Latest from Scripps Research

During the first weeks of pregnancy, the developing placenta in a mother’s womb undergoes a dramatic change. Individual cells merge, forming a continuous barrier that will spend the next nine months ferrying oxygen and nutrients to the growing fetus while keeping the mother's immune system at bay. When this structure fails to form properly, pregnancies are at higher risk of complications, including preeclampsia and restricted fetal growth. Now, scientists at Scripps Research have identified a key player in the placenta’s transformation—a molecule called galectin-3 that binds to sugar molecules on specific cell surface proteins, likely holding placental cells tightly together to fuse.

Some of the most devastating diseases are driven by proteins that cannot be targeted with conventional drugs. Scientists are now discovering ways to control disease by recruiting the cell’s own machinery to tackle this challenge. In this Front Row lecture, Associate Professor Michael Erb took the audience inside the cell to explain how his team is developing “proximity” drugs. Erb’s innovation has implications to change how scientists and cells join forces to fight against breast, prostate and blood cancers. Learn how proximity drugs can eliminate proteins, rewire essential cellular pathways, and enable researchers to target previously “undruggable” proteins.

In his Front Row lecture, President and CEO Pete Schultz highlighted the progress Scripps Research has made in pioneering a new model for non-profit biomedical research. He described how integrating basic science and translational research under one roof is accelerating next-generation medicines—from new immunotherapies for cancer and innovative medicines for infectious disease to regenerative treatments for heart, lung and intestinal tissues. At a time of uncertainty in federal science funding, this model isn't only advancing human health but also helping to generate sustainable support for innovative scientific research and for training the next generation of scientific leaders.

Some of the most powerful medicines we use today come from natural products, which are specialized molecules that plants and microbes have evolved over millions of years. Sugars play a key role in these compounds—determining how a molecule behaves, where it travels in the body and how strongly it activates the immune system. In this Front Row lecture, Scripps Research chemist Yuzhong Liu demonstrated how her lab uses synthetic biology to decode the role of sugars in medicine—helping scientists build next-generation vaccine adjuvants, cancer therapies and safer treatments.