Lab Notes

Lab Notes: An Inside Look
at Scripps Research

Join us for exciting and educational lectures presented by Scripps Research faculty.  All of the lectures take place on Scripps Research’s picturesque campus and include complimentary lunches.  The programs are offered free of charge.

This season’s schedule includes:

Promising Research and Treatments to Fight Alzheimer’s Disease – Hope for the Future
Friday, November 13, 2009, 12 – 1 p.m.

The central focus of Dr. Jeffery Kelly’s research is to understand the principles of protein folding and to comprehend the basis for misfolding diseases.  Dr. Kelly will discuss how this understanding helps him develop novel therapeutic strategies using chemistry, biophysical, and cell biology approaches for Alzheimer’s disease, as well as the transthyretin- and gelsolin-based amyloid diseases.

Reducing the Risk of Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes
Friday, January 29, 2010, 12 – 1 p.m.

Learn the risk factors and connections behind our nation’s fastest growing health problems – obesity and type two diabetes -- and how we can change course from Dr. Katja Van Herle.  Dr. Van Herle will discuss the lifestyle and diet essentials to reduce your risk of serious health problems.

Cholesterol – Know the Good from the Bad
Thursday, February 18, 2010, 12 – 1 p.m.

Dr. Linda Curtiss will discuss the need for cholesterol, how to know the good from the bad, the difficulty of getting rid of it, and what heart disease looks like from the inside out.  The study of atherosclerosis has undergone something of a revolution over the last quarter century and Dr. Curtiss has been deep in those cholesterol swollen trenches. 

Through the Looking Glass – the World of Cystic Fibrosis and Therapeutics
Thursday, April 15, 2010, 12 – 1 p.m.

Many childhood diseases, including cystic fibrosis, are poorly understood.  Moreover, effective therapeutic interventions are largely absent.  Dr. William Balch will discuss his use of state-of-the-art technologies that, like Alice in Wonderland, allow him to peer through the “looking glass” into what is responsible for disease and watch, for the first time, how it can be manipulated by novel therapeutics.

Stem Cell Research – Opening the Door to Exciting New Therapeutics
Thursday, May 20, 2010, 12 – 1 p.m.

Dr. Kristin Baldwin uses cutting-edge stem cell technology, such as reprogramming and cloning, and genetic engineering, to understand the brain and causes of neurological diseases.  Her milestone work opens the door to the development of exciting therapies, like using a patient’s own cells to grow replacement organs, such as hearts and livers  She will discuss her breakthrough work which opens the enticing possibility of providing healthy replacements for damaged cells, such as neurons to cure paralysis, Parkinson’s, or Alzheimer’s disease.

For more information or to RSVP for the Lab Notes: An Inside Look at Scripps Research series, contact Madeline Fenner in Scripps Research’s Office of Philanthropy at (858) 784-2915 or mfenner@scripps.edu.