In Brief
Chisari Elected to American Academy of Microbiology
Francis V. Chisari, professor in TSRI's Department of Molecular
and Experimental Medicine and director of the General Clinical
Research Center, has been elected to the American Academy
of Microbiology in recognition of "excellence, originality,
and creativity in the microbiological sciences." He joins
fellow TSRI investigators James Hoch, Michael Oldstone, and
Eng Tan as a recipient of this honor.
Chisari is known for his work on hepatitis B and C virus
infections and carcinogenesis. He is widely recognized for
a series of discoveries that defined the immunological basis
for HBV clearance, persistence and disease; demonstrated that
the immune response can terminate HBV replication without
killing infected cells; established the basis of hepatocarcinogenesis
during chronic HBV infection; and laid the foundation for
the development of therapeutic vaccines to cure chronic hepatitis,
the leading cause of liver cancer throughout the world.
Chisari was born in New York, NY and graduated in 1968 from
the Cornell University Medical College. He completed postdoctoral
training at Cornell, Dartmouth, NIH, the Mayo Clinic and the
Pasteur Institute. Chisari has been on the faculty at Scripps
since 1973, and serves as adjunct professor in the Department
of Pathology, University of California School of Medicine.
Recently named a member of the National Academy of Sciences,
he is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including
the 1999 Rous-Whipple Award and the Ernst Jung Prize for Medicine.
Technology Review Names Cravatt "One of
World's Top Young Innovators"
The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) Associate Professor
Benjamin Cravatt (TSRI class of '97) has been named one of
the "TR100," the world's top young innovators according to
Technology Review magazine, whose editorial focus includes
information technology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology.
The TR100 is a group of 100 creative individuals under age
35 drawn from a broad spectrum of fields, whose research the
magazine predicts will shape how we live and work in the future.
According to Technology Review, "chemical biologist
Benjamin Cravatt is developing tools to illuminate the roles
of proteins and enzymes in humans and animals. Cravatt and
colleagues have synthesized dozens of fluorescent probes that
chemically bind to enzymes in laboratory samples of healthy
and diseased tissues, then light up when excited by a laser
scanner. The technique can show which enzymes are more or
less active in cancerous cells, which could herald a breakthrough
for proteomics—the attempt to identify the structures
and functions of human proteins. Cravatt's protein-activity-based
approach represents an advance over methods that merely infer
protein function by comparing the abundance of proteins in
samples...." For more information, see the Technology
Review web site.
Jane Dyson to Speak as Part of Faculty Lecture
Series
Professor Jane Dyson will be speaking on "Unfolded Proteins:
A New Frontier in Structural Biology" on Wednesday, June 12
as part of the Faculty Lecture Series. The lecture will be
held at 5 PM in the Timken Amphitheater, Scripps Clinic, 10666
North Torrey Pines Road.
American Cancer Society to Hold 24-Hour Walk-a-Thon Fundraiser
The American Cancer Society invites you to participate in
its Relay for Life, Saturday, June 22 through Sunday, June
23 at the RIMAC Arena at the University of California, San
Diego. The 24-hour, volunteer-driven walk-a-thon and community
camp-out raises funds for cancer research, treatment, education,
and patient services and is one of ten events that will take
place in various communities throughout San Diego County.
For more information on forming a team or volunteering, call
(619) 682-7453 or visit the American
Cancer Society's Relay for Life web page.
TB Screenings, Hepatitis B Immunizations, and Serum Draws
On Monday, June 10, Wednesday, June 12, and Friday, June 14,
personnel from Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group will be on-site
to conduct TB screenings, Hepatitis B immunizations, and serum
draws. The clinics will be conducted at the Administrative
Offices (3301 North Torrey Pines Court) on the P1 level from
11 AM to 2 PM. No appointments are necessary. TB screening
requires a 48 to 72 hour follow-up. Individuals receiving
the TB screen on Monday will need to return on Wednesday;
individuals screened on Wednesday, will need to return on
Friday. Initiation of the TB screening process will not be
available on Friday, but Hepatitis B immunization and serum
draws will be. To learn more about these programs, see the
Environmental Health & Safety Occupational Medicine web page,
which includes a map and patient information sheets.
Look for next News&Views June 17
The next issue of News&Views, which is published every other
week throughout the summer, will be posted by Monday, June
17. The deadline for announcement and calendar submissions
is Wednesday at noon for the following Monday's publication.
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