And the Cancer Center Pilot Project Program grants go to…

by on May 10, 2012 at 9:40 am | 0 Comments
Full Article
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

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:

Read More

A “twisted” grand opening ceremony

by on March 29, 2012 at 3:35 pm | 0 Comments
Full Article
TRI grand opening speakers (from left to right): John Reed, Terry Owen, Dan Kelly, Steve Smith, Lars Houmann, Des Cummings, Don Jernigan

TRI grand opening speakers (from left to right): John Reed, Terry Owen, Dan Kelly, Steve Smith, Lars Houmann, Des Cummings, Don Jernigan

“My goal is to cure diabetes,” Steven Smith, M.D., scientific director of the Florida Hospital – Sanford-Burnham Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes (TRI), said boldly at the opening ceremony of the TRI’s new state-of-the-art facility in downtown Orlando on March 27. “We believe that personalized medicine is our best shot at discovering cures for our most serious health problems like diabetes.”

The ceremony’s highlight was the unveiling of a spectacular nine-foot double-helix DNA structure that will be placed at the main entrance of the building, symbolizing the fundamental research being conducted at the TRI, as well as the synergies and collaborations the TRI represents. Selected board members and presenters each added one illuminated “bar,” representing a nucleotide, to the double helix.

“This is one of those rare times when the reality far exceeds the dream,” said John Reed, M.D., Ph.D., CEO of Sanford-Burnham. “The TRI is a wonderful opportunity for our organization, which will bring more and more to life our slogan From Research, the Power to Cure. We’re very excited about this opportunity to take our relationship with Florida Hospital to the next level.”

Read More

Translational Research Institute establishes new research paradigm for metabolic diseases

by on March 27, 2012 at 6:00 am | 0 Comments
Full Article
New TRI Facility in Downtown Orlando

New TRI Facility in Downtown Orlando

Florida Hospital and Sanford-Burnham today celebrate the opening of the Florida Hospital – Sanford-Burnham Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes’ (TRI) new state-of-the-art facility in downtown Orlando, Fla., dedicated to the advancement of a new paradigm of personalized approaches to researching and treating diabetes and obesity.

“We are witnessing the rise of personalized medicine, most notably in cancer. Our goal at the TRI is to accelerate the advancement of personalized medicine in diabetes and obesity,” said Steven Smith, M.D., Sanford-Burnham professor and scientific director of the TRI.  “We are working to rapidly expand knowledge of complex genetic and molecular causes of diabetes and obesity so that we can better define disease subpopulations. By working independently and in partnership with industry, we hope to develop therapies and treatment approaches tailored to those subpopulations. Our ultimate goal is that our discoveries will someday lead to cures for certain patients.”

Read More

Obesity research advances to clinical testing

by on March 6, 2012 at 6:00 am | 5 Comments
Full Article
Brown Fat Cells

Orexin targets brown fat cells

Discoveries made in the laboratories of Sanford-Burnham will, for the first time, advance to the clinical research stage involving human studies at the Florida Hospital – Sanford-Burnham Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes (TRI). The research will focus on orexin, an appetite-inducing hormone produced in the brain, which appears to resolve obesity without requiring a reduction in food consumption or elevation in physical activity. This research exemplifies the translational research focus at Sanford-Burnham and the TRI – advancing science from laboratory bench to patient bedside. The studies will provide insight into individual responses and contribute to the development of personalized therapies for treating metabolic diseases – a focus area for both the TRI and Sanford-Burnham.

Appetite-suppressing drugs have traditionally been the basis of weight-loss treatments since obesity is thought to be caused by excessive energy intake and low physical activity. However, appetite suppressants can produce unacceptable side effects and, after the treatment ends, patients usually the weight they lost. Recent data indicate that orexin leads to weight loss by releasing excess energy as heat instead of storing it.

Read More

Taking stock: obesity research progress with Takeda

by on February 15, 2012 at 6:01 am | 0 Comments
Full Article
Sanford-Burnham scientists met with Takeda partner in Japan in January

Sanford-Burnham scientists met with Takeda partner in Japan in January

Scientists from the Diabetes and Obesity Research Center and their colleagues from Florida Hospital recently returned from Japan, where they reviewed the progress that has been made at the mid-point of a research partnership with Takeda Pharmaceutical. The two-year collaboration focuses on the discovery and evaluation of new therapeutic approaches to obesity. In Japan, Sanford-Burnham scientists reported benchmark data that sets the stage for a key element in future drug development—the testing of obesity drug candidates.

“The data generated thus far lays the groundwork for analysis of how individuals respond differently to disease,” said Steven R. Smith, M.D., director of the Florida Hospital – Sanford-Burnham Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes (TRI), where the clinical studies are being performed with volunteers. “This partnership with Takeda, TRI, and Sanford-Burnham establishes a model to accelerate the development of safe and effective therapies.”

Read More

Sanford-Burnham experts talk about why Americans are fat

by on January 6, 2012 at 10:11 am | 0 Comments
Full Article
Fireworks over the Sydney Opera House

Fireworks over the Sydney Opera House

New Year’s resolutions and dieting seem to go hand-in-hand. Setting a personal goal to lose weight and exercise more may jump-start the New Year but “February frustration” can derail even the most determined. Scientists in Sanford-Burnham’s Diabetes and Obesity Research Center recently shared their expertise on the causes of weight gain and the metabolic challenges that make it so hard to keep off the extra pounds. Their insights on genetics, diet, metabolism and lifestyle were included in a four-part series called “What’s making Americans so fat?” that ran in the Orlando Sentinel beginning January 1. Medical reporter Marni Jameson spoke with national obesity experts to compile a list of 40 reasons for why 60 percent of U.S. adults are obese or overweight.

“It’s not gluttony, and it’s not lack of willpower,” says Dr. Steven Smith, scientific director of the Florida Hospital – Sanford-Burnham Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes. “No scientist in the field will say the problem is strictly one of willpower,” he says. “It’s a result of the way our genes are interacting with an environment that is stacked against them.”

Here’s an excerpt of how the experts weighed in:

Read More

All weight gain is not the same

by on January 4, 2012 at 2:09 pm | 0 Comments
Full Article
Steven R. Smith, M.D.

Steven R. Smith, M.D.

Malnutrition in its many forms remains a world-wide epidemic. In the United States, more than 60 percent of adults are classified as overweight or obese, whereas third-world nations are struggling with under-nutrition and insufficient food supplies. A new study provides scientific insight that may benefit development of public health policy to influence healthy weight gain.

The study, published January 4 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), examines the impact of diets containing varying amounts of protein on weight gain, body composition, and energy expenditure. The research, led by Sanford-Burnham’s Steven R. Smith, M.D. and George Bray, M.D., Pennington Biomedical Research Center, found that total calories account for increases in body fat, while increasing the percent of dietary protein during overfeeding led to more lean body mass storage. This work appears to be the first to analyze the impact of dietary protein during overfeeding and provides guidance on dietary composition for healthy weight gain.

Read More

Obesity is not one condition: an interview with Dr. Steven Smith

by on October 21, 2011 at 9:28 am | 0 Comments
Full Article
Dr. Steven Smith, scientific director of the Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes

Dr. Steven Smith, scientific director of the Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes

Dr. Steven Smith is the scientific director of the Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes, a collaboration between Sanford-Burnham and Florida Hospital. In a special presentation at Obesity 2011: The Obesity Society 29th Annual Scientific Meeting, held October 1-5 in Orlando, Fla., Dr. Smith discussed some up-and-coming anti-obesity agents, how they work, and how physicians might be able to put them to use. In his talk, he emphasized the importance of better understanding the fundamental cellular mechanisms that fuel obesity. With a greater appreciation for human metabolism, Dr. Smith explained, scientists will be able to develop new medications that focus less on appetite suppression (the target of most current weight loss drugs) and more on peripheral targets such as muscle or fat.

Read More

Why are we so fat?

by on July 11, 2011 at 2:33 pm | 0 Comments
Full Article
New report shows the percent of the population considered obese has increased over the past two decades.

New report shows the percent of the population considered obese has increased over the past two decades.

A new report released by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation held dire news about the state of America’s obesity epidemic. The report, aptly named “F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2011,” revealed several eye-opening statistics. Here are a few:

• Twenty years ago, no state had an obesity rate above 15 percent. Now every state does.
• Today, 12 states have obesity rates over 30 percent. Four years ago, only one did.
•  Since 1995, diabetes rates (long associated with obesity) have doubled in eight states. Then, only four states had diabetes rates above six percent.  Now, 43 states have diabetes rates over seven percent, and 32 have rates above eight percent.

To understand why the nation’s weight problem has ballooned over the past two decades, obesity researchers are increasingly looking to our environment. The Orlando Sentinel interviewed obesity expert Dr. Steven R. Smith, Sanford-Burnham professor and scientific director of the Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes (TRI), a collaboration between Florida Hospital and Sanford-Burnham. He said:

“Our genes haven’t changed that much in thousands of years, but we have seen a rapid change in the environment, and that has interacted with our genetic propensity toward obesity.”

Read more in How fat is America? New report gives nation an F.

Coming soon: Medscape’s “Developments to Watch”

by on July 1, 2011 at 7:08 am | 0 Comments
Full Article
Dr. Evan Snyder (right) interviews his colleague, Dr. Steven Smith, on the Medscape set.

Dr. Evan Snyder interviews his colleague, Dr. Steven Smith, on the Medscape set.

Last week, Sanford-Burnham’s Fishman Auditorium, on the Institute’s La Jolla campus, was transformed into a temporary television studio. It was hardly recognizable under the bright lights and set dressing. Medical website Medscape recorded interviews with three Sanford-Burnham researchers for a new video series called “Developments to Watch.” The talk show-like discussions were hosted by Dr. Evan Snyder, who directs the Stem Cells and Regenerative Biology Program at Sanford-Burnham. Dr. Snyder is both a medical doctor who regularly sees patients and a scientist who conducts research in his own lab – the perfect person to help explain how discoveries made today might one day help patients.

Medscape is part of the network of sites run by WebMD. With this newest video series, Sanford-Burnham scientists will be providing expert commentary and information to help keep Medscape’s audience – primary care physicians, specialists and other health professionals – up-to-date on the latest medical research and what it means for their patients.

Read More

Building translational research

by on May 26, 2011 at 3:25 pm | 1 comment
Full Article
Dr. Steven Smith and Dr. Stephen Gardell leave their marks on the new TRI building.

Dr. Steven Smith and Dr. Stephen Gardell sign the new TRI building.

The  Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes (TRI), a collaboration between Sanford-Burnham and Florida Hospital, is one step closer to opening its research facility. The 54,000 square-foot building recently reached its final height, and a special ceremony was held during which researchers gathered to sign one of the interior columns. Construction to enclose the building will now begin.The TRI, which studies diabetes, obesity and the metabolic origins of cardiovascular disease, will  help bridge the gap between the scientist’s laboratory and the patient’s bedside. The TRI will unite scientists, clinicians and advanced technologies to spur translational research and rapidly create new, more effective treatments.

“We are witnessing an epidemic of obesity and diabetes in the United States,” said Dr. Steven R. Smith, scientific director of the TRI. “The main goal of the TRI is to generate new knowledge to improve lives through innovative research. By ‘topping out’ the TRI, we are one step closer towards developing Orlando as a medical destination.”

Read More

A different kind of dorm room

by on May 19, 2011 at 5:00 am | 3 Comments
Full Article
This calorimetry suite will be an important tool in the new Translational Research Institute facility, opening January 2012 (rendering by Flad Architects)

Calorimetry suite in the new Translational Research Institute facility, due to open January 2012 (artist's rendering by Flad Architects)

Obesity negatively affects the entire body – no organ system is left untouched. It increases a person’s risk of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, depression, certain cancers and many other conditions. If the current trend of expanding waistlines continues, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that at least one in five Americans will be diabetic by the year 2050.

The goal of the Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes (TRI), a collaboration between Florida Hospital and Sanford-Burnham, is to alter this course by translating basic scientific discoveries in the laboratory to usable information and products that improve the diagnosis and treatment of human diseases – especially obesity and diabetes.

“At the moment, there is a big gap between what we know and what we want to know about human metabolism, obesity and diabetes. Our ultimate goal in translational research is to bridge that gap,” says Dr. Steven R. Smith, TRI’s scientific director and professor at Sanford-Burnham. “As basic researchers continue to unravel the molecular underpinnings of these diseases, TRI will be conducting proof-of-concept experiments to validate new drug targets and test new therapies for safety and efficacy.”

When it opens in January 2012, the TRI’s new three-story facility in Orlando, Florida will contain a research clinic, imaging technology, a biorepository for sample collection and storage, and several other resources for metabolic studies. But the facility’s highlight will be the calorimeter rooms – small dormitory-style rooms outfitted with a bed, treadmill and toilet. These whole-room calorimeters will allow the TRI staff to measure fat and carbohydrate oxidation and energy expenditure as a person goes about his or her normal life – sleeping, eating, walking, etc. As the patient exercises on the treadmill, scientists will be able to measure his or her oxygen consumption and calories burned without using invasive tubing or sensors. This approach will provide superior comfort – and therefore generate more accurate data – during exercise.

Read More

Personalized Medicine 101

by on April 21, 2011 at 3:54 pm | 1 comment
Full Article
Dr. Steven Smith, Scientific Director for the Florida Hospital Sanford-Burnham Translational Research Institute, demonstrates sophisticated equipment used in metabolic studies.

Dr. Steven Smith, Scientific Director for the Florida Hospital Sanford-Burnham Translational Research Institute, cares for a patient.

In 2003, the completion of the human genome project gave us an unprecedented amount of genetic information. From this, a new clinical concept is emerging: personalized medicine.Conventional medical care generalizes treatment to all patients with a particular disease. But since a disease is as individual as the person who has it, casting a wide therapeutic net has its limitations. For one, patients with a certain genetic makeup might not respond to a particular drug as well as patients with different genetics, or they might experience different side effects. As personalized medicine becomes a reality, it could rectify these less-than-ideal situations.

From the diagnostic point-of-view, personalized medicine is a shift from reactive to proactive. Based on a person’s health, genetic, and environmental profiles, doctors practicing personalized medicine could assess a patient’s risk for acquiring a genetic disease before any symptoms develop. This might allow them to target the specific genes that account for illness (the BRCA1/BRCA2 genes that predispose a woman to breast cancer, for example), incorporate a prevention strategy, and monitor those genes over time. When it comes to treatment, personalized drugs could be prescribed based on an individual’s molecular “build” and targeting treatment where it will do the most good and the least harm.

Read More

Japanese signing ceremony initiates new partnership

by on February 7, 2011 at 9:41 am | 1 comment
Full Article

On January 31, Sanford-Burnham, Florida Hospital and Takeda Pharmaceuticalcelebrated their new research alliance with a signing ceremony steeped in Japanese tradition. Representatives from each organization met at Sanford-Burnham’s Lake Nona campus in Orlando to sign the agreement and exchange gifts.The drawing of one “eye” on a Daruma doll held special significance for the Japanese scientists. As Takeda executives explained, at the start of a new undertaking, partners color in one eye of the doll. Later, if discovery efforts are successful  –  isolating a new target or a good lead compound — the team will fill in the remaining eye. Dr. Paul Chapman, general manager of Takeda’s research division, joked that the particularly large doll was symbolic of the big challenges ahead. Takeda, the largest pharmaceutical company in Japan, is committed to discovering new therapeutics to treat obesity and diabetes.

“We are delighted to have found the world-class talent that we are seeking here in Central Florida,” Dr. Chapman said.

Read More

Spotlight on disease: type 2 diabetes

by on January 14, 2011 at 2:29 pm | 3 Comments
Full Article

Diabetes results from a lack of insulin, a hormone that stimulates cells to take up glucose (a type of sugar) from the bloodstream. Cells need glucose as fuel to produce energy. Type 1 diabeticslack insulin because their immune systems destroy the pancreatic cells that produce it. Type 2 diabetics progress through two stages of the disease. In the first stage, called “insulin resistance”, cells no longer respond to insulin.  The pancreas compensates for this resistance by producing more insulin. As insulin resistance persists, the pancreas cannot make enough insulin to keep up with the increased demand. The pancreas eventually shuts down insulin production altogether, resulting in type 2 diabetes.Without sugar that can be converted to energy, cells starve and glucose levels build up in the blood, which can lead to life-threatening complications such as cardiovascular disease. Since fat interferes with the body’s ability to process insulin and overweight people are at increased risk for the disease, type 2 diabetes is sometimes called “obesity-related” diabetes. Type 2 diabetics are encouraged to carefully monitor their diet and exercise in order to prevent dangerous fluctuations in blood sugar levels.

Read More

« Older Posts