Director Karyn Traphagen was able to fly out and be a panelist at our event last October. She told us all about the resources available to ScienceOnline satellites and has helped us greatly to get going. Learn more on their website.
5. Let go. Once we cast a ‘wide net’ to announce our first #ScioSD event, we found many people who are enthusiastic and willing to run with the organizational tasks. This is how a ScienceOnline satellite should function, in my opinion–no one person or organization taking on the full load. I’m “happy” to say I’ll be participating only tangentially in the watch party, in that I’ll be following their Tweets while I’m at the conference in North Carolina and perhaps relaying questions from them during sessions. I have met SO MANY incredible people in the process–if you want to meet scientific thought leaders, this is the place!
6. Create resources to help. Because the San Diego science community is not currently engaged on Twitter, where do we go from here? We’ve created a few resources:
   1. Twitter list of San Diego scientists, managed by @ScioSD, also follow #ScioSD on Twitter for updates.
   2. Facebook San Diego Biotech interest group and ScioSD Facebook Page<
   3. ScioSD Google Community (and the organizers are using a Google Group, contact SDBN if you’d like to be included).
   4. San Diego Science Blogs RSS Feed (contact SDBN to be added)
   5. LinkedIn Group
   6. (Website coming soon!)

If you’re in San Diego, how do you participate? The next upcoming events are an informal gathering at Rock Bottom in La Jolla Thursday January 24th at 6 p.m. (follow @ScioSD) and the ScienceOnline Watch Party February 2nd. What is a watch party, you ask? Each session at a ScienceOnline conference is a flurry of activity, from the events going on in the room, to online discussions which start and multiply. At the watch party, you’ll watch three live sessions in which you’ll be able to participate in the online discussions, as well as talking about the session to local participants. Two prerecorded sessions will also be watched, and you’ll get to vote on these. Perhaps most importantly, you’ll meet locals who are interested in ScienceOnline and you’ll also help us to form the local chapter. Here’s the registration page, hope to “see” you there!

Special thanks also to Jill Roughan, Sandeep Pingle, and Leah Cannon, and Ramy Aziz, all part of the growing #ScioSD Team!

If you’ve never been to a speed networking event, it’s pretty simple: come with lots of business cards and your 30 second elevator speech, and you’ll meet at least 25 professionals in one night! See a review of one of our earlier speed networking events for more details. For this event, we’re encouraging industry folks to come as mentors, so we’re giving everyone the ‘academic’ rate of $20. We’ll also organize the event to maximize interactions between academics and industry. We’ve asked three professionals to talk about their transition to industry, and they will help answer questions you’ve asked during registration. Join us!

Speakers

Kevin Harvey, Ph.D., Sr. Manager, Bioinformatics at EMD Millipore

Linda Robertson, Ph.D., Regulatory Affairs Executive

Mark Title, Ph.D., CTO, Advanced Technology Leadership

Sponsorships are available for this popular event, contact us!

Special thanks to Mark Title and Jim Wiesner for helping organize this event!

Event Details

Who: Life science researchers and professionals in the greater San Diego area
What: SDBN December 3rd Speed Networking: Transitioning from Academia to Industry Event
When: Monday, December 3rd 2012, 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Where:Green Flash Brewery Tasting Room, 6550 Mira Mesa Boulevard San Diego, 92121 (directions below)
Cost: $20, dinner provided, beer and soda available for purchase.
Contact: http://sdbn.org/contact
For more information about the event: http://sdbn.org/december
Directions: From the west: From the 805 North or South exit Mira Mesa Blvd, head east for 2.0 miles, the Green Flash Tasting Room will be on the left/north side of the street at Flanders Drive. From the east: From the 15 North or South exit Mira Mesa Blvd, head west for 3.6 miles, the Green Flash Tasting Room will be on the right/north side of the street at Flanders Drive.
Parking: The Green Flash lot holds about 70 cars, so come early and carpool if you’d like to park there. You can also park on the street, but be very mindful that there are some poorly marked ‘no parking’ areas, especially on Sequence where there is a center lane.
Image courtesy of Trydberg on Flickr.