Grants

Joining forces with the International Prostate Cancer Foundation to develop better tests

by Patrick Bartosch on May 17, 2013 at 6:01 am | 0 Comments

Drs. Perera (left) and Patel during the "A Celebration of Collaboration" ceremony on May 10

During a ceremony at Sanford-Burnham at Lake Nona on May 10, the International Prostate Cancer Foundation (IPCF) awarded Ranjan Perera, Ph.D., scientific director of analytical genomics and bioinformatics at our Lake Nona campus, $60,000 to fund a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Perera’s lab.

“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.

Developing Nanotech Therapies for Traumatic Brain Injuries

by admin on May 11, 2013 at 6:01 am | 0 Comments

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These nanoparticles of porous silicon, each 100 times smaller than a human hair, contain microscopic reservoirs that can hold and protect sensitive drugs. The surface of the particles can be covered with targeting molecules. (Photo by Chia-Chen Wu, UC San Diego)

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded $6 million to a team of researchers to develop nanotechnology therapies for the treatment of traumatic brain injury and associated infections. The award brings together a multi-disciplinary team of renowned experts in laboratory research, translational investigation, and clinical medicine. The team includes Sanford-Burnham’s Erkki Ruoslahti, M.D., Ph.D., and is led by Professor Michael J. Sailor, Ph.D., from the University of California San Diego. Also on the team are Sangeeta N. Bhatia, M.D., Ph.D., of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Clark C. Chen, M.D., Ph.D., of UC San Diego School of Medicine.

Dr. Sheila Collins receives Novo Nordisk Diabetes Innovation Award

by Patrick Bartosch on November 2, 2012 at 7:58 am | 0 Comments

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The Novo Nordisk award will help fund Dr. Collins' (above) research into how hormones made in the heart act on fat cells.

Sheila Collins, Ph.D., professor in the Metabolic Signaling and Disease Program at Sanford-Burnham at Lake Nona, was awarded a Novo Nordisk Diabetes Innovation Award of $975,000 over two years. The program period will begin on January 1, 2013. The grant will help Collins and her team conduct research into how hormones made in the heart act on fat cells to regulate metabolic processes that can stimulate energy expenditure and weight loss.

The Novo Nordisk Diabetes Innovation Award Program was launched in 2011 and is very competitive, with more than 100 proposals submitted for funding this year. The goal of the award program is to translate science into new therapies, helping diabetes and obesity patients receive better treatment and increase their chances of living more rewarding lives.

NIH New Innovator Award helps Sanford-Burnham scientist pursue high-risk, high-reward project

by Heather Buschman, Ph.D. on September 13, 2012 at 6:01 am | 0 Comments

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Duc Dong, Ph.D.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of the Director today announced that Duc Dong, Ph.D., assistant professor at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham), will receive a New Innovator Award. These awards are intended to help researchers pursue big ideas with the potential to transform scientific fields and speed the translation of research into improved health.

Dong’s big idea is to grow replacement organs in an adult animal, using a new technology his lab recently developed. He and his team will genetically reprogram cells in zebrafish to induce new tissue development. Zebrafish, a valuable model for studying human development and disease, will allow the researchers to rapidly screen genes and chemicals important for efficient genetic reprogramming in a living organism.

California’s stem cell agency boosts heart disease research at Sanford-Burnham

by Heather Buschman, Ph.D. on September 12, 2012 at 6:29 am | 0 Comments

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Huei-Sheng Vincent Chen, Ph.D.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has awarded a $1.58 million grant to Huei-Sheng Vincent Chen, Ph.D., associate professor at Sanford-Burnham. Chen’s proposal was one of 28 new projects funded as part of CIRM’s Basic Biology IV awards program, which supports basic research aimed at increasing our understanding of stem cells and how to work with them. This new funding will allow Chen and his team to develop personalized models of inherited heart conditions using stem cells derived from patients’ own skin cells. They will also use these models to develop new therapies.

“Most heart conditions that cause sudden death in young people—those under age 35—are caused by inherited genetic mutations. But doctors have a hard time treating these types of heart conditions because not much is known about how genetic mutations cause them and because they’re usually diagnosed late in the disease process,” Chen said. “At the moment, the only way to treat these inherited heart diseases is to implant a heart-shocking device to prevent sudden death. More frequently, however, no therapy is available to slow the disease’s progression.”

NIH director Francis Collins calls for continued funding of basic medical research

by Patrick Bartosch on September 5, 2012 at 5:51 am | 0 Comments

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Dr. Francis Collins makes a compelling case for continued funding of basic medical research (Photo by National Institutes of Health)

In an editorial for Science, Dr. Francis Collins, director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), makes a convincing case for continued funding of basic medical research. In the editorial, Dr. Collins writes that the NIH will continue to support basic research, which it defines as systematic study directed toward fuller knowledge or understanding of the fundamental aspects of phenomena and of observable facts without specific applications in mind. According to the article:

“In this time of severe budget constraints, Americans need to know that today’s basic research is the engine that powers tomorrow’s therapeutic discoveries,” says Dr. Francis Collins. “They need to know that basic research is the type of science that the private sector, which requires rapid returns on investment, cannot afford to fund. They need to know that, because it is impossible to predict whence the next treatment may emerge, the nation must support a broad portfolio of basic research.”
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And the Cancer Center Pilot Project Program grants go to…

by Patrick Bartosch on May 10, 2012 at 9:40 am | 0 Comments

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Two research teams, including Dr. Ranjan Perera (left) and Dr. Steven Smith (right), were awarded Pilot Project Program grants from Sanford-Burnham's NCI-designated Cancer Center

As part of its Pilot Project Program, Sanford-Burnham’s National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Cancer Center received and reviewed 10 applications for funding this year. Applications for these grants, designed to kick-start new collaborative projects, were submitted by scientists from all of the Institute’s research centers and they were reviewed by a panel of senior faculty members, including adjunct faculty, scientific advisory board (SAB) members, and external experts.

More than 20 researchers and experts participated in this year’s peer-review process to select the winners of the grants. The applications and the respective reviews were then discussed by a panel, which ranked the grants and determined the winners.

On May 1, the two grants of $75,000 each were awarded to:

Teaming up to tackle brain tumors

by Heather Buschman, Ph.D. on May 3, 2012 at 10:19 am | 3 Comments

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Glioblastoma multiforme (bright ring at right), as seen by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

We are pleased to announce our role in a new multidisciplinary study aimed at finding novel brain cancer therapies. The team, led by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), includes Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, the Van Andel Research Institute (VARI), and the Intellectual Property & Science division of Thomson Reuters.

A $4.5 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will fund the five-year search to find new ways of treating glioblastoma multiforme, the most common and lethal form of brain cancer. Primary brain tumors are among the top 10 causes of cancer death in the U.S., and more than 80,000 Americans have primary malignant brain tumors.

Florida Department of Health and Sanford-Burnham to kick off collaborative research program

by Patrick Bartosch on April 25, 2012 at 1:30 pm | 0 Comments

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The Collaborative Research Grant program will provide Florida scientists with access to our screening center

Last week was a great one for medical researchers across the state of Florida. The state legislature and governor approved funding for the Collaborative Research Grant program between the Florida Department of Health and Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute. Starting in July, the program will provide scientists at universities and non-profit institutes throughout Florida with access to Sanford-Burnham scientists and our state-of-the-art technologies for drug discovery. This includes access to the Institute’s Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics.

Together with the Florida Department of Health, Sanford-Burnham will develop a competitive grant program, based on peer-review that will provide funds for collaborative projects between Florida-based research scientists and Sanford-Burnham’s fully operational, state-of-the-art drug discovery technology center based at Lake Nona.

Peering in at peer review

by Heather Buschman, Ph.D. on April 19, 2012 at 10:48 am | 0 Comments

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Timothy Osborne, Ph.D., professor and program director in Sanford-Burnham's Diabetes and Obesity Center, was recently appointed to the NIH’s Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology Study Section.

Timothy Osborne, Ph.D., professor and program director in Sanford-Burnham's Diabetes and Obesity Research Center, was recently appointed to the NIH’s Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology Study Section.

A majority of the nation’s biomedical research is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. The NIH spends billions of dollars supporting research on everything from aging to zoster virus, so how do they decide which projects to fund? The answer is peer review.

Scientific review officers in the NIH’s Center for Scientific Review receive more than 80,000 grant applications each year and recruit independent experts from the scientific community to evaluate them. Each grant application is assigned to a particular Study Section—a group of about 20 experts on the research topic addressed in the application. Study Section members must be recognized authorities in their fields and lead research projects comparable to those being reviewed.

Timothy Osborne, Ph.D., professor and director of the Metabolic Signaling and Disease Program in Sanford-Burnham’s Diabetes and Obesity Research Center, was recently appointed to the NIH’s Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology Study Section.

“The cornerstone of the NIH peer-review system is the initial Study Section review, where active primary scientists meet and evaluate the scientific merit of peer-submitted proposals,” Osborne says. “It’s vital for the health of this system that our best fair-minded colleagues actively participate in the process to ensure quality and fairness in the system. I am honored and privileged to be a part of the process and consider it my obligation to my colleagues.”

Why the economy depends on federal funding for medical research

by Patrick Bartosch on February 22, 2012 at 3:03 pm | 0 Comments

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NIH funding is crucial for medical research

When Sanford-Burnham CEO John Reed, M.D., Ph.D. traveled to Washington, D.C., in early February, he attended a variety of Capitol Hill briefings to discuss the importance of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for medical research. He pointed out that NIH grants account for approximately 80 percent of all funding for non-profit medical research institutions in the United States, such as Sanford-Burnham.

NIH grants contribute to the ultimate goal of developing new treatments for diseases and improving the quality of life for millions of Americans and people worldwide. The research supported by these grants also generates U.S. patents that fuel the biotechnology industry and creates thousands of jobs across the nation. NIH funding supports the training of our biomedical research workforce and strengthens the foundation of a 21st century knowledge-based economy.

New muscle research center opens in San Diego

by Heather Buschman, Ph.D. on January 27, 2012 at 6:23 am | 0 Comments

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The new San Diego Skeletal Muscle Research Center will be made up of three core facilities shared by five local institutions.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently awarded a new grant to establish the San Diego Skeletal Muscle Research Center. This new center, led by UC San Diego’s Rick Lieber, Ph.D., Sanford-Burnham’s Mark Mercola, Ph.D., and The Scripps Research Institute’s Velia Fowler, Ph.D., will allow 21 scientists at five different research institutions to combine their expertise and state-of-the-art methods to accelerate research that advances our understanding of skeletal muscles and the diseases that affect them.

Innovation for IBD

by Heather Buschman, Ph.D. on August 29, 2011 at 2:28 pm | 0 Comments

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Dr. Fred Levine, director of the Sanford Children's Health Research Center

The Kenneth Rainin Foundation announced that Sanford-Burnham’s Dr. Fred Levine and Dr. Hudson Freeze will receive a 2011 Innovator Award for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Research. The team will receive a $100,000, one-year grant for their idea to develop new IBD treatments by targeting a protein called HNF-4a.

HNF-4a is a nuclear receptor, meaning that it directly binds DNA and turns genes on or off in response to outside signals. HNF4a is found throughout the intestine, where it helps maintain structural integrity of the intestinal lining. Previous studies suggest that HNF4a might play a role in IBD. In a mouse model of IBD, lack of HNF4a increased disease severity. HNF4a levels are also low in intestinal biopsy samples from IBD patients. Given this information, it makes sense that enhancing HNF4a function might have the opposite effect, diminishing the disease. However, there hasn’t been a practical way to do that—until now.

Shared resources, shared successes

by Faculty Contributor on August 8, 2011 at 1:27 pm | 0 Comments

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Microscope available in Sanford-Burnham's Cell Imaging facility

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of posts highlighting Shared Resources available at Sanford-Burnham. Future posts will further explore some of the individual capabilities found in these core facilities.

Suppose you’re a new assistant professor just starting your career at Sanford-Burnham, and you need to perform some high-resolution fluorescence microscopy to finish your first big paper as a principal investigator. How do you afford that $400,000 confocal microscope for the key experiments? For that matter, how does anyone afford a $400,000 microscope? Here’s where Shared Resources saves the day. Just down the stairway sits the Zeiss Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope that Sanford-Burnham’s Cell Imaging facility has thoughtfully provided for you. How did you get so lucky?

Firing on all cylinders

by Josh Baxt on January 21, 2011 at 11:25 am | 0 Comments

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January is a good time to reflect on the previous year and plan for the new one. Recently, Sanford-Burnham CEO Dr. John Reed delivered his annual State of the Institute address at both our Orlando and San Diego campuses.

As Dr. Reed noted, 2010 was quite a productive year. On January 26, we announced T. Denny Sanford’s$50 million gift and our new name: Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute. In addition to Mr. Sanford’s gift, significant contributions were made by Pauline Foster, Arthur Brody and Gary and Jeanne Herberger. Also, the Sanford-Burnham Gala had a record year.

Dr. Reed welcomed new faculty, including Drs. Carl Ware, Robert Wechsler-Reya, Sheila Collins Fraydoon Rastinejad, Sepideh Khorasanizadeh, Xianlin Han, Salvatore Albani, and Alessandra Sacco. He also noted that, despite stagnant research funding, Sanford-Burnham had an excellent year bringing in grant funding to advance important research.

“According to government data, last year, our main source for support, the NIH, funded fewer grants than it has for any year in the last nine years,” said Dr. Reed. “When adjusted for inflation, and excluding the one-time stimulus funding, NIH budgets have been in net decline. Despite those challenging circumstances, last year we posted a nine percent increase in grant revenue institute-wide, surpassing the $100 million mark for the first time.”

But of course, the highlight was the research. Sanford-Burnham scientists helped produce more than 300 peer-reviewed papers last year. That’s a lot of ground to cover, so Dr. Reed could only give a few highlights:

Top Stories - Grants

Joining forces with the International Prostate Cancer Foundation to develop better tests

Developing Nanotech Therapies for Traumatic Brain Injuries

Dr. Sheila Collins receives Novo Nordisk Diabetes Innovation Award

NIH New Innovator Award helps Sanford-Burnham scientist pursue high-risk, high-reward project

California’s stem cell agency boosts heart disease research at Sanford-Burnham

NIH director Francis Collins calls for continued funding of basic medical research

And the Cancer Center Pilot Project Program grants go to…

Teaming up to tackle brain tumors

Florida Department of Health and Sanford-Burnham to kick off collaborative research program

Peering in at peer review

Why the economy depends on federal funding for medical research

New muscle research center opens in San Diego

Innovation for IBD

Shared resources, shared successes

Firing on all cylinders

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