In Brief

BallenIsles Event Raises More than $100,000 for Scripps Florida Prostate Cancer Research

Cancer research on The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) Florida campus recently received a boost from the BallenIsles Men’s Golf Association’s annual prostate cancer awareness and fundraising campaign. The event, which included a silent auction and golf tournament held on the championship-level courses at the BallenIsles Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens, raised a record $104,830.

“This was a significant increase over the fundraising milestone we reached last year and we’re pleased that one hundred percent of the money raised by this tournament and silent auction goes directly to a postdoctoral training fellowship at Scripps Florida, aimed at developing better treatments and, ultimately, a cure for this disease that strikes one out of every six American men,” said BallenIsles MGA/Prostate Cancer Committee Chair Burt Rein.

The prostate cancer research project will be led by Associate Professor Kendall Nettles of TSRI’s Department of Cancer Biology. His team will study novel compounds, identified in collaboration with John Katzenellenbogen of the University of Illinois, that effectively inhibit steroid receptors. “Studies indicate that these agents are effective against many human malignancies, including prostate cancer," said Nettles.

Patrick Griffin to Speak at April 10 Faculty Lecture Series

Patrick Griffin, chairman of the TSRI Department of Molecular Therapeutics, will speak on “Mechanism of Action of Novel Insulin Sensitizers” at the next Faculty Lecture Series presentation, Wednesday, April 10. The lecture will begin at 5 PM in the Timkin Amphitheater in the Green Hospital in La Jolla, California. A reception will follow in the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Building, first floor. For further information, see Griffin’s Faculty Lecture Series webpage.

Seminar to Explore Cancer Care and Innovations

The Scripps Translational Science Institute’s (STSI) next Invited Speaker’s Lecture Series presentation, “Current State of Cancer Care and Innovations,” will feature two representatives from the City of Hope Cancer Center, Thursday, March 28, from 4 to 5:30 PM.

Jeffrey Weitzel, professor of oncology and population sciences and chief of the Division of Clinical Cancer Genetics at the City of Hope, and Kathleen Blazer, director of the Cancer Genetics program, will deliver their lectures at the STSI facilities, 3344 North Torrey Pines Court, Suite 300, Conference Room 1, La Jolla, California. A reception will follow the presentation.

The lecture is open to the public. For further information, contact Katrina Schreiber at (858) 554-5775 or katrinas@scripps.edu.

Counseling Services: ‘Ten Tips’ for Healthy Risk-Taking

From a new job to a new romance, life is full of opportunities. “Healthy Risk-Taking,” the latest installment in the Counseling and Psychological Services Office’s Ten Tips series, offers guidance on seizing those opportunities.

“Outgoing, confident and optimistic people are more prone to reasonable risk‐taking. But there are steps anyone can take to become braver and go for the brass ring,” explains Ten Tips author Daphne Lurie, director of the Counseling and Psychological Services Office. For her tips, read the full article at http://intranet.scripps.edu/california/counseling/CAPSArticle_HealthyRisktaking.pdf.

Support Blood Drive on CA Campus March 28

Eligible TSRI staff and faculty are encouraged to participate in a blood drive scheduled for Thursday, March 28 on the California campus and sponsored by ScrippsAssists. Donors will help supply the nearly 400 units of blood distributed daily to local hospitals by the San Diego Blood Bank.

Donation appointments are available every 10 minutes from 8 AM to 1 PM at the bloodmobile, which will be located in the 3377 Building parking lot on North Torrey Pines Court. Donor eligibility guidelines and requirements are outlined on the San Diego Blood Bank website.

Appointments may be made online at the blood bank’s website or by email—detailing a preferred time slot—to Leslie Madden, ScrippsAssists project organizer, at lmadden@scripps.edu. Once collected and tested, donated blood is distributed to hospitals within 48 hours.

Lunch & Learn: Love, Relationships and Money

The disharmony in relationships caused by financial issues will be addressed at the next Lunch & Learn presentation, “Love, Relationships and Money,” scheduled for Thursday, March 28, from noon to 1 PM in the Beckman building’s Keck Amphitheater on the California campus.

Sponsored by the Office of Counseling and Psychological Services, the seminar will feature speaker and author Peg Eddy, a certified financial planner and president of San Diego-based Creative Capital Management. Session topics include personal attitudes towards money, financial fitness levels, money-related behaviors, family communications about finances and money-related stress.

For more information on the Lunch & Learn series, visit the Counseling and Psychological Services website.

CA Biosafety Meeting Materials Due March 29

The TSRI Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, April 10, 3:30 to 4:30 PM, in the Faculty Club Tennis Court Room. To receive committee consideration, registration documents must be submitted to Environmental Health and Safety via email to rachellv@scripps.edu by Friday, March 29.

FL-SRF Travel Award Applications Due April 1

The application deadline for the Mark A. Hall Memorial Travel Award spring cycle is Monday, April 1. The Society of Research Fellows (SRF) will award grants of up to $1,000 to two postdoctoral fellows to support an oral or poster presentation at an upcoming scientific conference.

Eligible applicants must be full-time research associates; one proposal per applicant may be submitted. Previous award winners are not eligible. An internal committee of two faculty members and two previous SRF travel award winners will evaluate applications. Winners will be announced May 1.

Complete details on the application and evaluation process are available at the SRF website. For further information, contact Sietse Jonkman, research associate in the Kenny lab and president of SRF, at sjonkman@scripps.edu.

CA Onsite Clinics Scheduled for April 1 and 3

The next California campus onsite immunization clinic will be held on Monday, April 1 and Wednesday, April 3, from 9:30 to 11:30 AM in its new location, Building 3366, room 240. Conducted by Sharp Rees-Stealy staff, the clinics provide hepatitis B vaccination free of charge to all TSRI employees. Appointments are not needed.

Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) Occupational Medicine must pre-authorize all other procedures based on the employee's working conditions. These procedures include: tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis (Tdap) vaccines; the one-visit Quantiferon tuberculosis test (see the Center for Disease Control TB Fact Sheet); and other titers, immunizations and procedures.

After EH&S pre-authorization, individuals who cannot attend the onsite clinic may visit the Sharp Rees-Stealy occupational medicine clinic by calling (858) 526-6150. The clinic is located at 10243 Genetic Center Drive, off Mira Mesa Boulevard. For further details, contact Sunny Gold Schmidt, gschmidt@scripps.edu or x4-9299.

Send comments to: mikaono[at]scripps.edu

cancer check
Jerry Pollack (left) and Burt Rein were among those organizing the BallenIsles fundraising effort to benefit prostate cancer research at Scripps Florida.

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