News & Publications

News Releases Archive

1995 - 2007

• December 20, 2007
  Scripps Research and St. Jude's Team Finds a Widely Used Anti-Malarial Drug Prevents Cancer Development
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital have found that a commonly prescribed anti-malarial drug effectively prevents the development of certain types of human cancer in mouse models.
  
  
• December 18, 2007
  Scripps Research Discovery Leads to Broad Potential Applications in CovX-Pfizer Deal
  A catalytic antibody discovery made at The Scripps Research Institute has formed the basis of the upcoming acquisition of biotechnology venture CovX by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Inc.
  
  
• December 6, 2007
  Scripps Research Scientists Discover Chemical Triggers for Aggression in Mice
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has discovered specific pheromone compounds responsible for eliciting aggressive behavior in mice. They have also identified the first step in the neurological pathway that triggers the aggressive response.
  
  
• December 5, 2007
  Richard Lerner to Receive Research!America Advocacy Award
  Richard A. Lerner, MD, president of The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, has been named Research!America's 2008 Builders of Science award recipient. He will accept the award at Research!America's 12th Annual Advocacy Awards Gala on March 18, 2008, at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, DC.
  
  
• December 5, 2007
  Scripps Research Scientists Find White Blood Cells Deliver Boost to Tumors
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found that a specific type of white blood cell carries with it an unusually potent catalyst of tumor growth. The catalyst promotes angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels, which are critical to tumor growth.
  
  
• December 4, 2007
  Scripps Research Scientists Develop New Tests that Identify Lethal Prion Strains Quickly and Accurately
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida, have developed two new tests for prions, infectious proteins that cause a number of diseases including "mad cow disease," and a human counterpart, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. These advances open the door to better understanding and diagnosis of these troubling conditions.
  
  
• November 14, 2007
  Scripps Research Scientists Develop Modeling Method that Increases Our Understanding of Diseases like Cystic Fibrosis and Alzheimer's
  A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has come up with a simple but comprehensive way of probing the parts of our biological machinery that controls protein folding, packaging, and export from our cells.
  
  
• October 30, 2007
  Scripps Research Team Blocks Bacterial Communication System to Prevent Deadly Staph Infections
  In hopes of combating the growing scourge of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, in particular drug-resistant staph bacteria, a team of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute has designed a new type of vaccine that could one day be used in humans to block the onset of infection. The advantage of the new vaccine is that it would work not only on current bacterial resistant stains but also would not induce the potential for new bacterial resistance because, rather than killing bacterial cells, it blocks their communication system, preventing the shift from harmless to virulent, thus allowing the body's natural defenses to combat the bacteria.
  
  
• October 30, 2007
  Mass Spectrometry Metabolomics Unveils Unique Markers for Childhood Disorders
  For the first time, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have applied untargeted mass spectrometry-based metabolomics to uncover a number of unique molecular markers in two inherited childhood metabolic disorders. This new method could prove useful in diagnosis and patient clinical evaluation.
  
  
• October 26, 2007
  Scripps Research Wins $51 Million Contract to Study Critical Immune Response Mechanisms
  The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded a $51 million five-year contract to The Scripps Research Institute to study innate and adaptive immune responses to a number of pathogens, including the influenza virus. Richard Ulevitch, Scripps Research professor and chairman of the Department of Immunology, will lead the project as principal investigator.
  
  
• October 25, 2007
  New Scripps Research Mass Spectrometry NanoTechnology Delivers Significant Advances
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have developed a new mass spectrometry technology for studying small biomolecules. The new highly sensitive and robust technology, called Nanostructure-Initiator Mass Spectrometry (NIMS), enables the analysis of single cells, tissue imaging, and rapid blood and urine analysis with no advanced sample preparation.
  
  
• October 11, 2007
  Novel Yeast Protein Plays a Key Role in Repairing Double-Strand DNA Breaks
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have uncovered a novel protein in yeast that plays a key role in controlling the repair of double-strand breaks in DNA. The discovery of the protein, Ctp1, and its role, strongly suggests that the same mechanism works in regulating DNA damage repair in human cells and may point the way to future cancer therapies.
  
  
• October 4, 2007
  Scripps Research Scientists Develop Innovative Dual Action Anthrax Vaccine-Antitoxin Combination
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and The Salk Institute for Biological Studies have developed a new and highly effective agent that provides protection against anthrax by combining a fast-acting anthrax toxin inhibitor with a vaccine in a single compound.
  
  
• October 4, 2007
  New Pearson Family Chair at Scripps Research to Support Forward-Looking Alcohol and Addiction Research
  The Scripps Research Institute has announced that Professor Barbara Mason, Ph.D., has been appointed the first recipient of The Pearson Family Chair, a newly endowed position in alcohol and addiction research at the institute.
  
  
• October 4, 2007
  Structure of HIV Capsid Protein Reveals Potential Weakness at Inner Core of Virus
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have published a detailed molecular model of the full-length HIV CA protein—a viral protein that forms a cone-shaped shell around the genome of HIV. This structure reveals a never-before-seen molecular interaction that may be a weakness at the core of the virus.
  
  
• October 1, 2007
  Scripps Research Study Reveals Mechanism Behind Nicotine Dependency
  Many more people try to quit smoking than succeed in giving up this nicotine-delivering habit. Now, a group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has identified one neurobiological mechanism that contributes to nicotine dependence, and to the anxiety and craving experienced upon withdrawal. The findings also suggest a new approach to developing drugs that could help smokers quit.
  
  
• September 5, 2007
  Scripps Research Scientists Shed New Light on How Antibodies Fight HIV
  Leading an international team of scientists, immunologists at The Scripps Research Institute have uncovered the first evidence that an HIV antibody is most effective when it binds not only to the virus, but also to host immune cells. The findings suggest that antibody efficiency depends on both directly neutralizing the virus and activating the host immune response.
  
  
• September 5, 2007
  Scripps Research Scientists Reveal Pivotal Hearing Structure
  A team of scientists made up of two laboratory groups from The Scripps Research Institute and one from the National Institutes of Health has shed light on how our bodies convert vibrations entering the ear into electrical signals that can be interpreted by the brain. Exactly how the electrical signal is generated has been the subject of ongoing research interest.
  
  
• September 4, 2007
  Scripps Research Institute Scientist Bruce Beutler Awarded 2007 Balzan Prize
  Bruce Beutler, M.D., chair of the Genetics Department at the Scripps Research Institute, has been awarded the prestigious 2007 Balzan Prize for his work in innate immunit. He shares the $827,000 prize with Jules Hoffmann of the Academie des Sciences in Paris.
  
  
• August 31, 2007
  Scripps Research Study Identifies Intermediate-Stage Prion Protein Aggregates as Primary Cause of Neurodegenerative Diseases
  Working in close collaboration with an international group of researchers, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have shown for the first time that small clumps of abnormal prion proteins called oligomers cause the widespread death of neurons. In contrast, much larger prion aggregates known as fibrils proved to be far less toxic.
  
  
• August 30, 2007
  New Study Pinpoints Specific Neurons Involved In Memory Formation
  In a remarkable new study, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have unlocked one of the secrets of how memory is formed. Working with a unique breed of transgenic mice, the new study has shown for the first time that the same neurons activated during fear conditioning are, in fact, reactivated during memory retrieval.
  
  
• July 19, 2007
  Renowned Chemist Roy Periana Appointed Professor at Scripps Florida
  The Scripps Research Institute announced today the appointment of internationally recognized chemist Roy A. Periana, Ph.D., as professor of chemistry at the Institute's Scripps Florida facilities.
  
  
• July 17, 2007
  New "Checkmate" Method from The Scripps Research Institute Provides Powerful New Tool for Preventing Spread of Future Epidemics
  Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have developed a breakthrough methodology that can be used to rapidly predict how viruses such as avian influenza H5N1, a dangerous strain of "bird flu," will mutate in response to attacks by the immune system. The new approach, dubbed "checkmate analysis," may also predict which antibodies or small molecule therapeutics will best neutralize these viral mutations before they can develop into global epidemics.
  
  
• June 25, 2007
  Scripps Research Study Links Chronic Methamphetamine Abuse and Cardiovascular Disease
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found that chronic abuse of the highly addictive drug methamphetamine may be an unrecognized risk factor in the development of a number of potentially serious cardiovascular disorders frequently reported by methamphetamine abusers.
  
  
• June 20, 2007
  Scripps Research Institute President Richard A. Lerner Receives Honorary Degree from Oxford University
  Richard A. Lerner, M.D., president of The Scripps Research Institute, was recognized today with an honorary doctor of science degree from the University of Oxford for his innovative work as a chemist.
  
  
• June 19, 2007
  Kristin Baldwin of Scripps Research Institute Named To Highly Selective Pew Scholars Program
  The Pew Charitable Trusts and the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) announced today that Kristin K. Baldwin, Ph.D., was named one of 20 exceptional researchers selected as 2007 Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences. As a Pew Scholar, each scientist will receive a $240,000 award over four years to help support his or her research, as well as gain inclusion into a unique community of scientists that encourages collaboration and the exchange of ideas. The program is funded by Pew through a grant to UCSF.
  
  
• June 19, 2007
  Scripps Research Scientists Show Protein Accelerates Breast Cancer Progression in Animal Models
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have shown for the first time that a cytokine called pleiotrophin stimulates the progression of breast cancer in both animal and cell culture models. The study, which tested three separate models to determine the role of inappropriate expression of pleiotrophin, found that it produced striking increases in aggressiveness of the breast cancer cells themselves.
  
  
• June 18, 2007
  Scripps Research Scientists Discover Mouse Appetite Suppressant
  A protein called interleukin-18 (IL-18), previously known mainly for its role in the immune system, is also a powerful appetite suppressant for mice once they reach the equivalent of adulthood, according to scientists at The Scripps Research Institute. Members of the research team hope the work will eventually lead to the development of new treatments for preventing obesity in humans. Unlike similar proteins, IL-18 suppresses appetite without unwanted side effects such as fever or sickness behavior, suggesting it might be a particularly good target for further study.
  
  
• May 29, 2007
  Scripps Research Institute Team Awarded $17 Million Grant to Develop Therapeutic Use of Adult Stem Cells to Treat Eye Diseases
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has been awarded a five-year, $17,037,185 grant from the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health. The grant, starting June 1, 2007, will support the development of the use of adult stem cells as a therapy for treating the most common types of vision loss.
  
  
• May 23, 2007
  Study Reveals Process Linking Disordered Protein Folding and Binding
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology have uncovered one of the processes by which disordered or unstructured proteins become bound to specific cellular sites. The findings offer valuable insights into how proteins carry out their genetically encoded functions, and may provide promising new targets for future drug development.
  
  
• May 3, 2007
  Study Led by Scripps Research Scientist Reveals Little-Known Cell Networks Vital to Circadian Rhythm
  In a wide-ranging systems biology study of circadian rhythm, a multi-institutional collaboration led by Scripps Research Institute Professor Steve Kay has uncovered some little-known cellular mechanisms for sustaining circadian rhythm and limiting the impact of genetic clock mutations in mammals. The new findings could have important implications for future circadian studies, and point researchers toward new ways to manipulate human circadian rhythm at the molecular level to treat diseases such as bipolar disorder.
  
  
• May 2, 2007
  Scripps Research Team Sheds Light on Long-Sought Cold Sensation Gene
  Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and the Novartis Research Foundation have shown that a gene called TRPM8 is responsible for the bulk of this ability in mice. The discovery, reported in the May 3 issue of the journal Neuron, might one day lead to the development of drugs that induce cold sensation as an analgesic, or block it to prevent certain forms of chronic pain associated with cold sensation.
  
  
• April 10, 2007
  Scripps Research Team Unravels Drug Target for Parasitic Diseases
  The ongoing search for better treatments for devastating parasitic diseases such as Chagas' disease and African sleeping sickness now has a new target, thanks to research by a team from The Scripps Research Institute. The group now understands better a critical DNA-protein binding event that, if blocked, can kill the parasites that cause the diseases. The researchers are already working to screen drugs that will block this mechanism.
  
  
• April 9, 2007
  Study Shows Humans and Plants Share Common Regulatory Pathway
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have shown for the first time that humans and plants share a common pathogen recognition pathway as part of their innate immune systems. The data could help shed fresh light on how pathogen recognition proteins function and the role they play in certain chronic inflammatory diseases.
  
  
• April 5, 2007
  Scripps Research Scientists Identify New Regulatory Mechanism for Critical Protein Signaling Domain
  In a study with far-reaching implications, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and other institutions have for the first time identified a new in vivo regulatory mechanism for the PH Domain, a component of many proteins that allows them to move from a cell's interior to the cell membrane in response to stimulation of cell surface receptors. The findings offer a promising avenue for the development of novel therapies for immunodeficiency or autoimmune diseases.
  
  
• April 4, 2007
  Scripps Research Team Reveals Major Role for Novel Neurotransmitter System in Regulating Drug Intake
  A team of researchers at The Scripps Research Institute has provided strong new evidence that a novel neurotransmitter system in the brain is involved in alcohol and opiate addiction. The group found that levels of endogenous cannabinoids increase or decrease in direct proportion to the amount of alcohol or opiates consumed. By providing insight into possible new targets for drug therapy, this work opens up novel avenues for regulating addiction.
  
  
• March 28, 2007
  Scripps Research Institute Presents Latest on Treatments for Cardiovascular Diseas, Stroke, Alzheimer's, and Arthritis
  Three leading scientists at the Scripps Research Institute will give a free lecture titled "Current Research and Developing New Treatments for Cardiovascular Disease, Stroke, Alzheimer's, and Arthritis—On the Front Lines of Hope," Wednesday evening, April 25 in La Jolla.
  
  
• March 19, 2007
  Synthetic Production of Potential Pharmaceuticals Dramatically Simplified by Scripps Research Team
  A team of researchers at The Scripps Research Institute has developed new techniques that dramatically reduce the time, complexity, and cost of synthesizing natural products with pharmaceutical potential. The work dislodges previously entrenched beliefs in the organic chemistry field about how such products must be produced, and could help to advance and expand the use of natural products in drug discovery programs.
  
  
• March 9, 2007
  Scripps Florida Campus Dedicated to Promoting Biomedical Science, Education, and Better Human Health
  The Scripps Research Institute today officially dedicated its Scripps Florida campus in Jupiter to "increasing human knowledge, advancing biomedical science, educating the researchers of the future, and improving the health of humanity."
  
  
• February 27, 2007
  New Scripps Research Monoclonal Antibody Destroys Methamphetamine In Vitro
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have developed a new monoclonal antibody that destroys the highly addictive drug methamphetamine. These new findings suggest an entirely new way to treat the global epidemic of methamphetamine abuse.
  
  
• February 12, 2007
  Scripps Research Study Reveals Structural Dynamics of Single Prion Molecules
  Using a combination of novel technologies, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research have revealed for the first time a dynamic molecular portrait of individual unfolded yeast prions that form the compound amyloid, a fibrous protein aggregate associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease—the human version of mad cow disease.
  
  
• February 12, 2007
  Scripps Research Team Discovers a Chemical Pathway that Causes Mice to Overeat and Gain Weight
  Researchers from The Scripps Research Institute who are studying how body temperature and energy metabolism are regulated have discovered a pathway that appears to play a critical role in the onset of obesity. Further study of the pathway could lead to better understanding of the physiological foundation of obesity in humans and even the discovery of new treatments for the condition.
  
  
• February 5, 2007
  Scripps Research Scientists: Compounds Show Significant Promise Against Potential Bioweapon Toxins
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and the University of Wisconsin have identified two small molecules with promising activity against neurotoxins produced by the Clostridium botulinum, a compound so deadly it has been labeled one of the six highest-risk bioterrorism agents by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
  
  
• January 25, 2007
  Scripps Research Study Reveals New Function of Protein Kinase Pathway in Tumor Suppression
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered a surprising new function of a well-known signaling pathway that, when activated, can inhibit tumor development. This finding may lead to the development of drugs that can serve as an effective cancer therapy by artificially activating this pathway in cancer cells.
  
  
• January 21, 2007
  Scripps Research Study Reveals New Activation Mechanism for Pain Sensing Channel
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has identified a mechanism that enables certain compounds to activate a pain sensing protein. The findings could lead to the development of potential new therapies for managing acute and chronic pain.
  
  
• January 9, 2007
  Scripps Research Combination Therapy Obliterates New Vessel Growth in Tumors and Retinopathy
  Using a new and dramatically effective treatment approach, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have for the first time achieved complete inhibition of new blood vessel growth in animal models of a highly vascular brain tumor and of neovascular eye diseases with little or no effect on normal tissue vasculature.
  
  
• January 4, 2007
  Study Reveals Dynamic Interface of Molecular Clutch in Cell Migration
  Using a remarkable new technology, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have identified a number of key protein interactions that allow cells to migrate throughout the body. These findings, which describe in detail how cells transmit molecular information into physical movement, provide the first direct analysis of cellular movement and may point the way to potential treatments for a variety of diseases including cancer.
  

• December 26, 2006
  Study Identifies Glucose "Sensor" That Plays Dual Role in Glucose Metabolism and Fat Synthesis
  In a new study, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have described for the first time a glucose activated sensor that acts as a switch to decrease production of endogenous glucose in the liver, and increase conversion of glucose to fat for storage in adipose tissue. This dual action makes the sensor, Liver X Receptor, a potential target for new therapies aimed at obesity and diabetes. The research may also have implications for heart disease and stroke.
  
  
• December 20, 2006
  Scripps Research Study Questions Need for Potential Vaccine Additive
  A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has published a study that questions the need for incorporating an ingredient—TLR ligands— in vaccines to increase their effectiveness. Excluding TLR ligands would help keep down manufacturing costs and would avoid this ingredient’s potential side effects, such as inflammation and autoimmune syndromes.
  
  
• November 30, 2006
  The Scripps Research Institute Enters Major Five-Year $100 Million Collaboration with Pfizer
  The Scripps Research Institute announced it has entered into a five year research collaboration with Pfizer Global Research and Development to advance scientific knowledge of uncured diseases and novel ways to treat them, making full use of emerging technologies and resident talent from both organizations.
  
  
• November 17, 2006
  Scientists Identify Cells That Promote Repair of Blood Vessels in the Eye
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered a method of repairing and normalizing blood vessels in the eye through the use of stem cells derived from bone marrow. These findings may point to a new approach for developing treatments for a certain type of eye diseases.
  

• November 16, 2006
  Protein "Chaperone" Interactions Found to Play Major Role in Cystic Fibrosis
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have described for the first time key protein interactions that contribute to the development of cystic fibrosis. These findings may provide a new framework for the correction of cystic fibrosis and other protein folding diseases.
  
  
• November 2, 2006
  Reduced Body Temperature Extends Lifespan in Study from The Scripps Research Institute
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found that reducing the core body temperature of mice extends their median lifespan by up to 20 percent. This is the first time that changes in body temperature have been shown to affect lifespan in warm-blooded animals.
  
  
• October 31, 2006
  Scientists Identify Synthetic Compound That Keeps Stem Cells Young
  A team of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute, the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine has discovered a new synthetic compound that can support growth and self-renewal of mouse embryonic stem cells, offering a simple alternative to current growth conditions that may vary batch-to-batch and confuse experimental results.
  
  
• October 20, 2006
  Study Offers Innovative Profile of Enzyme That Aids Tumor Growth
  Using an innovative profiling strategy, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have characterized an enzyme that is "highly elevated" in aggressive human tumor cells. When the enzyme, KIAA1363, was inactivated, it impaired tumor growth and migration in both ovarian and breast cancer cells, suggesting that inhibitors of this enzyme may prove valuable in the treatment of multiple types of cancer.
  
  
• October 19, 2006
  New Study Shows How Genetic Repair Mechanism Helps Seal DNA Breaks
  A new study by researchers from The Scripps Research Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Washington University School of Medicine, and the University of Maryland has provided a clearer picture of the final steps of a critical DNA repair process. When these repair processes go awry, cells can malfunction, die, or become cancerous.
  
  
• October 5, 2006
  $38 Million Grant Awarded to Alcohol Research Consortium Led by Scripps Research Institute Scientist
  The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has funded a five-year, $38 million Integrative Neuroscience Initiative on Alcoholism grant to support a consortium led by a scientist at The Scripps Research Institute. The multi-institutional group aims to identify the molecular basis of alcoholism, establishing a platform upon which future treatments can be built.
  
  
• September 19, 2006
  Study Details Structural Changes of a Key Catalytic Enzyme
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have detailed a new hypothesis of how a key catalytic enzyme, dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR)--which is the target of several anticancer and antibiotic therapies--cycles through structural changes as it plays a critical role in promoting cell growth and proliferation.
  
  
• September 14, 2006
  New Study Pinpoints Unique Genetic Susceptibility for Viral Encephalitis
  Working in close collaboration with a group of French researchers, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have helped uncover a unique genetic immunodeficiency that leaves patients vulnerable to herpes simplex encephalitis, a rare yet devastating infection of the brain that affects a small minority of people infected with a common virus.
  
  
• September 13, 2006
  The Scripps Research Institute, McDonald's® Align to Fight Childhood Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes
  The Scripps Research Institute and McDonald's today announced a collaboration regarding research and educational initiatives to drive progress toward a solution to childhood obesity and Type 2 diabetes. McDonald's will contribute $2 million to The Scripps Research Institute to address these critical health issues facing America's youth.
  
  
• September 8, 2006
  Study Shows Enzyme Builds Neurotransmitters Via Newly Discovered Pathway
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have uncovered a previously unknown function of an enzyme that appears to play a primary role in the biosynthesis of a large class of lipids that help modulate diverse physiological processes, including anxiety, inflammation, learning and memory, and appetite.
  
  
• September 7, 2006
  Consortium for Functional Glycomics Awarded $40.7 Million "Glue" Grant
  The Scripps Research Institute's Consortium for Functional Glycomics has received a $40.7 million "glue" grant for the international group of some 300 participating scientists to continue collaborative study of the complex dynamics of protein-carbohydrate interactions. The five-year grant, provided by The National Institute of General Medical Science (NIGMS), is the second NIGMS grant the consortium has received. The first, awarded in 2001, was a five-year grant of $34 million.
  
  
• August 31, 2006
  New Study Unveils Structure of Key Component of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria
  Working in close collaboration with other researchers, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have uncovered for the first time the structural chemistry behind the "astonishing multi-functionality" of the bacterial GC (for gonococcal) Type IV pilus filament, which plays an essential role in Neisseria gonorrhoeae pathogenesis. The Type IV pili allow antibiotic-resistant strains of N. gonorrhoeae to escape the immune system and cause persistent and recurrent gonorrhea infections.
  
  
• August 20, 2006
  Scripps Research Team Reverses Friedreich's Ataxia Defect in Cell Culture
  A team from The Scripps Research Institute and the University of California School of Medicine has developed compounds that reactivate the gene responsible for the neurodegenerative disease Friedreich's ataxia, offering hope for an effective treatment for this devastating and often deadly condition.
  
  
• August 10, 2006
  Scientists Discover Age-Regulated Cellular Activities That Protect Against Protein Aggregation
  By disrupting the aging process in an organism, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have discovered two mechanisms in an animal model of Alzheimer's disease that protect cells against protein aggregation that leads to damage called "proteotoxicity." Since proteotoxicity appears to cause the neurodegeneration in disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, these findings have important therapeutic implications.
  
  
• August 9, 2006
  Marijuana's Active Ingredient Shown to Inhibit Primary Marker of Alzheimer's Disease
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found that the active ingredient in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, inhibits the formation of amyloid plaque, the primary pathological marker for Alzheimer's disease. In fact, the study said, THC is "a considerably superior inhibitor of [amyloid plaque] aggregation" to several currently approved drugs for treating the disease.
  
  
• July 31, 2006
  Scripps Research Scientists Successfully Test New Anti-Obesity Vaccine
  In what may be the first published breakthrough of its kind in the global battle against obesity, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have developed an anti-obesity vaccine that significantly slowed weight gain and reduced body fat in animal models.
  
  
• July 30, 2006
  Newly Discovered Genetic Abnormality Shown to Cause Acute Myeloid Leukemia
  Working in collaboration with international researchers, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have uncovered a new genetic abnormality that results in the rapid development of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in animal models. These findings could lead to new ways of diagnosing and controlling development of a variety of human diseases, including leukemia and other cancers that result from certain types of genetic defects.
  
  
• July 24, 2006
  "An Intimate Evening with Craig Chaquico"
  Craig Chaquico, the renowned lead guitarist of Jefferson Airplane/Starship and highly acclaimed contemporary instrumental artist, will perform at a dinner on August 13 to benefit the Molly Baber Research Fund at The Scripps Research Institute. The intimate event, from 6 to 10 PM, will feature a multi-station dinner under the stars at the Bernardo Heights Country Club, as well as an auction of a Craig Chaquico Model Carvin Guitar.
  
  
• July 10, 2006
  Researchers Unveil Strategy for Creating Actively Programmed Anti-Cancer Molecules
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology have developed a unique assembly strategy to produce an anti-cancer targeting antibody, an approach that combines the merits of small molecule drug design with immunotherapy. Among the potential therapeutic advantages is a dramatically increased circulatory half-life of the compound, which could give patients greater exposure to the benefits of any treatment.
  
  
  
• July 9, 2006
  Researchers Use New Chemical Probe to Manipulate Protective Inner Barriers
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and the University of California, Irvine, have developed a chemical tool that allows them to manipulate control of the passage of substances through the barriers between blood and organ tissues. The findings have important therapeutic implications for a range of conditions, including organ transplants, autoimmune disease, multiple sclerosis, and adult respiratory distress syndrome.
  
  
• July 6, 2006
  Prion Disease Agent Causes Heart Damage in Mouse Study
  A team of researchers at The Scripps Research Institute, the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and Rocky Mountain Laboratories of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has shown for the first time that laboratory mice infected with the agent of scrapie—a brain-wasting disease of sheep—demonstrate high levels of the scrapie agent in their heart 300 days after being infected in the brain. These findings raise the possibility that heart infection could be a new aspect of prion diseases, including those that affect humans and livestock, and that these diseases could travel through the blood.
  
  
• June 26, 2006
  Biogen Idec Foundation Funds Summer Teacher Internship Program At The Scripps Research Institute
  The Biogen Idec Foundation has donated $25,000 to support three teachers from San Diego public schools in The Scripps Research Institute's Summer Internship Program for Teachers.
  
  
• June 22, 2006
  Researchers Map Infectious Hepatitis B Virus
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have analyzed the structure of hepatitis B virus and found that it has unique features that distinguish it from other enveloped viruses such as influenza and herpes virus.
  
  
• June 8, 2006
  Study Uncovers "Significant" Functional Differences of Novel Estrogen Receptor
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute, working in collaboration with researchers from Creighton University and the Medical College of Zhejiang University (P.R. China), have discovered a novel variant of a known human estrogen receptor (hER-a66).
  
  
• May 31, 2006
  Study Links Effects of Withdrawal to Compulsive Drug Use and Craving
  A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute; the National Institutes of Health Animal Center; and the University of Tokushima Graduate School (Japan) has provided some of the first evidence that compulsive drug use stems not from obtaining a drug’s pleasurable effects, but from an aversion to drug withdrawal. The finding could be used to help develop human therapies to block aspects of drug craving.
  
  
• May 22, 2006
  John J. Moores Elected Chair of Scripps Research Institute Board of Trustees
  The Scripps Research Institute Board of Trustees today elected San Diego business leader and philanthropist John J. Moores as its new chair. Mr. Moores has been a Scripps Research trustee since 1997.
  
  
• May 18, 2006
  New Study Suggests Virus Uses Pressure to Sense when Full of DNA
  A team of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute, the University of Alabama, and the University of Utah have created a three-dimensional reconstruction of the complete structure of the virus P22. This structure suggests that the virus uses a pressure mechanism to stop DNA loading, a mechanism that offers a potential drug target. Although P22 only infects bacteria, its structure is similar to the herpes virus, types of which cause oral and genital herpes, chicken pox, and mononucleosis.
  
  
• May 17, 2006
  Study Details Hepatitis C Ability to Block Immune System Response
  A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has shed light on one mechanism the hepatitis C virus uses to inhibit the immune system and promote its own survival. Results of the study may help in the development of new approaches to the treatment of hepatitis C virus.
  
  
• May 15, 2006
  New Study Reveals Signaling Pathways Required for Expansion of Pancreas Stem Cells
  A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has published a new study of important signaling pathways that are required for the expansion of pancreas stem cells, work that may lead to strategies to prevent or reverse insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). 
  
  
• May 2, 2006
  Study Results Offer Guidance in Treatment of Alcohol Dependence
  A large-scale study of different treatment approaches for alcohol dependence underlines that medication can play a key role in treatment. 
  
  
• April 26, 2006
  Immune Response to HIV in the Brain a "Double-Edged Sword"
  A team of researchers at The Scripps Research Institute has shed new light on the molecular basis of problems with brain function in models chronically infected with an immune deficiency virus similar to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the cause of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). The findings may ultimately lead to new therapeutic interventions to prevent or reverse nervous system disorders in HIV-infected individuals. 
  
  
• April 25, 2006
  Revealing the Secrets of WRN
  A team of scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Scripps Research Institute has determined the crystal structure and molecular mechanisms of a key part of WRN, a protein that protects humans from premature aging and cancer. 
  
  
• April 20, 2006
  Lack of a Key Enzyme Dramatically Increases Resistance to Sepsis
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute, The La Jolla Institute of Allergy and Immunology, and Merck Research Laboratories have uncovered a "fundamentally new role" for an enzyme that when present in vivo in certain forms impedes the immune response to bacterial infection. According to the new study, the presence of caspase-12, which appears to modulate inflammation and innate immunity in humans, increases the body's "vulnerability to bacterial infection and septic shock" while a deficiency confers strong resistance to sepsis. This new discovery suggests that caspase-12 antagonists could be a potentially useful in the treatment of sepsis and other inflammatory and immune disorders." 
  
  
• April 18, 2006
  Study Shows Gene Candidates for Predisposition to Alcohol Abuse
  A collaborative study by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute as part of the Integrative Neuroscience Initiative on Alcoholism Consortium (INIA) have identified some 3,800 "unique genes" that may determine a predisposition for a high degree of alcohol intake. The meta analysis, which examined more than 4.5 million data points on more than 100 microarrays from mouse models, also identified more than 1,300 functional groups, including signaling and transcription pathways, which may also play an important role in establishing a capacity for a "high level of alcohol consumption." 
  
  
• April 6, 2006
  Enzyme Crystal Structure Reveals "Unexpected" Genome Repair Functions
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have determined the crystal structure of an enzyme called xeroderma pigmentosum group B (XPB) helicase, identifying several unexpected functions and helping to address important questions about the enzyme's role in DNA transcription and repair. The research illuminated, for the first time, the roles played by the important XPB protein in recognizing blockages in reading the DNA code and in initiating an efficient method of repair. The discovery may be useful in the quest to develop new forms of chemotherapy.
  
  
• March 24, 2006
  New Class of Enzyme Inhibitors Block Replication of SARS Virus
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered a class of compounds that block the SARS virus from replicating, a finding that may open the door to new drug targets against the deadly disease.
  
  
• March 24, 2006
  "Accelerated Evolution" Converts RNA Enzyme to DNA Enzyme In Vitro
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have successfully converted an RNA enzyme (ribozyme) into a DNA enzyme (deoxyribozyme) through a process of accelerated in vitro evolution. The molecular conversion or transfer of both genetic information and catalytic function between these two different genetic systems, which are both based on nucleic acid-like molecules, is exactly what many scientists believe occurred during the very earliest period of earth's existence.
  
  
• March 17, 2006
  Four of the Nation's Preeminent Research Institutions Announce Stem Cell Research Alliance
  Four of the nation's preeminent research institutions, all based in San Diego, have announced their commitment to join forces in establishing an independent, non-profit consortium dedicated to stem cell research.
  
  
• March 16, 2006
  Minor Mutations in Avian Flu Virus Increase Chances of Human Infection
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology have identified what the researchers described as a possible pathway for a particularly virulent strain of the avian flu virus H5N1 "to gain a foothold in the human population."
  
  
• March 14, 2006
  Newly Discovered Small Molecules "Superactivate" Botox
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered several small molecules that can "superactivate" the botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT), the commonly used cosmetic treatment for wrinkles known as Botox that has a number of therapeutic uses.
  
  
• March 9, 2006
  Novel Method Reveals How Menthol Creates Cold Sensations
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) have developed a method that can aid in understanding how certain proteins can be activated. The group used this new methodology to study the molecular mechanism by which menthol, the cooling compound derived from mint leaves, enhances the activity of TRPM8, an ion channel protein involved in our ability to feel cold temperature through the skin.
  
  
• February 27, 2006
  Fluorescent Viral Nanoparticles Permit High Resolution In Vivo Vascular Imaging
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have shown that cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV) can be used as an "exceptionally bright" imaging agent that permits high resolution in vivo visualization of the vascular endothelium, the cells that line the inside of blood vessels, for as long as 72 hours. These results strongly suggest that fluorescently dyed CPMV nanoparticles could become a "powerful tool" to image tissues deep inside living organisms in the laboratory and, potentially, in a clinical setting as well.
  
  
• February 20, 2006
  New Study Shows Antibody-Interleukin Complexes Stimulate Immune Responses
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have shown that injections of a certain cytokine together with the right monoclonal antibody increases white blood cells that coordinate immune responses to tumor and infected cells. These results may point the way to an improved cancer therapy that helps patients boost their own immune response to the disease. The findings could also be significant for developing new ways to help patients with autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, or juvenile diabetes.
  
  
• February 16, 2006
  IBM and Scripps Research Institute to Collaborate on Pandemic Research
  IBM and The Scripps Research Institute today announced a collaborative initiative to conduct advanced research on pandemic viruses leveraging the industry-leading talent and technology from both organizations. The objective of "Project Check-mate" is to develop means to anticipate, manage and contain infectious diseases.
  
  

• February 15, 2006
  New Research from Magnet lab, Scripps Florida Gives Scientists Powerful Tool for Drug Discovery
  Researchers at Florida State University's National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and Scripps Florida have developed and evaluated a robust new system for analyzing how drugs bind to proteins. This groundbreaking work could speed the delivery of potential new drugs and improve existing ones.
  
  
• February 13, 2006
  The Scripps Research Institute Begins Presidential Succession Process
  The Scripps Research Institute Board of Trustees adopted a succession plan to guide its selection of a new president and chief executive officer when current President Richard A. Lerner, M.D., leaves the position in three years to assume the chairmanship of the Institute's Board of Trustees.
  
  
• February 12, 2006
  Study Reveals Mechanism for Maintaining Circadian Rhythms in Mammals
  Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and RIKEN, a Japanese research institute, have validated a key step in the mechanism of the circadian clock in mammals. Many critical human activities including sleeping, eating, and even hormonal activity are determined by circadian rhythms, fundamental functions that adapt to the cycle of light and dark and are controlled at the genetic level. Along with some accessory factors, clock genes work in concert to generate circadian rhythms over a 24-hour period.
  
  
• February 7, 2006
  High Resolution "Snapshots" Detail Dynamics of a Cocaine Antibody
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have revealed for the first time a series of molecular structures of a specific cocaine-degrading monoclonal antibody Fab' fragment during the complete catalytic process—a chain of events that breaks the drug into nontoxic pieces. Understanding these significant structural changes of the antibody 7A1 could help in the development of a treatment for cocaine addiction. A monoclonal antibody is cloned from a single type of immune cell.
  
  
• February 6, 2006
  Scientists Re-engineer a Well-Known Antibiotic to Counter Drug Resistance
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have successfully re-engineered a well-known antibiotic to insure its effectiveness against sensitive as well as resistant enterococci, a common strain of bacteria responsible for widespread hospital infections.
  
  
• January 31, 2006
  Protein Found to Control Tumor Growth in Certain Breast Cancers
  Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and the Xiamen University School of Life Sciences, Fujian, People's Republic of China, have uncovered a new and potentially important function for the protein Nod1, inhibiting the growth of estrogen sensitive human breast cancer cells.
  
  
• January 20, 2006
  Scripps Florida Opens Its Cutting-edge Screening Technology to Florida Scientists
  Officials at Scripps Florida today announced the launch of the biomedical research institute's "Access to Technologies" program, which invites scientists from Florida universities and other academic research institutions to use state-of-the-art screening technologies at Scripps Florida's facilities in Jupiter for qualifying projects.
  
  
• January 16, 2006
  New Technology Effectively Gauges Specificity of Influenza Strains, Including 1918 Spanish Flu
  A team of researchers led by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute has used a new technology called a glycan array to survey samples of coat proteins from various strains of human and avian viruses, including from the deadly 1918 influenza outbreak know as the Spanish Flu.
  
  
• January 13, 2006
  Study Reveals Unusual Structure of Cellular Transport Nanocage
  A new study by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has revealed for the first time the structure of Sec13/31, a "nanocage" that transports a large body of proteins from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), which makes up more than half the total internal cell membrane, to other regions of the cell.
  
  
• December 21, 2005
  Kenan Charitable Trust Gives Additional $50,000 to Scripps Florida Education Outreach Programs, Bringing Its Total Contribution to $250,000 in 2005
  The William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust has added $50,000 to its support for education outreach programs at Scripps Florida, the Palm Beach County operation of The Scripps Research Institute, it was announced today by Dr. Richard M. Krasno, executive director of the Trust and president of the William R. Kenan, Jr. Fund, based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
  
  
• December 12, 2005
  Scientists Discover Small Molecule That Generates Neurons from Adult Stem Cells
  A group of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have uncovered a synthetic small molecule that generates functional neurons from adult neural stem cells.
  
  
• December 2, 2005
  Researchers Map a Complex Molecular Assembly "Landscape" For the First Time
  For the first time, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have developed a highly detailed kinetic and thermodynamic landscape that describes the mechanisms of macromolecular synthesis, findings that may help spur advances in the global challenges of antibiotic drug resistance. In their study, the researchers showed that assembly of the 30S ribosomal subunit is a "complex dance" in which 20 smaller proteins bind to ribosomal RNA (rRNA) as it folds, allowing it to play a major role in the translation of messenger RNA (mRNA), which encodes and carries information from DNA to protein synthesis sites.
  
  
• November 29, 2005
  "Unprecedented" Functional Amyloid Found to Play Beneficial Role In Human Cells
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have shown that the amyloid protein structure, which has been linked to neurodegeneration in diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's, carries out an important functional role in human physiology. The discovery raises the possibility that current research into curtailing amylolid formation to treat these diseases might ultimately do as much harm as good. The discovery of functional amyloid in a range of organisms, which now includes humans, suggests that it was present early in evolution, and was retained for a fundamental role in normal mammalian cell physiology.
  
  
• November 22, 2005
  Scripps Research Institute Team Shows Chemical Chaperones Help Increase Deficient Enzyme Activity in Gaucher Disease
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered that certain chemical chaperones help increase the activity of various types of glucocerebrosidase, the enzyme lacking in patients with Gaucher (go-SHAY) disease. This discovery suggests that the active levels of glucocerebrosidase can be improved through the use of select site-directed small molecules or chemical chaperones, which bind and stabilize proteins and prevent their degradation. These findings could lead to the development of first-in-class drugs for the treatment of the disease.
  
  
• November 21, 2005
  World Community Grid Targets AIDS in Giant Research Effort
  IBM today launched a new research effort to help battle AIDS using the massive computational power of World Community Grid, a global community of computer users who have joined the philanthropic technology initiative by simply donating unused time on their personal computers.  With computational power already placing it among the top 10 supercomputers in the world, World Community Grid will be the first virtual supercomputer devoted specifically to AIDS research. Working with the renowned Scripps Research Institute, a private, non-profit research organization engaged in basic biomedical science based in San Diego, World Community Grid will host its second major project—the Internet-based FightAIDS@Home, an evolutionary research project dedicated to finding new AIDS therapies.
  
  
• November 15 , 2005
  Scripps Research Institute Establishes Biochemistry Department to Emphasize Integrative Approaches in Biomedical Research
  The Scripps Research Institute announced today forming the Department of Biochemistry to span its California and Florida campuses. The focus of the new department reflects the need to understand physiological processes from the molecular level to the whole organism. By taking integrative approaches to substantial problems in modern biology, the department's research will impact the understanding of a wide variety of diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and autism.
  
  
• November 13, 2005
  The Scripps Research Institute and Oxford University Open International Biotechnology Conference Today
  The Scripps Research Institute and Oxford University today opened the inaugural Scripps/Oxford International Biotechnology Conference at the Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida.
  
  
• October 26, 2005
  Multi-Million Dollar Deal to Benefit Medical Research
  The Medical Research Council is to receive US$191m as part of one of the biggest deals to come out of breakthroughs by British scientists. The money comes from the development of a drug created using patented technology which arose from research at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and The Scripps Research Institute.
  
  
• October 4, 2005
  Chemical Extracted from Soy Beans Inhibits Disease Process Known as Amyloidogenesis
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered that a compound extracted from soy beans is a natural and potent inhibitor of a pathological process involved in a number of "amyloid" diseases, including a cluster of ailments called the familial amyloidoses.
  
  
• September 30, 2005
  Scripps Research Scientist Wins 2005 NIH Director's Pioneer Award
  Clare Waterman-Storer, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Cell Biology at The Scripps Research Institute, has been named one of the winners of the National Institutes of Health’s 2005 NIH Director’s Pioneer Awards, which includes a research budget of up to $500,000 in direct costs per year for five years.
  
  
• September 28, 2005
  "Memory" of Nicotine Lingers in the Brain, Say Scripps Research Scientists
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and Scripps Florida are reporting the results of one of the first studies looking at the long-term neurological effects of nicotine addiction on the brain's reward system. Their findings may have significant implications for people who are trying to quit smoking.
  
  
• September 26, 2005
  John J. Moores Donates $4 Million to Scripps Research Institute to Combat Worm-based Diseases Afflicting Millions Worldwide
  San Diego business leader and philanthropist John J. Moores has contributed $4 million to The Scripps Research Institute to establish the Worm Institute for Research and Medicine (WIRM) to combat the painful, disfiguring, and debilitating diseases borne by worms that afflict hundreds of millions of people in much of the world, it was announced today.
  
  
• September 23, 2005
  Lawrence J. and Florence A. De George of Jupiter Give $5 Million for Biomedical Research at Scripps Florida
  Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence J. De George of Jupiter, Florida, have donated $5 million to The Scripps Research Institute to support biomedical science at the Institute's new campus in Palm Beach County, it was announced jointly today by Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Scripps Research President Richard A. Lerner, M.D., during groundbreaking ceremonies for the new state-of-the-art facilities.
  
  
• September 23, 2005
  The Scripps Research Institute Breaks Ground for Construction of Scripps Florida Campus in Palm Beach County
  The Scripps Research Institute breaks ground today in Palm Beach County for construction of its 100-acre Scripps Florida campus, dedicated to advanced biomedical research and the application of the latest technologies in drug discovery.
  
  
• September 1, 2005
  Mammalian Transcriptome Mapped, and It Makes Antisense
  The FANTOM Consortium for Genome Exploration Research Group, a large international collection of scientists that includes researchers at The Scripps Research Institute's Florida campus, is reporting the results of a massive multi-year project to map the mammalian "transcriptome" in this week's issue of the journal Science.
  
  
• September 1, 2005
  Mysterious Molecules Begin to Yield Their Secrets
  A team of investigators at The Scripps Research Institute and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) have discovered a way to screen hundreds and potentially thousands of "noncoding" RNA molecules to discover their functions within cells.
  
  
• August 26, 2005
  Scripps Research Scientists Describe Smoker's Enzyme
  A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has solved the structure of a human molecule called CYP2A6, which is the principal enzyme in the body that degrades nicotine.
  
  
• August 22, 2005
  The Scripps Research Institute and Oxford University to Host International Biotechnology Conference
  The Scripps Research Institute and Oxford University will jointly host the inaugural Scripps/Oxford International Biotechnology Conference November 14-15 at the Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida.
  
  
• August 8, 2005
  NIH Awards $4.2 Million Grant to Scientists at Scripps Research to Speed DNA Sequencing Technologies
  A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute in California and Oxford University in England have been awarded a $4.2 million five-year grant to conduct basic science aimed at speeding the rate at which the next generation of DNA sequencing technologies will become available to scientists and clinicians. 
  
  
• August 4, 2005
  NeoRx Joins The Scripps Research Institute in First Scientific Collaboration at Scripps Florida
  NeoRx Corporation (NASDAQ: NERX), a cancer therapeutics development company, and The Scripps Research Institute, a non-profit biomedical research organization, today announced the first collaboration at Scripps Florida, focusing on discovering novel, small-molecule, multi-targeted, protein kinase inhibitors as therapeutic agents, including cancer treatments. 
  
  
• July 27, 2005
  How Do You Spell Recognition? C-O-R-E-C-E-P-T-O-R
  Scripps Research Scientists Describe How T-Cell Receptors and Coreceptors Interact During an Immune Response
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has solved a mystery that has dogged immunologists for many years: how T-cell receptors interact with their coreceptor proteins at the beginning of an immune response. 
  
  
• July 1, 2005
  Scripps Research Institute-Based Center Awarded More than $50 Million by NIH in Massive Effort to Solve Protein Structures
  A consortium of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and several other California institutions has been awarded a $52.7 million grant by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part of the National Institutes of Health. The grant is part of the second phase of a $600 million national effort called the Protein Structure Initiative that ultimately seeks to find the three-dimensional shapes of all types of proteins. This structural information will help reveal the roles that proteins play in health and disease and will help point the way to designing new medicines. 
  
  
• June 28, 2005
  Wet Lungs or Dry?
  Scripps Research Scientists Discover New Key to Pulmonary Edema in Respiratory Distress Syndrome
  Scripps Research Hugh Rosen and his colleagues are reporting a new molecular mechanism that controls how the lungs are kept dry and under what conditions they permit fluids to enter. The mechanism involves a protein called the S1P₃ receptor expressed on the surface of the cells lining the lung's air sacs. When the receptor is activated, the lungs become leaky, causing pulmonary edema. 
  
  
• June 20, 2005
  Scripps Research Scientists Solve Structure of a Critical Innate Immune System Protein
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have solved the structure of a crucial human immune system molecule called TLR3, an acronym for Toll-like receptor three. In an upcoming issue of the journal Science, the protein is described as a large horseshoe-shaped coil composed of 23 leucine-rich repeats (LRRs). 
  
  
• June 16, 2005
  National Institutes of Health Awards $10.4 Million to Scripps Research Institute and Scripps Florida
  First grant for research at both campuses is part of NIH effort to speed the progress of discoveries from lab bench to patient bedside
  A group of researchers at the La Jolla, California, and Palm Beach County, Florida, campuses of The Scripps Research Institute has been awarded a $10.4 million dollar grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish The Scripps Research Institute Molecular Screening Center. This is a pilot program to discover small molecule tools for translating basic biomedical discoveries more quickly into medically relevant applications.  
  
  
• June 13, 2005
  Former Fidelity Investments Executive J. Gary Burkhead of Florida Elected to Scripps Research Institute Board
  Retired Fidelity Investments executive J. Gary Burkhead of Palm Beach, Florida, has been elected to the Board of Trustees of The Scripps Research Institute, a world leader in biomedical science with laboratories in La Jolla, California, and Palm Beach County, Florida.  
  
  
• June 13, 2005
  Scripps Research Scientists Identify the Target of an Immune Suppression Molecule Called CD22--Itself
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have applied an innovative approach to studying human proteins that bind to sugar molecules on the surface of human cells to discover how one crucial aspect of our immune system works. They identified the target of a regulatory molecule called CD22 that is expressed on the surface of the type of immune system cell known as the B lymphocyte.  
  
  
• June 6, 2005
  The Scripps Research Institute is Recipient of Clubmom Dollar Drive For Charity
  The Scripps Research Institute has been selected as one of the leading nonprofit organizations in the United States to participate in the ClubMom Dollar Drive for Charity initiative. For every mom recruited by Scripps Research to join ClubMom between now and March 31, 2006, ClubMom will donate $1 to the Institute.  
  
  
• May 25, 2005
  Vampires Beware:
  Scripps Research Scientists Describe the Molecular Basis of Raw Garlic's Pungency
  A group of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute, the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, and the Korea University College of Medicine describe the cellular and molecular basis of raw garlic's pungency.  
  
  
• May 18, 2005
  To Stop Evolution: New Way of Fighting Antibiotic Resistance Demonstrated by Scripps Research Scientists
  A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and the University of Wisconsin have demonstrated a new way of fighting antibiotic resistance: by stopping evolution.  
  
  
• May 5, 2005
  Scripps Research Scientist Receives $98,000 Grant from Factor Foundation to Study Hemophilia A
  Factor Also to Sponsor Vintage Mustang Car Show June 11 To Benefit Scripps Florida
  Assistant Professor Andrew Gale, Ph.D., an investigator in the Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute, has received a grant of $98,769 from the Factor Foundation of America to study hemophilia A, a bleeding disease that strikes some 17,000 Americans.  
  
  
• May 4, 2005
  Scripps Research Scientists Identify Infertility Molecule "LPA Receptors" Affect Implantation of Embryos in Womb
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute are reporting that mice created to lack a certain type of molecule known as an LPA receptor have fertility problems, which suggests that these receptors play a major role in conception. 
  
  
• May 2, 2005
  Scripps Florida Selects 3 Palm Beach County Science Teachers and 4 High School Students for Summer Internships
  Scripps Florida announced today that it has selected three secondary school science teachers and four high school students for paid summer internships at its temporary facilities in Jupiter. 
  
  
• April 28, 2005
  Kenan Charitable Trust Gives $200,000 for Scripps Florida Education Outreach Programs
  The William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust is providing $200,000 to The Scripps Research Institute to support education outreach programs at Scripps Florida, the biomedical research institute's division in Palm Beach County, it was announced today by Dr. Richard M. Krasno, executive director of the Trust and president of the William R. Kenan, Jr. Fund based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
  
  
• April 11, 2005
  Acclaimed Immunologist Howard T. Petrie Named Professor at Scripps Florida
  The Scripps Research Institute has announced the appointment of acclaimed Florida immunologist Howard T. Petrie, Ph.D., as professor in the Division of Immunology, Department of Biomedical Sciences at the Institute's new operations in Palm Beach County, Florida.
  
  
• April 7, 2005
  Scripps Research Institute President Richard Lerner Honored by New York University Biotechnology Study Center
  Scripps Research Institute President Richard A. Lerner, M.D., has been selected to receive the prestigious DART/NYU Biotechnology Achievement Award from the Biotechnology Study Center of the New York University School of Medicine. He is being cited for his discovery that ozone, a metabolic product of inflammation, may play a role in atherosclerosis ("clogged arteries") and Alzheimer's disease.
  
  
• April 7, 2005
  Why Do Amyloid Diseases Strike Different Tissues? Part of the Answer Lies in the Secretory Aptitude of These Tissues, Say Scripps Research Scientists
  Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute are reporting the results of a recent study that addresses why different tissues in the human body vary in their susceptibility to "amyloid" diseases, which include Alzheimer's disease and a cluster of ailments called the familial amyloidoses.
  
  
• March 31, 2005
  Louis L. Gonda and Mark S. Skaggs Join Scripps Research Institute Board of Trustees
  Business executives and philanthropists Louis L. Gonda of Beverly Hills, California, and Mark S. Skaggs of Boise, Idaho, have been elected to the Board of Trustees of The Scripps Research Institute of California and Florida, one of the world's largest independent, nonprofit biomedical research organizations.
  
  
• March 24, 2005
  Scripps Research Scientists Describe New Way of Interacting with the Unseen World of Proteins and DNA
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has developed a new way of looking at and interacting with molecules so small that they cannot be seen even with the world's most powerful microscopes.
  
  
• March 10, 2005
  Cooperation is Key--A New Way of Looking at MicroRNA and How it Controls Gene Expression
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute is reporting a discovery that sheds light on an area of research fundamental to everything from the normal processes that govern the everyday life of human cells to the aberrant mechanisms that underlie many diseases, including cancer and septic shock.
  
  
• March 3, 2005
  Molecular Thermometers on Skin Cells Detect Heat and Camphor
  In recent years, biologists and neuroscientists have been trying to discover the basic molecules and mechanisms that underlie this complicated communication system that is our senses, and one group of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF), has been making headway in trying to understand those that mediate our sense of touch.
  
  
• February 22, 2005
  Scripps Seminars to Feature Florida Researchers as Part of Collaboration-Building
  Scripps Florida, a division of The Scripps Research Institute, will soon begin hosting a series of high-level biomedical science seminars--The Scripps Florida Collaborative Seminars--featuring a prominent Florida-based speaker from the academic, biotechnology or pharmaceutical communities at each session.
  
  
• February 22, 2005
  Antibody that Neutralizes Most HIV Strains Described by Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  A group of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and several other institutions has solved the structure of a rare human antibody that broadly neutralizes human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
  
  
• February 17, 2005
  Floyd Bloom to Retire as Scripps Research Department Chair; Focus on Neurome Neurodegeneration Programs
  Floyd E. Bloom, M.D., and The Scripps Research Institute today announced Dr. Bloom's retirement as chairman of the Scripps Research Department of Neuropharmacology. Bloom will be named Professor Emeritus at Scripps Research and also intends to devote substantial efforts to the work of Neurome, Inc.
  
  
• February 16, 2005
  Scripps Florida to Offer Summer Internships to Students and Teachers in Palm Beach County
  The Scripps Research Institute announced today that it has begun accepting applications from secondary school science teachers and high school students for paid summer internships at its Scripps Florida facility in Jupiter. 
  
  
• February 10, 2005
  Renowned Biochemist Joins Scripps Florida Faculty
  The Scripps Research Institute announced today the appointment of internationally renowned biochemist Arthur "Donny" Strosberg, Dr. Sci., as professor of infectology at the institute's new facilities in Palm Beach County, Florida.
  
  
• February 3, 2005
  Molecular Component of Innate Immunity Discovered
  Professor Bruce Beutler and colleagues at The Scripps Research Institute have identified one of the molecules that mediates innate immune recognition—CD36.
  
  
• January 31, 2005
  Clarification and Elaboration of Palm Beach Post Story of January 29, 2005 "Scripps Chief Sour on Village"
  
  
• January 31, 2005
  Clarification and Elaboration to St. Petersburg Times Story of January 28, 2005 "Scripps to Handle Spinoffs Out West"
  
  
• January 7, 2005
  Renowned Scientist Edward Roberts Joins Scripps Research Institute as Professor of Translational Chemistry and Medicine
  The Scripps Research Institute announced the appointment of world-renowned chemist Edward Roberts, Ph.D., as Professor of Translational Chemistry and Medicine in the Institute's Department of Chemistry.
  
  
• December 7, 2004
  Research Consortium Led by Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Develops New Tool for Biology
  An international consortium of scientists lead by Dr. James Paulson of The Scripps Research Institute has created a technology that will advance our understanding of the role of complex sugar chains (glycans or carbohydrates) that decorate the surface of cells in the body.
  
  
• December 2, 2004
  "Fossil Record" of the Human Immune System Reveals Antibodies that Block Cancer Metastasis
  A team of researchers at The Scripps Research Institute has reconstructed the "fossil record" of the immune systems of a group of human cancer patients to investigate if they had ever produced antibodies against their disease.
  
  
• November 23, 2004
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Develop New Technology For a "Kit" to Screen for Mercury Contamination
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and Xenobe Research Institute have developed an improved screening method that can detect mercury contamination in biological samples including fish. At the heart of the new method is a chemical "ligand" the scientists synthesized that binds to mercury and other toxic heavy metals.
  
  
• November 19, 2004
  Detecting the Genes That Contribute to Transplant Rejection
  A group of physicians and scientists led by Associate Professor Daniel Salomon, M.D., of the Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute, has been awarded a new federal research grant of more than $12 million over five years to apply cutting-edge genomic technologies to advance our understanding of kidney transplantation.
  
  
• November 8, 2004
  West Palm Beach Philanthropist Alexander W. Dreyfoos Announces $1 Million Gift to The Scripps Research Institute
  Alexander W. Dreyfoos of West Palm Beach, Florida, announced today he and his wife, Renate, are contributing $1 million to The Scripps Research Institute, currently expanding its biomedical science operations in Palm Beach County.
  
  
• November 1, 2004
  Innovative Approaches to Fighting Breast Cancer: Department of Defense Awards Grants to Five Investigators at The Scripps Research Institute
  Five scientific investigators at The Scripps Research Institute were recently awarded research grants from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Breast Cancer Research Program, which according to the DoD web site, aims to promote research to eradicate breast cancer.
  
  
• October 25, 2004
  Scientists at Scripps Research Institute Use Drug to Stabilize Blood Vessels and Block Metastatic Cancer Cells from Leaving the Bloodstream
  A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has identified a potential treatment strategy against metastatic cancer cells that has never been tried before.
  
  
• October 7, 2004
  Study Suggests Component of Volcanic Gas May Have Played a Significant Role in the Origins of Life on Earth
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies are reporting a possible answer to a longstanding question in research on the origins of life on Earth—how did the first amino acids form the first peptides?
  
  
• October 5, 2004
  Noted Swedish Scientist to Join Scripps Florida Faculty
  The Scripps Research Institute has announced the appointment of Claes Wahlestedt, M.D., Ph.D., an internationally recognized researcher in the field of pharmacological treatments for nervous disorders, to the faculty of its new Palm Beach County, Florida, operations. He will be professor of biomedical sciences and director of pharmagenomics.
  
  
• October 1, 2004
  NIH Awards New $14.5 Million, Five-year Grant to The Scripps Research Institute
  The Scripps Research Institute announced today that it has been awarded a $14.5 million, five-year grant from The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant, which is titled "JCSG Center for Innovative Membrane Protein Technologies," funds structural biology research on membrane proteins—an area of immense medical potential.
  
  
• September 30, 2004
  Renowned University of Michigan Chemist Joins Scripps Florida Faculty
  The Scripps Research Institute announced today the appointment of noted chemist William R. Roush, Ph.D., as a senior faculty member at the institute’s new facility in Palm Beach County, Florida. Dr. Roush will serve as professor of chemistry, executive director of medicinal chemistry, and associate dean of the Scripps Florida graduate programs.
  
  
• September 15, 2004
  Stem Cells Delivered into the Back of the Eye Hold Promise for People with Retinitis Pigmentosa and Other Retinal Degenerations
  A team of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute was able to preserve visual function in mice that were genetically predisposed to developing a profound degenerative disease that destroys their retinas.
  
  
• September 14, 2004
  Scripps Research Institute Board of Trustees Elects Three New Members
  The Scripps Research Institute Board of Trustees has elected three new members, two recommended by the Scripps Florida Funding Corporation, which oversees state funding for the Institute's new operations in Palm Beach County, and the third a prominent Florida business leader.
  
  
• August 20, 2004
  Scripps Research Institute Scientists Describe How Chemical Turns Progenitor Stem Cells into Bone Cells
  A group of researchers from The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute and from the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) have described how a small synthetic molecule called "purmorphamine" causes a type of stem cell to selectively differentiate into adult bone cells. Purmorphamine, or a similar compound that has the same effect, may have significant clinical value someday for treating the bone-weakening disease osteoporosis.
  
  
• August 19, 2004
  Shark Protein Structure Solved by Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and the University of Maryland
  A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and at the University of Maryland School of Medicine has determined the structure of an antibody isolated from Ginglymostoma cirratum—a nurse shark.
  
  
• August 18, 2004
  New "Clock Gene" Uncovered
  A team of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF), led by Steve Kay, Ph.D., and John Hogenesch, Ph.D., recently revealed a new genetic component of the mammalian clock—a protein known as "Rora." This discovery may someday help people with jet lag, shift workers who feel wiped out after working a night shift, and people with more serious sleep disorders, many of which are related to circadian rhythms.
  
  
• August 3, 2004
  Scripps Research Institute Announces Scientific Programs with Appointment of 17 World-Class Scientists to New Scripps Florida
  The Scripps Research Institute announced the formation of several innovative research programs at its Scripps Florida facility in Palm Beach County. The new programs indicate the depth and scope of the scientific research that will be undertaken at Scripps Florida. They include developing cutting-edge technologies to enable scientists to examine the basic biology of human health and applying those technologies to find new and better treatments for a variety of devastating human diseases.
  
  
• July 22, 2004
  Will Ray of Palm Beach County Promoted to Vice President of External Affairs of The Scripps Research Institute
  Will Ray, until recently director of external affairs for Scripps Florida in Palm Beach County, has been promoted to the position of vice president of external affairs for the entire Scripps Research Institute.
  
  
• July 16, 2004
  The Scripps Research Institute Names Weitz-DPR Team to Manage Construction of Scripps Florida
  The Scripps Research Institute has selected the joint partnership of the Weitz Company of West Palm Beach, Florida, and DPR Construction, Inc., of San Diego, California, to manage construction of the 364,000-square foot, $137 million Scripps Florida facilities expected to be built in Palm Beach County.
  
  
• July 7, 2004
  Structure Solved at Scripps Research Institute Shows How One Human Protein Reduces the Potency of Chemotherapy
  A team of researchers led by scientists at The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute have solved the structure of a human protein called AGT that is known to interfere with the action of certain chemotherapy drugs.
  
  
• July 1, 2004
  Renowned Physician and Biochemist Bernard M. Babior Dies at 69
  Bernard M. Babior, a distinguished medical scientist, died in San Diego, California on June 29, 2004, after a long battle with prostate cancer. For the past 18 years, he was a Professor and Head of the Division of Biochemistry at The Scripps Research Institute and a Staff Physician at the Scripps Clinic, both in La Jolla.
  
  
• July 1, 2004
  The Key to Cell Motility
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have described the regulatory mechanism of an important human protein called Rac that controls a number of biological processes and is directly implicated in several human diseases.
  
  
• June 23, 2004
  Protein Believed to Control Formation of Memory Identified by Scripps Research Institute & UCSD Scientists
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have demonstrated that the action of a protein called CBP is essential for the stabilization of long-term memory, a discovery that may help children with a rare but debilitating developmental disorder.
  
  
• June 21, 2004
  Treating Cocaine Addiction with Viruses
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have designed a potentially valuable tool for treating cocaine addiction by creating a modified "phage" virus that soaks up the drug inside the brain.
  
  
• May 11, 2004
  22-Amino Acid Bacterium Created by Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  A team of investigators at The Scripps Research Institute and its Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology in La Jolla, California has modified a form of the bacterium Escherichia coli to use a 22-amino acid genetic code.
  
  
• May 4, 2004
  The Scripps Research Institute Selects Two Florida High School Teachers for Summer Internship Program in La Jolla California
  The Scripps Research Institute today named two science teachers from the Palm Beach County School District to participate in the Institute's 2004 Bank of America Summer Internship Program for Teachers in La Jolla, California.
  
  
• April 30, 2004
  Office Depot Pledges $1M Corporate Gift to The Scripps Research Institute for Its Childhood Neurological Disease Research Program in Palm Beach County
  The Scripps Research Institute and Office Depot, Inc., (NYSE:ODP) today announced a joint philanthropic alliance, whereby Office Depot pledged a $1 million corporate gift to Scripps Research for its Childhood Neurological Disease Research Program at its new Florida facility.
  
  
• April 15, 2004
  A New Hypothesis About Autoimmunity—Is it Possible to be Too Clean?
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found a connection between poor T cell survival in the body and the development of autoimmunity.
  
  
• April 15, 2004
  The Scripps Research Institute Names Ervin Owens of Lake Worth Human Resources Manager for Scripps Florida
  The Scripps Research Institute announced today the appointment of Ervin Owens of Lake Worth as Human Resources Manager at the newly established Scripps Florida in Palm Beach County.
  
  
• April 13, 2004
  The Scripps Research Institute Appoints Four Leading Scientists to New Scripps Florida Faculty
  The Scripps Research Institute announced today the appointments of four noted scientists to the faculty of the new Scripps Florida biomedical research operation in Palm Beach County.
  
  
• April 2, 2004
  Scripps Research Scientist Wins 2004 Koch Prize
  Professor Bruce Beutler, M.D., of The Scripps Research Institute has won the 2004 Robert Koch Award together with Professor Shizuo Akira of Osaka, Japan and Professor Jules A. Hoffmann of Strasbourg, France, the Robert Koch Foundation has announced.
  
  
• March 29, 2004
  Scripps Research Scientists Find Deafness Gene's Function
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute, at the University of California, San Diego, and at the Oregon Hearing Research Center and Vollum Institute at Oregon Health & Science University have discovered a key molecule that is part of the machinery that mediates the sense of hearing.
  
  
• March 25, 2004
  Harry W. Orf Of Massachusetts General Hospital And Harvard Medical School Named Vice President Of Scientific Operations At Scripps Florida
  Scripps Research Institute President Richard A. Lerner and Florida Governor Jeb Bush today announced the appointment of Harry W. Orf, Ph.D., as Vice President of Scientific Operations for Scripps Florida, the institute's new facilities in Palm Beach County.
  
  
• March 15, 2004
  New Approach Limits Damage After Heart Attack and Improves Survival, Say Scripps Research Scientists
  A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has developed a potential new treatment for heart attacks. The therapy inhibits fluid leakage from cardiac blood vessels following a heart attack and thereby significantly prevents long-term heart damage and improves survival.
  
  
• March 15, 2004
  A New Hypothesis about Alzheimer's Disease
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has proposed a new theory about the cause of Alzheimer’s disease, the progressive neurodegenerative disorder that currently afflicts some 4.5 million Americans.
  
  
• March 11, 2004
  The Scripps Research Institute Selects International and Florida Firms to Design and Oversee Construction of Scripps Florida Campus
  The Scripps Research Institute today selected Zeidler Partnership/Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, including 10 Florida-based partners, for final negotiations to design the new Scripps Florida campus in Palm Beach County.
  
  
• March 4, 2004
  Scientists at Scripps Research Institute Describe Dangerous Cocktail of Alcohol, Brain Peptides, and Neurotransmitters
  A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has described the cellular mechanism underlying the brain's response to alcohol, which suggests a possible method for treating alcoholism.
  
  
• March 1, 2004
  Gift from Bank of America will Fund Summer Internships for Palm Beach County Science Teachers at Scripps Research Institute in California
  Bank of America, Palm Beach County has donated $15,000 to support two secondary school science teachers from Palm Beach County, Florida, at an eight-week summer internship program at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.
  
  
• February 26, 2004
  Dreyfoos and Viterbi Join Scripps Research Institute Board of Trustees
  Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr., chairman and owner of The Dreyfoos Group in Palm Beach, Florida, and Andrew J. Viterbi, Ph.D., president of The Viterbi Group, LLC, of San Diego, California, have been elected to the Board of Trustees of The Scripps Research Institute.
  
  
• February 17, 2004
  Chemical that Turns Mouse Stem Cells into Heart Muscles Discovered by Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  A group of researchers from The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute and from the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) has identified a small synthetic molecule that can control the fate of embryonic stem cells.
  
  
• February 13, 2004
  Structure Solved by Scientists at Scripps Research Shows One Way that Body Controls Gene Expression
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has solved the structure of a protein that regulates the expression of genes by controlling the stability of mRNA—an intermediate form of genetic information between DNA genes and proteins.
  
  
• February 11, 2004
  Nano-Origami: Scientists at Scripps Research Create Single, Clonable Strand of DNA That Folds into an Octahedron
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has designed, constructed, and imaged a single strand of DNA that spontaneously folds into a highly rigid, nanoscale octahedron that is several million times smaller than the length of a standard ruler and about the size of several other common biological structures, such as a small virus or a cellular ribosome.
  
  
• February 11, 2004
  Genetic Mutation Protects Against HIV and Plague?
  Not So, Say Scientists at Scripps Research
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have provided strong evidence that a popular hypothesis concerning the origins of a genetic mutation common among Caucasians of Northern European descent that protects against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is wrong.
  
  
• February 5, 2004
  Scientists at Scripps Research Institute Describe Structure of Receptor on Surface of 1918 Flu Virus, the World's Most Deadly Outbreak
  A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has described for the first time the structure of a protein from the deadly 1918 "Spanish Flu" virus—a virus that took more lives than World War I and became the largest and deadliest influenza outbreak in recorded history. Their work reveals some of the virus' deadly secrets.
  
  
• January 29, 2004
  A New Twist on the Mad Cow—Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Discover the Normal Prion Protein May Contribute Directly to Disease
  A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute are presenting evidence that mad cow disease prions cannot kill neurons on their own and that normal, healthy cellular prion protein may be a direct accomplice in unleashing neuronal destruction.
  
  
• January 15, 2004
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Describe New Strategy for the Synthesis of Glycoproteins
  A team of investigators at The Scripps Research Institute and its Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology in La Jolla, California has developed a new way of making glycoproteins—proteins with carbohydrates (sugars) attached.
  
  
• January 6, 2004
  Eminent Scientist Charles Weissmann to Join Scripps Research Institute's New Florida Operations
  The Scripps Research Institute announced today that internationally renowned scientist Charles Weissmann will join Scripps Florida, the institute's new biomedical research operation in Palm Beach County.
  
• December 22, 2003
  Regenerative Chemical Turns Muscle Cells into Stem Cells, Say Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  A group of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute has identified a small synthetic molecule that can induce a cell to undergo dedifferentiation—to move backwards developmentally from its current state to form its own precursor cell.
  
  
• December 18, 2003
  Linking the Immune System with Lipid Metabolism
  A team of researchers led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has discovered a family of proteins that connect the immune system to the body's lipids—the fat molecules that are a major building block of the human body.
  
  
• December 15, 2003
  Scripps Research Institute Receives $3 Million Anonymous Donation to Establish The Pearson Center for Alcoholism and Addiction Research
  The Scripps Research Institute recently received a $3 million gift to establish The Pearson Center for Alcoholism and Addiction Research that will combine biomedical research with clinical application to fight this deadly and costly disease
  
  
• December 2, 2003
  NIH Funds Scripps Research–Novartis Collaboration To Target New Treatments for Depression and Nicotine Addiction
  A group of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute and Novartis Pharma AG have been awarded a $3.45 million grant to collaborate on the design of new ways to treat depression and nicotine addiction.
  
  
• November 21, 2003
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Describe the Biochemistry of Vaccine Adjuvants
  A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has published a paper that explains how adjuvants work in greater biochemical detail than has been known previously.
  
  
• November 19, 2003
  Love and Flower Power—Scripps Scientists Discover Protein that Senses Daylight and Regulates Flowering
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) are publishing a paper in which they describe a new class of proteins that regulate the timing of the flower cycle in one small leafy weed, a relative of the mustard plant called Arabidopsis thaliana.
  
  
• November 18, 2003
  Fat Molecules Make Bigger Brains, Say Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) is publishing a study that describes the effects of a particular phospholipid molecule on the development of mammalian brains.
  
  
• November 14, 2003
  Filmmaker Warren Beatty and Mervyn's Mervin Morris Join TSRI Board
  Actor and Academy Award-winning director and producer Warren Beatty and California businessman Mervin G. Morris, the founder of the Mervyn's chain of retail stores, have been elected to the Board of Trustees of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI).
  
  
• November 14, 2003
  $9.2 Million Grant Enables Scripps Scientists to Design Anthrax Antitoxin Nanosponges
  A large, multi-center program project grant has been awarded to a team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), Harvard Medical School, and The Salk Institute for Biological Studies to discover and develop novel anthrax antitoxins and ways of delivering them.
  
  
• November 7, 2003
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Discover a Genetic Cause for Primary Iron Overload
  Three new studies describe the discovery of a genetic mutation that could be responsible for causing the metabolic disorder, primary iron overload, common among people of African descent. Professor Ernest Beutler, M.D., in The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at TSRI led one of the studies and is coauthor of another.
  
  
• November 6, 2003
  Scripps Scientists Link Ozone to Atherosclerosis, Detection of Toxic "Atheronal" Molecules May Lead to New Diagnostics
  A team of investigators led by The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) President Richard A. Lerner, M.D., and TSRI Associate Professor Paul Wentworth, Jr., Ph.D., are reporting evidence for the production of ozone in fatty atherosclerotic plaques taken from diseased arteries.
  
  
• October 30, 2003
  AAAS and The Scripps Research Institute Announce 2003 Fellows
  Dale L. Boger and Bernard Babior of The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in La Jolla, CA have been awarded the distinction of AAAS fellows.
  
  
• October 30, 2003
  $11.4 Million CDC Grant Goes to The Scripps Research Institute to Study Immune Response to Anthrax Toxins
  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded a group of researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) a multi-year, $11.4 million grant to study the interaction of the human immune system with toxins of the bacterium Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of the disease anthrax.
  
  
• October 28, 2003
  The Scripps Research Institute Restructures Its Top-Ranked Graduate Programs
  The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) announced the restructuring of the graduate programs at its Kellogg School of Science and Technology.
  
  
• October 9, 2003
  The Scripps Research Institute to Open Major Science Center in Palm Beach County, Florida
  The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) announced plans to establish a major science center in Palm Beach County, Florida, focusing on biomedical research, technology development, and drug design.
  
  
• September 11, 2003
  The Scripps Research Institute and Oxford University Establish Joint Program for Doctoral Degree In Biology, Chemistry, and Biochemistry
  The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in La Jolla, California, and the University of Oxford Department of Biochemistry in Britain announced today their intention to offer a joint graduate program to train young scientists at the doctoral level at both world-renowned institutions.
  
  
• September 4, 2003
  Study at The Scripps Research Institute Links Dozens of Proteins to Several Rare Muscle and Nerve Degeneration Diseases
  A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has identified more than 50 previously unknown proteins and associates several of them with rare human muscle and nerve degeneration diseases. The team is publishing their findings this week in the journal Science.
  
  
• August 14, 2003
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Create New Strain of Yeast with 21-Amino Acid Genetic Code
  A team of investigators at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and its Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology is introducing revolutionary changes into the genetic code of organisms like yeast that allow these cellular factories to mass produce proteins with unnatural amino acids.
  
  
• July 31, 2003
  Global Survey Maps Function of Thousands of Malaria Genes, Report Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  A team of researchers led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) describes a comprehensive global profile of genes in the malaria parasite.
  
  
• July 20, 2003
  Protein That Fights Bacteria and Viruses Cloned by Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  A team of researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has identified a protein, called Trif, that directly responds to the signals the innate immune system sends when it recognizes both bacteria and viruses.
  
  
• June 26, 2003
  Towards an AIDS Vaccine: Unusual Antibody That Targets HIV Described by Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  A group of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and several other institutions has solved the structure of an antibody that effectively neutralizes human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
  
  
• June 16, 2003
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Find A Beneficial Link Between A Nicotine Metabolite and Alzheimer's Disease
  Two scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered that a chemical called nornicotine modifies proteins that misfold and form the fibril plaques that are abundant in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease. Nornicotine is naturally present in tobacco and is also produced as a major metabolite of nicotine.
  
  
• June 2, 2003
  Chemical Turns Stem Cells into Neurons Say Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  A group of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) have identified a small chemical molecule that controls the fate of embryonic stem cells.
  
  
• May 22, 2003
  Cholera Protein Structure—a Target for Vaccines and Antibiotics—Described by Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  A group of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has solved structures of a bacterial protein called pilin, which is required for infection by pathogens that cause human diseases like meningitis, gonorrhea, diarrheal diseases, pneumonia, and cholera.
  
  
• May 21, 2003
  New Type of Vaccine Against Nicotine Addiction Developed by Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have designed a new way to make vaccines against drugs of abuse that could become a valuable tool for treating addiction by helping the body clear the drug from the bloodstream.
  
  
• April 28, 2003
  TSRI Scientists Show that Rare Genetic Mutations Increase Susceptibility to Sepsis
  A group of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered rare genetic mutations in a subset of people who come down with a particular kind of severe sepsis, an acute and often deadly disease.
  
  
• April 16, 2003
  Programmable Antibodies—A Hybrid Cancer Therapy Described by Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has designed a "hybrid" anticancer compound that physically combines the potent punch of a cancer cell-targeting agent with the long-lasting dose of an antibody.
  
  
• April 4, 2003
  Former Superior Court Judge Alice Sullivan to Chair The Scripps Research Institute Board of Trustees
  The Honorable Alice D. Sullivan (Ret.), a former Alameda County Superior Court Judge, has been elected Chair of the Board of Trustees at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI). Judge Sullivan replaces former Chair John D. Diekman, Ph.D., who remains on the board.
  
  
• April 2, 2003
  Scientists Identify a Protein Channel that Mediates the Body's Ability to Feel Frigid Temperatures
  A group of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) have identified and isolated a novel protein that mediates the body's ability to sense cold through the skin.
  
  
• March 10, 2003
  Catalytic Antibodies Combine Properties of Antibodies and Enzymes
  Immunologists Richard A. Lerner and Peter G. Schultz to receive the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize 2003.
  
  
• February 27, 2003
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Make Strides in Addressing Mysteries of Ozone in the Human Body
  In what is a first for biology, a team of investigators at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) is reporting that the human body makes ozone.
  
  
• January 30, 2003
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Discover a New Approach for Treating "Misfolding Diseases"
  Professor Jeffery W. Kelly, Ph.D., and his colleagues in the Department of Chemistry and The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have demonstrated a new approach for treating "amyloid" diseases—particularly transthyretin amyloid diseases, which are similar to Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
  
  
• January 15, 2003
  Growing Human Antibodies in Algae is an Inexpensive and Fast Route to Large-Scale Production, Say Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have used algae to express an antibody that targets herpes virus. This antibody could potentially be an ingredient in an anti-herpes topical cream or other anti-herpes treatments, but more importantly the algae expression technology that the TSRI team used could facilitate production of any number of human antibodies and other proteins on a massive scale.
  
  
• January 14, 2003
  Expanding the Genetic Code—Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Synthesize 21-Amino-Acid Bacterium
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) report in an upcoming article in the Journal of the American Chemical Society their synthesis of a form of the bacterium Escherichia coli with a genetic code that uses 21 basic amino acid building blocks to synthesize proteins—instead of the 20 found in nature.
  
  
• January 8, 2003
  $24-Million Grant Funds Local Researchers to Create Encyclopedia of the Innate Immune System
  The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has awarded a multi-year, $24- million grant to a group of researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in La Jolla, the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) in Seattle, Washington, and The Rockefeller University in New York, New York.
  
  
• January 8, 2003
  Scripps Research Institute Professor Featured in Technology Review as Industry Pioneer in Glycomics, One of the Top Ten Technologies That Will Change the Future
  James Paulson's Consortium for Functional Glycomics aims to figure out the functions of carbohydrates in the human body
  The Scripps Research Institute today announced that Professor James Paulson, Ph.D., has been chosen as a global leader in the field of glycomics by Technology Review, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's magazine of innovation. The magazine's February 2003 issue identifies ten emerging technologies it says will change the world.
  
  
• December 26, 2002
  Work of Four Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Included in Science Magazine's Top-Ten Breakthroughs of 2002
  The work of four scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) was cited by Science magazine among three of the journal's annual list of the top-ten breakthroughs of the year.
  
  
• December 18, 2002
  "Binary" Enzyme Created by Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Demonstrates Darwinian Evolution at its Simplest
  Two scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), Research Associate John S. Reader, D.Phil, and Professor Gerald F. Joyce, M.D., Ph.D., both of the institute's Department of Molecular Biology, have succeeded in creating an enzyme based on a "binary" genetic code—one containing only two different subunits.
  
  
• December 17, 2002
  Blasting Antibodies with Lasers Provides Direct Way of Measuring Their Flexibilities
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) have used a powerful laser in combination with innovative quantum mechanical computations to measure the flexibility of mouse antibodies.
  
  
• December 12, 2002
  Gene Responsible for Rewinding Body's "Clock" Described—Research May Lead to Relief of Sleep Disorders and Jet Lag
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) has demonstrated that the gene Opn4, which codes for the protein Melanopsin, is the elusive pigment gene that captures light and keeps your body tuned to a daily cycle—called a circadian rhythm.
  
  
• November 28, 2002
  How Do You Solve Relief—Structure of Pain-Modulating Enzyme Described by Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  A group of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have solved the structure of an enzyme that modulates central nervous system (CNS) functions such as pain perception, cognition, feeding, sleep, and locomotor activity.
  
  
• November 14, 2002
  Ozone is Produced by Antibodies During Bacterial Killing and in Inflammation, Say Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  Professor Richard A. Lerner, M.D., Associate Professor Paul Wentworth, Jr., Ph.D., and a team of investigators at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) is reporting that antibodies can destroy bacteria, playing a hitherto unknown role in immune protection. Furthermore, the team found that when antibodies do this, they appear to produce the reactive gas ozone.
  
  
• November 13, 2002
  Sepsis Vaccine Proves Protective in Preliminary Studies by Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  A group of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have designed a vaccine that might be used to protect against the pernicious consequences of severe sepsis, an acute and often deadly disease that is estimated to strike 700,000 Americans a year and millions more worldwide.
  
  
• November 4, 2002
  Potential New Treatment for Gaucher Disease Developed by Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed a compound that could potentially be used as a new treatment for Gaucher disease, the most common genetic disorder affecting Jewish people of Eastern European ancestry. Although not tested in humans, the compound has shown great promise in human cell lines cultured from patients who suffer from the disease.
  
  
• November 4, 2002
  A Group at The Scripps Research Institute Designs DNA Vaccine that Inhibits Growth of Cancerous Tumors
  A group of researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed a novel DNA vaccine that helps the body resist the growth of cancerous tumors by choking off the tumors' blood supply.
  
  
• October 28, 2002
  A Nicotine By-Product Reacts with Proteins, Say Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  Two researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered that a chemical called nornicotine which is naturally present in tobacco and is also produced as a metabolite of nicotine may contribute to the pathology of diabetes, cancer, aging, and Alzheimer's disease.
  
  
• October 9, 2002
  Kurt Wüthrich of The Scripps Research Institute Wins 2002 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
  Second Nobel Prize in a Row for TSRI
  Kurt Wüthrich, Ph.D., who is Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Visiting Professor of Structural Biology at The Scripps Research Institute and a member of TSRI's Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology; and Professor of Biophysics at Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETHZ), Switzerland, was awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize in Chemistry today for applying the technique of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to solving the structures of biological macromolecules.
  
  
• October 1, 2002
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Identify Thousands of Proteins Associated with the Deadliest Form of Malaria
  Two scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) led a collaborative effort involving 18 researchers at half a dozen laboratories in the United States and Great Britain to determine the "proteome" of the most deadly form of the malaria pathogen—Plasmodium falciparum.
  
  
• October 1, 2002
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Develop New Technology to Map Spread of Malarial Drug Resistance
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), Harvard University and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation have found a way to use a relatively new but readily available technology to quickly detect markers in the DNA of the most deadly type of malaria pathogen.
  
  
• September 18, 2002
  Flower Hour: Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Discover How a Plant Times Its Flowering Cycle
  Two scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have described how a plant grown in their laboratory uses two sets of proteins to detect the seasons so that it can flower at the right time. And by tinkering with those proteins, the scientists were able to make the plant flower at will.
  
  
• August 19, 2002
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Receive $9.6 Million to Develop Treatment for Common Cause of Vision Loss
  A group of researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), who recently discovered a potent inhibitor of angiogenesis, a process implicated in cancer and one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States, have been awarded a five-year, $9.6 million grant from the National Eye Institute to study this inhibitor further and develop ways to use it in patients with neovascular eye disease.
  
  
• July 26, 2002
  Adult Stem Cells Selectively Delivered into the Eye and Used to Control Angiogenesis by Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  A team of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has discovered a way to use adult bone marrow stem cells to form new blood vessels in the eye or to deliver chemicals that will prevent the abnormal formation of new vessels.
  
  
• July 15, 2002
  Making the Most of Lymphopenia—Study at The Scripps Research Institute Suggests Powerful New Way to Treat Cancer
  A study undertaken by investigators at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) suggests a new, potentially more effective way to battle cancer—hit the immune system with cancer vaccines or cancer cells when it's down and it will bounce back swinging harder than ever against those cancer cells.
  
  
• July 9, 2002
  Two Scientists From The Scripps Research Institute Receive Funding for New Approach to Breast Cancer Research
  Two scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) were recently awarded seed funding from the California Breast Cancer Research Program for design of breast cancer drugs. The award is part of a pool of state money earmarked for breast cancer and set aside to fund innovative research that has the potential to have a high impact.
  
  
• June 27, 2002
  Anti-Cancer Nanoparticles: Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Design Gene-Tipped Tumor Regressor "Smartbombs"
  A group of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have demonstrated what, in principle, could be a new way of treating cancer and several other diseases where angiogenesis occurs. Angiogenesis, the formation and differentiation of new blood vessels, is a crucial process in cancer, and, when blocked, improves a patient's prognosis.
  
  
• June 14, 2002
  TSRI Graduate and Postdoc Wins Prestigious Career Award
  Stephen W. Santoro, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has been selected as a recipient of a 2002 Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences. The awards provide $500,000 over five years for young scientists, spanning the period that includes their advanced postdoctoral training and their early years as a faculty member of an academic research institution.
  
  
• May 31, 2002
  Lerner to Receive UC Presidential Medal
  Richard A. Lerner, M.D., president of The Scripps Research Institute, will receive the University of California Presidential Medal on Friday, May 31. The medal is the highest award the university can bestow.
  
  
• May 22, 2002
  Scientist at The Scripps Research Institute Named One of World's Top 100 Young Innovators by Magazine at MIT
  Benjamin F. Cravatt, Ph.D., a scientist at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), has been selected as one of the top 100 innovators under the age of 35 in a special report just released by Technology Review, the world's oldest technology magazine.
  
  
• May 16, 2002
  "Warm to the Touch" Gene Found
  A group of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) have identified and cloned the first-known gene that makes skin cells able to sense warm temperatures.
  
  
• April 30, 2002
  Two TSRI Scientists Elected Members of the National Academy of Sciences
  Two professors from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI)—Drs. Francis V. Chisari and Chi-Huey Wong—were elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences today in recognition of "their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research."
  
  
• April 26, 2002
  Promoting Wound Repair—One of the First Known Biological Roles for Mysterious Gamma-Delta T Cells Discovered by Researchers at TSRI
  Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have identified a major role in promoting wound repair played by a mysterious type of immune cell that resides mainly in the skin and gut—the gamma-delta T cell.
  
  
• April 17, 2002
  Dramatic Footage of Immune System at Work Caught on Tape by Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  Using a new technique that allows scientists to see the internal machinery of a living cell, a team of researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) addressed one of the most fundamental issues in immune research—the early events in the immune system's recognition of foreign invaders, such as bacteria and viruses, in the body.
  
  
• April 16, 2002
  Structure of Important Tumor Growth Protein—A Target for Cancer Therapy—Solved at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI)
  A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have solved a structure of a protein that is crucial for cancer tumor growth. Blocking this protein has already proven to be an effective way of stopping tumor growth in animal models, and the unforeseen molecular details revealed by the structure are like a road map for the development of future anti- cancer therapeutics.
  
  
• April 16, 2002
  Human Antibodies Against Spores Found by TSRI Researchers Suggest Powerful New Tool for Detection and Treatment of Anthrax
  Human antibodies against Bacillus spores, of which one species is the cause of anthrax, have been identified by researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI). These antibodies could be used to detect the presence of anthrax and other harmful spores in powders and to protect those exposed against lethal infections.
  
  
• April 15, 2002
  The Scripps Research Institute Names Graduate College Kellogg School of Science and Technology in Honor of Janet and W. Keith Kellogg II
  In honor of their extraordinary contributions to science and education, The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) today named its graduate college the Kellogg School of Science and Technology for philanthropists Janet R. ("Jean") Kellogg and W. Keith Kellogg II.
  
  
• April 10, 2002
  Center for Integrative Molecular Biosciences Opens at The Scripps Research Institute
  Seeking to speedily obtain and analyze the structures of the tiny machines that buzz with activity inside cells, the Center for Integrative Molecular Biosciences (CIMBio) officially opens at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI)
  
  
• March 15, 2002
  Tricking Diseases into Synthesizing Their Own Worst Enemies: A Revolutionary Strategy for Drug Discovery at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) Succeeds on an Enzyme
  In a first attempt to test a new general strategy for drug discovery, chemists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and TSRI's Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology created the most potent blocking agent known against an enzyme implicated in Alzheimer's disease.
  
  
• March 4, 2002
  Cool-Temperature-Sensing Protein Found by The Scripps Research Institute Investigators
  A group of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) have identified and isolated a protein that mediates the body's ability to sense cold through the skin.
  
  
• February 1, 2002
  Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) Turn Viruses into Enhanced Nanochemical Building Blocks
  Using a combination of chemistry and molecular genetics, researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology have found a way to attach a wide range of molecules to the surface of a virus, essentially enhancing the virus with the properties of those molecules.
  
  
• January 31, 2002
  Folding Upon Binding: Unique Protein Activation Mechanism Found by Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have solved the structure of two critical human proteins that are normally unstructured in the cell, but fold synergistically so that together they form an active biological structure.
  
  
• January 24, 2002
  Nanoencapsulation: Chemists at The Scripps Research Institute Discover a New and Simple Way of Controlling Reactions
  A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) were able to demonstrate complex system behavior among small, reacting organic molecules by putting them in and out of a nanocapsule.
  
  
• January 19, 2002
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Show Most People with the Genetic Mutation for an Iron-Storage Disease Stay Healthy
  A disease that was once thought to be the most common genetic disorder of Europeans has now been shown by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) to be relatively rare.
  
  
• January 2, 2002
  Nature's Own Medicine for Vision Loss: Inhibitor of Angiogenesis Found by Biologists at The Scripps Research Institute
  A potentially potent inhibitor of angiogenesis, the process whereby new blood vessels are formed from existing ones, can be found in one of the very molecules involved in the same process. This finding, made by two scientists from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), may lead to new therapies, as abnormal angiogenesis is the leading cause of vision loss in the United States.
  
  
• November 9, 2001
  Crucial Genetic Diversity Enzyme Long Sought by Biologists Discovered by Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  Simultaneous reports by two teams at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), led by Professor Paul Russell, Ph.D., and Associate Professor Clare H. McGowan, Ph.D., identify the "resolvase" enzyme that may be responsible for generating genetic diversity during sexual reproduction and could be a target for improved anti-cancer therapy.
  
  
• October 22, 2001
  $35 Million Alcohol Grant Awarded to Consortium led by Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute
  The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has funded a multi-year consortium headed by researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) to identify the molecular basis of alcoholism.
  
  
• October 12, 2001
  Molecules Caught in the Act-- Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Solve Elusive Enzyme Mechanism
  A collaboration between Professors Ian A. Wilson, Ph.D., Chi-Huey Wong, Ph.D., and their colleagues in the Departments of Chemistry, Molecular Biology, and The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has yielded one of the best views ever of an enzyme caught in the act of catalyzing a reaction on its substrate. This research should prove invaluable as a tool for drug synthesis.
  
  
• October 10, 2001
  K. Barry Sharpless is Awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
  K. Barry Sharpless, Ph.D., W.M. Keck Professor of Chemistry at The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology and the Department of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), has been awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
  
  
• October 9, 2001
  Former FDA Commissioner Becomes TSRI's Newest Board Member
  Jane E. Henney, a prominent leader in the health sciences and former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been elected a member of the Board of Trustees of The Scripps Research Institute.
  
  
• October 5, 2001
  NIGMS Awards "Glue Grant" to Study Cell Talk
  To begin to untangle huge biomedical problems like teasing apart the roles carbohydrates and proteins play in cellular communication, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences has provided a "glue grant" of $7.4 million (for the first year of funding) to a consortium of basic scientists dedicated to studying carbohydrate function. NIGMS anticipates spending a projected total of $34 million on the project over the course of five years.
  
  
• September 28, 2001
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Discover a Therapeutic Strategy for "Misfolding Diseases" Analogous to Alzheimer's Disease
  Professor Jeffery W. Kelly, Ph.D., and his colleagues in the Department of Chemistry and The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have uncovered a potentially useful strategy to treat the rare disease familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP)--an approach that may be generally useful for intervention in other amyloid diseases.
  
  
• September 7, 2001
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Discover a Previously Unknown Role for Antibodies
  A team of scientists lead by Professor Richard Lerner, Ph.D., President of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered that antibodies have a novel catalytic ability unique among proteins which could possibly mean they do more to protect our bodies than scientists had previously thought. In the current issue of the journal Science, the team demonstrates that antibodies can catalyze the formation of hydrogen peroxide from singlet oxygen.
  
  
• August 16, 2001
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Find a Way to Block Prions that Cause Mad Cow Disease
  Scientists working at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and at the University of California, San Francisco, have published a paper in the current issue of the scientific journal Nature that describes an antibody that clears prion infection in cell culture. This finding may point the way to a treatment for mad cow disease and its human equivalent.
  
  
• August 10, 2001
  Structure Solved by Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Marks Important Milestone in Effort to Develop HIV Vaccine
  Scientists working in The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and at the Glycobiology Institute at Oxford University in the United Kingdom, have elucidated the structure of an antibody that effectively neutralizes human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), reported in the current issue of the journal Science.
  
  
• July 25, 2001
  Poking Holes in Pathogens: Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Build a New Class of Nanotube "Smart Drugs"
  Scientists at The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, a part of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), have published a paper in the current issue of Nature that describes a broad nanochemical approach for designing drugs to combat such problems as infections with antibiotic resistant bacteria.
  
  
• June 8, 2001
  The World's Most Powerful NMR Spectrometer, 900 MHz, Arrives at The Scripps Research Institute
  The most powerful, high-resolution nuclear magnet resonance (NMR) spectrometer ever constructed was delivered today to The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI). According to Peter Wright, Ph.D., Chairman, Department of Molecular Biology, the new NMR, referred to by the frequency at which it operates, 900 MHz, will become the centerpiece of one of the world's most prominent collections of NMR instruments.
  
  
• May 1, 2001
  Scientist at The Scripps Research Institute Elected to National Academy of Sciences
  Gerald F. Joyce, M.D., Ph.D., a scientist at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), has been elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He is one of 72 new members and 15 foreign associates named "in recognition of distinguished and continuing achievements to original research." Election to membership in the Academy is considered one of the highest honors that can be conferred on a U.S. scientist or engineer. The election was held this morning during the 138th annual meeting of the Academy.
  
  
• April 20, 2001
  Simultaneous Reports by Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Show How they Made Bacteria Do What Nature Doesn't
  Scientists at The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), have published two separate papers in the current issue of the journal Science in which they describe two different ways of engineering bacterial cells to encode "unnatural" proteins. Principal Investigators Peter Schultz, Ph.D., Scripps Family Chair, The Skaggs Institute and Department of Chemistry; and Paul Schimmel, Ph.D., Ernest and Jean Hahn Professor and Chair, The Skaggs Institute, and Departments of Molecular Biology and Chemistry, led the two separate efforts.
  
  
• April 12, 2001
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Develop a New "Kit" to Screen Mercury in Fish
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), have developed a screening method, similar to a home pregnancy test, that can detect mercury contamination in fish. According to Kim D. Janda, Ph.D., Eli R. Callaway Chair in Chemistry and Professor, The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, the strategy could be used both by consumers and environmental professionals.
  
  
• March 26, 2001
  President of The Scripps Research Institute to Receive Honorary Degree
  Richard A. Lerner, M.D., President of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), has been named a recipient of an honorary degree from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, in Haifa, Israel. The conferral ceremony will be held in June, 2001, to coincide with the Technion's annual International Board of Governors meeting.
  
  
• February 15, 2001
  New Study by Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Suggests an Answer for One of the Oldest Questions in Biology
  Scientists at The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology (TSRI) have published a paper in the current issue of Nature that suggests a possible answer to how one of the early steps necessary for the origins of life arose. Principal Investigator M. Reza Ghadiri, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry at TSRI, has created a biological polymer that can discriminate between two types of building blocks, taking those that are similar and building a copy of itself with them.
  
  
• January 31, 2001
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Suggest Novel Therapy to Limit Tissue Damage Following Stroke
  Scientists at TSRI, along with their colleagues at Henry Ford Health Sciences Center, Detroit, report findings in the current issue of Nature Medicine suggesting a novel therapeutic target that appears to prevent tissue damage caused by stroke. According to lead author David A. Cheresh, Ph.D., Professor, Departments of Immunology and Vascular Biology at TSRI, "Our findings suggest a possible new modality to complement the effects of thrombolytic therapy, the only therapeutic option currently available for stroke patients."
  
  
• January 24, 2001
  Sharpless Named Recipient of 2001 Benjamin Franklin Medal
  K. Barry Sharpless, Ph.D., W.M. Keck Professor of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry and The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, has been named the recipient of a 2001 Benjamin Franklin Medal from the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. He joins other scientists whose breakthrough work in the fields of cancer, artificial intelligence, wireless communications, astronomy, computers and engineering also is being honored.
  
  
• January 16, 2001
  Sharpless Wins Wolf Prize
  K. Barry Sharpless, Ph.D., W.M. Keck Professor of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry and The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute, has won the 2001 Wolf Prize in Chemistry. Sharpless, who has been with TSRI since 1990, is cited by the Wolf Prize jury for his "pioneering, creative, and crucial work in developing asymmetric catalysis for the synthesis of chiral molecules, greatly increasing mankind's ability to create new products of fundamental and practical importance."
  
  
• October 26, 2000
  TSRI Scientist Wins Presidential Early Career Award
  Geoffrey Chang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Biology, was named by President Clinton as one of the recipients of the fifth annual Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers. Eight Federal departments and agencies join together annually to nominate the most meritorious young scientists and engineers who will broadly advance the science and technology that will be of the greatest benefit to fulfilling the agencies' missions.
  
  
• September 26, 2000
  New Genomic Center Funded To Advance HighThroughput Protein Structure Determination
  The Joint Center for Structural Genomics (JCSG), a consortium of California scientific research organizations, has received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant of $24 million over a five- year period to expand on the body of knowledge made av ailable by the completion of the human and other genome sequencing projects. Its goal is to determine the three-dimensional structure of up to 2000 proteins by developing state-of-the-art high-throughput technology, thereby advancing efforts to understand structure-function relationships important for diseases and their treatments.
  
  
• August 4, 2000
  TSRI Scientists Clone Gene that Regulates Circadian Rhythms in Plants
  Scientists at TSRI have cloned a gene that regulates circadian rhythms in plants, providing an increased understanding -- on a molecular level -- of the processes that enable organisms to anticipate and adapt to daily variations in the environment. Further, researchers believe that understanding internal "clocks" in plants might also elucidate how clocks work in other species, including humans. The study, "Cloning of the Arabidopsis Clock Gene TOC1, an Autoregulatory Response Regulator Homolog," appears in today's issue of Science. Its authors are Drs. Carl Strayer, Tokitaka Oyama, Thomas F. Schultz, Ramanujam Raman, David E. Somers, Paloma Mas, Satchidananda Panda, Joel A. Kreps, and Steve A. Kay.
  
  
• July 6, 2000
  Chi-Huey Wong, Ph.D., Receives 2000 Presidential Green Chemistry Award
  Chi-Huey Wong, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Chemistry and The Skaggs Institute at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), has been selected to receive a 2000 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award, jointly presented by the Director of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology and President of the American Chemical Society. The award program provides national public recognition for organizations that are successfully researching, developing and implementing outstanding green chemical technologies.
  
  
• June 1, 2000
  Sandra L. Schmid, Ph.D., Named to Head Department of Cell Biology
  Professor Sandra L. Schmid, Ph.D., The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), has been named Chairman of the Department of Cell Biology, effective July 1, 2000, according to Richard A. Lerner, M.D., TSRI President. She will replace Norton B. Gilula, Ph.D., current Department Chairman and Dean of Graduate Studies. While he will continue to head the graduate program, he also recently was named Vice President, Scientific Affairs.
  
  
• May 25, 2000
  Ian A. Wilson, D.Phil., Elected to Royal Society
  Ian A. Wilson, D.Phil., Professor, Department of Molecular Biology and The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), has been elected to fellowship in the Royal Society, the independent scientific academy of the United Kingdom, dedicated to promoting excellence in science.
  
  
• March 31, 2000
  The Genetics of Aging
  Gradual genetic changes may be the source of many, if not all illnesses of aging, including breast cancer, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's disease and arthritis. A new study by scientists in The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, published in the March 31 issue of Science, concludes that human aging and its associated diseases and conditions can be traced to a gradual increase in cell division errors in tissues throughout the body. This functional change begins slowly in middle age and increases gradually with advancing age. The authors of the paper, "Mitotic Misregulation and Human Aging," are Drs. Danith H. Ly, David J. Lockhart, Richard A. Lerner, and Peter G. Schultz.
  
  
• January 28, 2000
  Software for the Genome Created by TSRI Scientists
  Scientists at TSRI have developed a method of producing and combining proteins as modular building blocks capable of functioning as genetic switches to turn on or off genes on demand. The study, "Positive and Negative Regulation of Endogenous Genes by Designed Transcription Factors," by Drs. Roger R. Beerli, Birgit Dreier, and Carlos F. Barbas, III, appears in the January 28 on-line edition of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
  
  
• January 26, 2000
  Scientists Discover Evolutionary Adaptation to DNA Repair in Human Cells
  Researchers studying a key human DNA repair enzyme have discovered an evolutionary adaptation that highlights a fundamental advantage in the way human cells repair damage to their DNA. The study, "DNA-Bound Structure and Mutants Reveal A Basic DNA Binding by APE1 Coordinates DNA Repair," appears in the January 27 issue of Nature.
  
  
• January 21, 2000
  K. Barry Sharpless Receives National Academy of Sciences Award in Chemical Sciences
  K. Barry Sharpless, Ph.D., W.M. Keck Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, has been selected to receive the National Academy of Sciences Award in Chemical Sciences. The prize is awarded annually for innovative research in the chemical sciences that, in the broadest sense, contributes to a better understanding of the natural sciences and to the benefit of humanity.
  
  
• December 17, 1999
  X-Sci/2000, A Celebration of Science in the New Millennium
  San Diego high school students and high school science teachers to attend X-Sci/2000, a Celebration of Science in the New Millennium, at TSRI on January 7, 2000.
  
  
• December 9, 1999
  Scientists Discover New Approach to Inhibiting Integrins
  TSRI scientists and their colleagues at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, have discovered a protein-protein interaction important for the function of a class of integrin cell surface receptors that are involved in migration of cells which contribute to chronic inflammation.
  
  
• December 1, 1999
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute Determine Role of Human Protein in HIV Infection
  Scientists at TSRI have determined how a human protein, cyclophilin A, is helping the human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) to enter human cells.
  
  
• November 19, 1999
  Tamas Bartfai Named to Head Harold L. Dorris Neurological Research Center at The Scripps Research Institute
  Noted neuroscientist, Tamas Bartfai, Ph.D., has been named director of the newly established Harold L. Dorris Neurological Research Center at The Scripps Research Institute. In addition, he will hold the Harold L. Dorris Chair in Neuroscience. The center was formed with a $10 million commitment from Helen L. Dorris of San Diego.
  
  
• August 24, 1999
  Role of Genetics in Narcolepsy
  Scientists at TSRI and their colleagues at several other medical research institutions have received grant funding from the National Institutes of Health to study the genetic basis for narcolepsy, a potentially disabling, life-long condition estimated to afflict about one in every 1,000 people in this country.
  
  
• August 6, 1999
  $10 Million Gift Creates Neurological Research Center
  at The Scripps Research Institute
  The Harold L. Dorris Neurological Research Center has been established at The Scripps Research Institute with a $10 million commitment from Helen L. Dorris of San Diego, founder of the Harold L. Dorris Neurosciences Foundation.
  
  
• June 28, 1999
  K.C. Nicolaou Wins International Aspirin Prize
  for Solidarity Through Chemistry
  K.C. Nicolaou, Ph.D., Chairman, Department of Chemistry and Professor, The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, and Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, has been awarded the first International Aspirin Prize for Solidarity Through Chemistry by Quimica Farmaceutica Bayer, S.A. (Barcelona). The worldwide, biennial prize has been established to mark the centenary of the synthesis of a pure and stable form of acetylsalicylic acid, the active ingredient of aspirin in 1897 and the registration of Aspirin as a trademark in 1899 by Bayer.
  
  
• June 14, 1999
  Poison Gas Test That Fits in Your Pocket
  (Angewandte Chemie press release)
  They are feared as the "poor country's nuclear weapon": the chemical weapons - also known as nerve gasses - sarin and soman. They are easy to produce, and the necessary starting materials are cheap and relatively easy to obtain. Sarin and its relatives are deadly and internationally monitored. Inspections of potential poison gas production plants serve this purpose, but are difficult. Until now, the procedure has consisted of taking soil samples on location and analyzing them with complicated special equipment, usually in a distant laboratory. A portable test kit, whose fundamentals have been introduced by a research group working with Kim D. Janda and Peter Wirsching at TSRI could change this.
  
  
• May 18, 1999
  Paul Schimmel Elected to American Philosophical Society
  Paul R. Schimmel, Ph.D., Professor, Departments of Molecular Biology and Chemistry, and The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society.
  
  
• May 4, 1999
  Bernard Babior, M.D., Ph.D., Elected to National Academy of Sciences
  Bernard M. Babior, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, has been elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences.
  
  
• April 30, 1999
  New Study by TSRI Scientists Sheds Light
  on Viral Clearance in Acute Hepatitis B Infection
  A study published this week in Science by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute demonstrates a new paradigm in viral immunology, that the immune system can cure viral infections without destroying the infected cells. They conclude that nondestructive antiviral mechanisms can contribute to viral clearance by eliminating a virus from inside the cell without killing it.
  
  
• January 12, 1999
  TSRI Scientist Named Recipient of Rous-Whipple Award
  Francis V. Chisari, M.D., Professor and Head of the Division of Experimental Pathology at The Scripps Research Institute, has been named winner of the 1999 Rous-Whipple Award from the American Society for Investigative Pathology.
  
  
• January 1, 1999
  Novel Therapeutic Approach to Treatment of Arthritic Disease
  is Explored by Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
  TSRI scientists have studied an investigational anti-angiogenesis treatment -- previously employed against various forms of cancer -- to assess its impact on arthritic disease in an animal model. Their results, published in the January 1, 1999, issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation, provides evidence for a central pathogenic contribution of angiogenic blood vessels to the maintenance and severity of arthritic disease, and the potential viability of anti-angiogenic therapy for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
  
  
• October 16, 1998
  TSRI Chemists Expand the DNA Alphabet to Build Protein-Like DNA Enzymes.
  TSRI chemists Carlos F. Barbas, III, Ph.D., and Kandasamy Sakthivel, Ph.D., have added to the four letters making up the simple chemical alphabet of DNA. The purpose of the work is to make DNA derivatives that would be able to carry out various chemical processes in the laboratory in one go, similar to natural enzymes.
  
  
• September 10, 1998
  TSRI Scientists Receive Awards from the American Chemical Society
  Four professors at The Scripps Research Institute have been named 1999 recipients of national awards from the American Chemical Society for a broad range of scientific contributions in the discipline.
  
  
• July 13, 1998
  John Moores makes contribution to TSRI to create new Institute for Childhood and Neglected Diseases
  TSRI announces the establishment of a new Institute for Childhood and Neglected Diseases on its campus in La Jolla, California. Its purpose is to apply the new molecular understanding of biology to address, reduce and treat recalcitrant illnesses in two major categories childhood diseases, and neglected diseases that effect populations primarily in developing countries. A unique collection of 26 exceptional automobiles has been contributed as a lead gift for this new effort by businessman, San Diego Padres owner, and philanthropist John Moores and his wife, Becky. The new initiative will build on the strength that TSRI has achieved at the nexus of biology and chemistry through the establishment of The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, according to TSRI President and CEO, Richard A. Lerner, M.D.
  
  
• May 7, 1998
  Severity of Brain Changes During Nicotine Withdrawal Comparable to Those for Other Drugs of Abuse
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered that dramatic changes in the brain's pleasure circuits during withdrawal from chronic nicotine use rival the magnitude and duration of similar changes observed during withdrawal from other abused drugs, including cocaine, opiates, amphetamines and alcohol. This knowledge may assist in the development of treatments to deal with withdrawal symptoms that interfere with people's success in quitting smoking.
  
  
• May 5, 1998
  The Scripps Research Institute Receives Grant for Teacher Training from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations
  TSRI is the recipient of a $125,000 grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations to help fund an endowment for high school teacher training as part of its summer research internship program. The funding will be used to strengthen the teachers' opportunities to enhance discovery-based learning in the classroom.
  
  
• April 28, 1998
  Scientists at TSRI and R.W. Johnson Pharmaceuticals Develop New Antibacterial Agents
  Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute have developed a series of new antibacterial compounds designed to target the biological mechanisms by which bacteria establish an infection in the host. With resistance to antibiotics an increasing public health threat, the compounds offer the potential to provide protection against Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant enterococci, and penicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pneumoniae. The study appeared in the April 28, 1998, issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
  
  
• April 16, 1998
  K. Barry Sharpless to Receive Harvey Prize for Outstanding Contributions in Chemistry
  K. Barry Sharpless, Ph.D., W.M. Keck Professor of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute, receives the prestigious Harvey Prize for his outstanding contributions to chemistry from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Israel's premier science and technology university. Established in 1972, the prize honors major contributions to human progress in science, technology, literature of the Middle East and the advancement of peace in the Middle East. Sharpless is best known for using metal catalysts to create useful new methods for synthesizing organic molecules and asymmetric compounds in particular.
  
  
• April 13, 1998
  Mark Yeager, M.D., Ph.D., awarded Burroughs Wellcome Fund's Clinical Scientist Award
  Mark Yeager, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Departments of Cell Biology, Molecular Biology and Vascular Biology, has received a Clinical Scientist Award in Translational Research from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. The awards are intended to foster the development and productivity of outstanding physician-scientists who will strengthen translational research -- the two-way transfer between basic research and patient care. Yeager has been awarded $750,000 over five years to study the structure and function of cardiac gap junction membrane channels.
  
  
• March 30, 1998
  K.C. Nicolaou, Ph.D., to receive the Gustavus John Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest
  K.C. Nicolaou, Ph.D., Chairman, Department of Chemistry, and Member, The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, is this year's recipient of the Gustavus John Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest for outstanding achievement in scientific work which contributes to the public well being and "in recognition of his revolutionary approach to natural science." The award is sponsored by the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society. Nicolaou's research interest focuses on chemical synthesis, molecular design and recognition, and the biological actions of molecules. He is perhaps best known for his work on the synthesis of Taxol.
  
  
• March 27, 1998
  Structure of active form of the enzyme producing nitric oxide
  TSRI scientists and their colleagues at the Cleveland Clinic have determined the molecular structures of the complete active site of the enzyme responsible for generating nitric oxide (NO). Knowledge of these structures advances understanding of how NO is produced and regulated in mammalian cells. According to the researchers, this will provide important information in enabling rational drug design for the potential control of many NO-dependent processes in humans, including blood pressure regulation, digestion, muscular contraction, the immune response, learning and memory. The work appeared in the March 27 issue of Science.
  
  
• March 13, 1998
  A glimpse of the earliest events in biological light sensing
  A team of TSRI scientists, led by Elizabeth Getzoff, Ph.D., has succeeded in freezing a light sensing protein less than one billionth of a second after it absorbed a light particle. The researchers comment that this discovery has opened the pathway to a detailed understanding of the properties of biological light sensors. The report in Nature describes the structure of a photoreceptor just after it was activated by light but before the sensor was able to transform the captured light into a biological signal. The structure corresponds to the protein as it exists less than one billionth of a second after it captured a photon.
  
  
• February 6, 1998
  Disruption of angiogenesis by PEX
  Angiogenesis, the process whereby new blood vessels are formed from pre-existing ones, plays a key role in a number of diseases including cancer, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration and arthritis. TSRI scientists report in Cell that they have not only uncovered a mechanism to help explain angiogenesis activity, but have developed a recombinant form of a protein fragment that blocks the process as well as tumor growth in an in vivo experimental model. This may provide a potentially novel therapeutic approach for diseases associated with neovascularization.
  
  
• December 19, 1997
  Antibody aldolases with enzymic rates but broader scope
  For the first time, scientists have developed a catalytic antibody with an efficiency rate and mechanism equal to that of a natural enzyme essential to life. They compared aldolases that use the same chemical mechanisms but differ in their origin. The work solves the dilemma of whether the immune system is capable of creating efficient catalysts by altering its selection criteria from simple binding to function. The scientists believe the discovery will have numerous applications in industrial synthesis, including the synthesis of some of the most important anticancer compounds. The work appeared in the December 19 issue of Science.
  
  
• November 28, 1997
  Biological clocks no longer found only in the brain
  A discovery by a team of scientists at TSRI and Brandeis University challenges the belief that 24-hour rhythms, or biological clocks, are centrally controlled from the brain. Using the fruit fly as a genetic model system, the research sought to determine if individual body parts would respond to changes in the light/dark cycle without any help from the head. As reported in the November 28 issue of Science, in each separately cultured segment, so-called clock genes turned on and off in unison, according to rhythms set by environmental light manipulations. The hope is that understanding the location of such clocks will yield insights into human circadian rhythms that could lead to new strategies for the treatment of disorders associated with jet lag, shift work and seasonal depression.
  
  
• November 19, 1997
  Total synthesis of eleutherobin and...
  The first total chemical synthesis of a number of promising new anticancer compounds, first isolated from a rare species of corals, has been performed by a scientific team at TSRI. The group assembled the compounds by designing a multistep strategy using simple chemical building blocks such as carvone, an oil readily available from caraway or dill seeds, frequently used as a commodity chemical in perfumes and foods. The scientists hope to produce synthetic analogues for biological screening purposes that could ultimately lead to more effective and safer therapeutic agents than the original compound. The work appeared in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, November 19, 1997.
  
  
• November 10, 1997
  Prominent scientists join TSRI
  TSRI has recruited a number of prominent scientists to its staff, all of whom hold dual appointments in The Skaggs Institute for Chemical biology as well as in other institutional departments. They are Paul Schimmel, Ph.D., former John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at MIT; Jeffery W. Kelly, Ph.D., Former Professor, Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M; Martha J. Fedor, Ph.D., former Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical Center; and James R. Williamson, Ph.D., former Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, MIT.
  
  
• October 31, 1997
  Affordable, hand-held biosensor for diagnostics
  A portable, hand-held biosensor capable of detecting a wide range of medically important chemical compounds has been created by a team of researchers from TSRI and University of California, San Diego. The instrument, which changes colors to signal the presence of specific molecules, may represent a new type of device for a variety of medical applications, including the screening of drugs and the diagnosing of illness at the bedside. The work is published in Science.
  
  
• October 17, 1997
  Structure of Nitric Oxide Synthase...
  Researchers at TSRI and the Cleveland Clinic have solved the structure of the active site of the enzyme that regulates the activity of nitric oxide (NO). Since NO is an unconventional biological signal whose activities range from blood pressure regulation to antimicirobial defense to nervous system information and memory, understanding the structure of the enzyme that produces it is crucial to designing drugs to turn NO on and off. Scientists predict that NO inhibitors may be used to treat such diseases as high blood pressure septic shock, stroke, cancer and impotence. Given its role in neurotransmission, NO may have an effect on treating memory disorders and learning.
  
  
• 09/11/97 -- Long-haul truckers sleep study
  
• 09/08/97 -- Buddy Taub $5 million gift to fund Center for Molecular...
  
• 07/09/97 -- Oldstone receives J. Allyn Taylor Int'l Prize in Medicine
  
• 06/27/97 -- Effects of long-term marijuana use on the brain
  
• 06/18/97 -- Pew Scholarship Award to Roberta Gottlieb
  
• 05/15/97 -- Total synthesis of epothilone B
  
• 05/08/97 -- Roger Beachy elected to National Academy of Sciences
  
• 04/11/97 -- Francis V. Chisari receives Jung Prize
  
• 03/07/97 -- Scientists catch a biological light sensor in the act
  
• 10/21/96 -- Immunomedics Science Prize to Ralph A. Reisfeld
  
• 10/11/96 -- Three-dimensional structure of TCR
  
• 10/02/96 -- Non-infectious foot-and-mouth disease virus
  
• 09/15/96 -- Structures of dUTPase
  
• 09/12/96 -- Brain hormone, urocortin, suppresses appetite.
  
• 07/25/96 -- EPO (erythropoietin) receptor complex.
  
• 05/21/96 -- Major philanthropic gift launches new Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology
  
• 05/02/96 -- K.C. Nicolaou elected to National Academy of Sciences.
  
• 04/24/96 -- Beckman Center for Chemical Sciences.
  
• 04/16/96 -- Sleep patterns related to human performance errors.
  
• 04/15/96 -- Link between cystic fibrosis mutation and clinical symptoms.
  
• 03/26/96 -- Richard A. Lerner, California Scientist of the Year.
  
• 01/17/96 -- Link between the immune system and sleep.
  
• 12/15/95 -- Reactive immunization.
  
• 12/14/95 -- Cocaine vaccine.

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