Sisters in science

by on November 4, 2011 at 9:41 am | 0 Comments
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Dr. David Pearce, Vice President of Research at Sanford Health and Director of Sanford Children’s Health Research Center in Sioux Falls

Dr. David Pearce, Vice President of Research at Sanford Health and Director of Sanford Children’s Health Research Center in Sioux Falls

In late 2007, the Sanford Children’s Health Research Center was established at Sanford-Burnham’s La Jolla campus with a $20 million gift from South Dakota philanthropist T. Denny Sanford through Sanford Health. The gift was the foundation for a long-term partnership between Sanford Health, a large healthcare system based in South Dakota, and Sanford-Burnham. In addition to the center in La Jolla, in 2009 Sanford Health created a sister Children’s Health Research Center in Sioux Falls.

On October 27-28, researchers from both research centers gathered at Sanford-Burnham’s La Jolla campus to share new research directions and stimulate further collaboration at the fourth annual Sanford Children’s Health Research Center Scientific Symposium. Attendees heard overviews from the leaders of both Sanford-Burnham and Sanford Health and learned about Sanford Health’s new BioBank, a repository for patient samples that will help drive personalized medicine and provide fodder for population genomics studies. More than a dozen scientists presented their ongoing studies of embryonic development, type 1 diabetes, brain tumors, lung injury in newborns, and rare inherited conditions such as Batten disease. Hot topics also included stem cells and RNA biology.

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Denny Sanford Supports Breast Cancer Research

by on January 24, 2011 at 3:29 pm | 0 Comments
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T. Denny Sanford, who one year ago made a $50 million gift to support biomedical research at Sanford-Burnham, has just given $100 million to Sanford Health. The gift will assist the South Dakota-based health system’s efforts to research, diagnose and treat breast cancer.

“It is with a sense of pride and conviction that we confirm that Mr. Sanford’s $100 million gift will launch a national breast cancer initiative. According to the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer, breast cancer is second only to lung cancer for new diagnoses – 1,383,523 – and deaths – 458,367 – annually,” said Brian Mortenson, president of Sanford Health Foundation.

Sanford, who has long expressed his desire to die broke, has generously supported medical research and health care, especially children’s health and childhood diseases. Four years ago, he gave $400 million to Sanford Health. The following year he donated $20 million, through Sanford Health, to Sanford-Burnham to create the Sanford Children’s Health Research Center. He also donated $30 million to the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine to support construction of a new stem cell research facility.

Read more about Sanford’s gift at the Sioux Falls Argus Leader: T. Denny Sanford donates $100 million more to health system and $100 million gift to Sanford Health will boost breast cancer research, care.

Firing on all cylinders

by 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:

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Keeping an Eye on the Sanford Consortium

by on January 4, 2011 at 3:19 pm | 1 comment
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We can’t wait for our newest neighbor to open its doors! The Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine is scheduled to complete construction on its research building in June. Check out this live video feed of the building taking shape right around the corner from Sanford-Burnham’s La Jolla campus.

The Sanford Consortium, a  collaboration between Sanford-Burnham, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, The Scripps Research Institute and UC San Diego, was created to combine the talent and technology of these four great research institutions to advance our understanding of stem cell biology and ultimately find new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, paralysis and many other conditions. The building is being funded largely through a $30 million gift from T. Denny Sanford and a $43 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).

Good Fun for a Great Cause

by on October 26, 2010 at 11:54 am | 2 Comments
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Last weekend, flappers and gangsters arrived in vintage cars to dance the night away at Sanford-Burnham’s gala—Speakeasy: Hidden in Plain Sight. The gala raised $2.2 million to support biomedical research at Sanford-Burnham.

This year’s gala was held at the Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa, where the ballroom was transformed into a Prohibition-era dance hall. Malin Burnham, T. Denny Sanford, and Conrad Prebys were honorary chairs. Life Technologies was the presenting sponsor, thanks to CEO Greg Lucier, Chairman of the Sanford-Burnham Board of Trustees.

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New York Times Highlights Sanford-Burnham’s Orlando Campus

by on September 8, 2010 at 9:48 am | 1 comment
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The real estate section of today’s New York Times featuresOrlando’s Medical City in Lake Nona, an emerging research hub that was founded in part with Sanford-Burnham’s  campus:

As soon as the [University of Central Florida] medical school was approved in 2006, the Burnham Institute (now called the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute after a recent $50 million donation by the billionaire T. Denny Sanford) chose Lake Nona for its new home. The building, which opened last year, contains one of the country’s few robotic high-throughput screening centers — machines that can run a huge number of biological tests very quickly.

In addition to Sanford-Burnham and the University of Central Florida’s College of Medicine, Lake Nona’s Medical City currently includes MD Anderson Cancer Center Orlando. The hub will also soon welcome the University of Florida Academic and Research Center, a new Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center and Nemours Children’s Hospital.

While Medical City has been a boon for economic development, it’s also been great for scientific collaboration:

“A lot of Sanford-Burnham researchers have similar interests with ours,” said Roger Oxendale, the chief executive of Nemours. “A lot of the questions they’ll be asking about diabetes and obesity, they’ll be asking with respect to childhood diseases. I think we haven’t realized the potential of these partnerships.”

For a more complete history of Medical City at Lake Nona, read the entire New York Times article, “Orlando’s Newest Attraction is Medical”.

Two Champions of Health Care

by on July 27, 2010 at 8:55 am | 0 Comments
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The San Diego Business Journal (SDBJ) recognized the significant contributions of philanthropists T. Denny Sanford and Malin Burnhamlast week with Lifetime Achievement Awards at the 4th annual reception for Health Care Champions.In the introduction to the award, SDBJ editor-in-chief Reo Carr called Sanford and Burnham “true champions of health care… Since January they have shared the name of the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, and they share a passion for making a difference in the lives of millions of people.”

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Sanford USD Medical Center Named One of the “Best”

by on July 21, 2010 at 4:15 pm | 0 Comments
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Sanford USD Medical Centerin Sioux Falls, S.D., was recently ranked among the top hospitals in the country for diabetes and endocrinology care in U.S. News & World Report’s list of 2010-2011 Best Hospitals. This honor was bestowed on just 152 medical care centers in the country, ranked in 16 different specialties. Sanford USD Medical Center is part of Sanford Health.

Sanford-Burnham’s collaboration with Sanford Health began nearly three years ago, when philanthropist T. Denny Sanford gave the Institute a $20 million gift through Sanford Health to establish the Sanford Children’s Health Research Center. In addition to the center in La Jolla, Calif., Sanford Health also founded a Children’s Health Research Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The collaboration between the two locations has established a world-class pediatric research network that has fostered important discoveries in several childhood diseases, including type 1 diabetes.

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A fruitful collaboration

by on June 18, 2010 at 3:43 pm | 0 Comments
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In late 2007, the Sanford Children’s Health Research Center was established at Sanford-Burnham’s La Jolla campus with a $20 million gift from South Dakota philanthropist T. Denny Sanford through Sanford Health. The gift was the foundation for a long-term partnership between Sanford Health of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Sanford-Burnham. The collaboration combines world-class scientific talent with state-of-the art technology to conquer childhood diseases like type 1 diabetes, muscular dystrophy and many others. In addition to the center in La Jolla, Sanford Health has created a Children’s Health Research Center in Sioux Falls. Together, Sanford-Burnham and Sanford Health are establishing an integrated, academic/pediatric research network.

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UC Irvine Opens Stem Cell Research Center

by on May 17, 2010 at 2:10 pm | 0 Comments
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On May 14, UC Irvine opened the first of seven California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM)  institutes. The 85,000-square-foot Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center will feature a basic research program to explore new methods to isolate stem cellsand understand their fundamental properties; a drug discovery program to identify and develop stem cell-based therapies; and a regenerative medicine application program to study the efficacy and safety of new therapies and bring them to the clinic. The research will focus on  Alzheimer’s disease, spinal cord injuries and macular degeneration.San Diego has our own CIRM Institute on the horizon. On March 26, the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine held the official groundbreaking ceremony for its new 135,000-square-foot research building on Torrey Pines Mesa. The Consortium, a  collaboration between Sanford-Burnham, the Salk Institute, The Scripps Research Institute and the University of California, San Diego, was created to combine the talent and technology of these four great research institutions to advance our understanding of stem cell biology and ultimately find new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, paralysis and many other conditions. The building is being funded largely through a $30 million gift from T. Denny Sanford and a $43 million grant from CIRM. The facility is expect to open in June 2011.

A Vote of Confidence

by on March 24, 2010 at 11:34 am | 4 Comments
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On January 26, the excitement at Burnham was everywhere. In La Jolla, television news trucks were double-parked; an intricate stage was set up in the Fishman Auditorium and overflow seating was arranged so that everyone could participate in the upcoming announcement.At Lake Nona, a video feed was bringing the news cross-country. Throughout the Institute, people were eager to learn what all these preparations meant. They did not have to wait long.

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