In Brief

Scripps Florida to Hold CELLebrate Science Festival January 31

Spotlighting the impact of biomedical research on daily life and the work of Scripps Florida scientists, The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) will hold the its sixth annual community science festival—CELLebrate Science—on Saturday, January 31, 10 AM to 3 PM, at the Gardens Mall, lower level, in Palm Beach Gardens.

The festival will feature interactive chemistry and biology demonstrations, a full-size “puzzle” model of the human brain, views of the “invisible” world through microscopes and large-scale models of friendly and not-so-friendly viruses and bacteria. New this year will be a look at 3D printing and its increasing use in biomedical research. Visitors also will meet some of Scripps Florida’s world-class scientists, who are conducting research to uncover potential therapies for such diseases as cancer, diabetes, autism, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

Additional information is available on the CELLebrate Scripps Florida Science website.

Frontiers in Chemistry Symposium: January 30

TSRI’s 26^th Annual Frontiers in Chemistry Symposium will be held Friday, January 30, from 1 to 5:15 PM. Open to the public, the symposium will present four distinguished speakers covering diverse topics in the molecular sciences. Dale Boger, chair of TSRI’s Department of Chemistry, and TSRI Professor Phil Baran will co-host the event, which is free and open to the public.

Symposium speakers and their lectures are:

JoAnne Stubbe, Novartis Professor of Chemistry & Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, speaking on “Radicals: Your Life Is in Their Hands.”
Chad Mirkin, director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology at Northwestern University, speaking on “Spherical Nucleic Acids as Intracellular Gene Regulation Agents.”
Laura Kiessling, Steenbock Professor of Chemistry and director of the Keck Center for Chemical Genomics at the University of Wisconsin, speaking on “Us Versus Them: Distinguishing Human and Microbial Cells.”
Chi-Huey Wong, professor of chemistry at TSRI and president of Academia Sinica in Taiwan, speaking on “Chemistry and Biology of Glycosylation.”

Symposium sponsors include AbbVie, Abide Therapeutics, ActivX, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, Genentech, Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, Janssen, Lilly, Merck, Pfizer, Sigma-Aldrich, Vertex and WuXi AppTec.

Attendance at the symposium, which will be held at The Auditorium at TSRI, is limited to 300. Directions to the event and parking details are available at the symposium website or by contacting Janise Petrey at jpetrey@scripps.edu or (858) 784-8772.

Michael McHeyzer-Williams to Speak at CA Faculty Lecture Series February 11

Michael McHeyzer-Williams is the featured speaker at the next Faculty Lecture Series presentation, Wednesday, February 11 on the La Jolla, California campus. His presentation, “Deconstructing B cell Memory,” will begin at 5 PM in the Timkin Amphitheater in the Green Hospital. A reception will follow in the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Building, first floor. For further information, see the Faculty Lecture Series webpage. The series is supported by an endowment from the Cochrane-Cartan families, established by TSRI Professor Emeritus Charles G. Cochrane.

Dixon Lecture Featuring Max Cooper Scheduled for February 23

The 2015 Frank J. Dixon Memorial Lecture, featuring a presentation by immunologist Max D. Cooper, will be held Monday, February 23, 4 PM, at The Auditorium at TSRI.

Cooper is a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and member of the Emory Vaccine Center and the Center for AIDS Research at the Emory University School of Medicine. His work focuses on ontogenetic and phylogenetic studies of the adaptive immune system in parallel with the analysis of immunological diseases in humans. A Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, Cooper is an editor of several immunological journals and past president of the Clinical Immunology Society, the American Association of Immunologists and the Kunkel Society. He will speak on “The Evolution of Lymphocytes.”

The annual lecture honors Frank Dixon, a pioneering immunologist who was among the founding biomedical scientists of Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation (predecessor organization to TSRI) and who led the organization’s research division for many years. He passed away in 2008 at the age of 87.

ScrippsAssists to Hold CA Blood Drive February 9

ScrippsAssists will hold its next quarterly blood drive in partnership with the San Diego Blood Bank (SDBB) on Monday, February 9, from 9 AM to 2:30 PM, on the California campus. The SDBB bloodmobile will be located in the parking lot adjacent to the Skaggs/MBB building, 10596 N. Torrey Pines Road.

Eligible donors are asked to make an appointment on the SDBB website. Walk-in donors will be welcomed. Guidelines and eligibility requirements are also listed on the blood bank website. Donors should bring photo identification, a record of medications they currently take and a list of locations visited outside the United States in the past three years.

All donors will automatically be entered into a prize raffle. For further information on the blood drive, contact project coordinator Leslie Madden at lmadden@scripps.edu.

Shiley Fitness Center Offers Free Two-Week Trial Membership

Scripps California faculty, students and staff are invited to take advantage of a free two-week trial pass to the Scripps Shiley Sports and Fitness Center, a comprehensive exercise center serving those with specific medical concerns, as well as healthy populations. TSRI employees can also join the center for the corporate membership rate of $44, with no initiation cost or contract.

Located within the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine—10820 N. Torrey Pines Road, just north of Scripps Green Hospital—the fitness center facilities include:

Full-service weight room with designated area for stretching and abdominal work.
Fitness equipment including cardiovascular, circuit, training, flexibility and free weights.
25-yard outdoor lap pool heated to 82 degrees year round.
Outdoor track with ocean and golf course views.
Full-service locker rooms with showers.
Ongoing group exercise and aquatic fitness classes.

Membership features include an initial fitness evaluation and one-hour nutrition consultation, exercise consultation with equipment orientation and unlimited use of the facility and pool. Each staff member holds an undergraduate or graduate degree and is certified and professionally affiliated with the American College of Sports Medicine, National Strength and Conditioning Association or the American Council on Exercise.

To arrange for the two-week pass, contact Membership Director Teresa Hodge at (858) 554-4796 or Hodge.Teresa@scrippshealth.org. Additional information on services, programs and facilities is available on the center’s website.

Emergency Numbers Reminder

In addition to information posted on the TSRI website, the following hotlines are available in an emergency situation:

CALIFORNIA

The California Campus Status Hotline at (858) 784-7000. California employees can call the hotline in any regional emergency for a recorded message on the work status of the campus. The institute's website and email system serve as additional sources of information.

In case of an emergency on the California campus, dial "77." The call is connected automatically with the security operator located at the Beckman Center front entrance. The security operator will answer, take preliminary information and then ask caller to hold as he/she is transferred to the 911 operator. It is important not to disconnect the call during this transfer; the line will be silent until the 911 operator answers (this may take more than a minute). During the call, other members of the TSRI Emergency Response Team will be alerted to provide additional assistance.

FLORIDA

The Florida Campus Status Hotline at (561) 228-2999. Florida employees can call the hotline in any regional emergency, such as a hurricane, for a recorded message on the work status of the campus.

In case of a Florida campus emergency, call "911." Dialing 911 from a TSRI phone automatically connects the caller to Scripps Florida Security desk in Building B reception. Security will obtain the critical information and immediately contact the TSRI Emergency Response Team and the Palm Beach County emergency center, which will dispatch the appropriate team from Jupiter Police, Palm Beach County Fire Rescue and/or EMS to the Florida campus.

At the Auditorium: Cello and Piano Programs

The San Diego Symphony Orchestra presents Johannes Moser, an acclaimed German-Canadian cellist who has performed with the world’s leading orchestras, Wednesday, January 28, 7:30 PM. Moser will perform works by Bach and Brahms and John Willams’s Elegy for cello. Additional program and ticket information is available on the symphony’s website.

The La Jolla Music Society (LJMS) Discovery Series features pianist Ingolf Wunder on Sunday, February 8, 3 PM, in a program for solo piano. First-prize winner at the Concours Musical de France, Wunder will perform works by Chopin and Liszt. Further details can be found on the LJMS website.

Send comments to: mikaono[at]scripps.edu

The sixth annual CELLebrate Science day will be held on Saturday, January 31, at the Gardens Mall in Palm Beach.

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