In Brief

Phil Baran Elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Phil Baran, Darlene Shiley Chair in Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), has been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (AAAS), one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary societies and a leading center for independent policy research.

“We are honored to elect a new class of extraordinary women and men to join our distinguished membership,” said Don Randel, chair of the AAAS board of directors. “Each new member is a leader in his or her field and has made a distinct contribution to the nation and the world.”

Baran joins Pulitzer Prize-winner Holland Cotter, singer-songwriter Judy Collins, Nike co-founder Philip Knight, Nobel Prize-winner Brian Kobilka, Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and novelist Tom Wolfe in the academy’s 197-member class of 2015.

A MacArthur Fellow, Baran directs research exploring new avenues for the efficient and practical construction of organic molecules, both naturally occurring and man-made, by pursuing longstanding synthetic challenges and by designing methods of broad utility. Other recent honors include the Mukaiyama Award and Royal Society of Chemistry Synthetic Organic Chemistry Award.

Baran joins 16 other TSRI faculty members as fellows of the academy.

New AAAS members will be inducted at a ceremony on October 15 at the academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Founded in 1790, AAAS has counted as members such notable figures as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Daniel Webster, Margaret Mead and Martin Luther King Jr. The organization’s current membership includes more than 250 Nobel laureates and 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.

TSRI Celebrates Earth Day

Green-conscious groups on both the California and Florida campuses recently commemorated Earth Day’s 45^th anniversary with a variety of activities, including presentation of the McKeown Award for sustainability leadership; e-waste and debris collection; a green chemistry lecture; and trash cleanup.

The Scripps California Green Team presented the 2015 Keith McKeown Memorial Green Feat Award to the employee volunteer organization ScrippsAssists for its many sustainability projects, including Torrey Pines State Reserve trail improvements; recycling initiatives for corks, magazines, clothing and newspapers; and “I Love a Clean San Diego” Creek to Bay Cleanup Day. Named after the late TSRI vice president and Green Team founding chair, the annual award recognizes sustainability leadership on the California campus.

The California team also held its annual e-waste event, enabling campus faculty, students and staff to dispose of unwanted household electronics safely at a campus collection site. In addition, the group produced a new e-flyer listing of local and regional recycling resources. “Recycling: what do I do with …?” is posted on the Green Team website.

The La Jolla campus Students for Sustainability Initiative (SSI) presented a green chemistry lecture featuring Bruce H. Lipshutz, professor of chemistry at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The Lipshutz lab researches alternatives to organic solvents.

In Jupiter, Scripps Florida Green Team members, researchers and family members spent a warm, humid Saturday morning collecting 15 30-gallon bags of trash and litter along its Adopt-a-Spot cleanup site—a section of road adjacent to the campus. The annual event is coordinated with the Palm Beach County’s Solid Waste Authority’s program to beautify South Florida. For more information on Scripps Florida’s Sustainability Program, go to http://intranet.scripps.edu/florida/ehs/sustainability_committee.html.

Scripps Florida Green Team held its annual Earth Day Spring cleanup, collecting 15 large bags of debris along a road adjacent to the campus.

Sixth Annual Beutler Lecture Scheduled for May 5

The sixth annual Beutler On the Edge of Medicine Lecture will feature Mark M. Davis, the Burt and Marion Avery Family Professor of Immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine, on Tuesday, May 5, from 5 to 6 PM, at The Auditorium at TSRI.

A Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Davis is also director of the Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection at Stanford’s School of Medicine. His extensive work on immunologic specificity led him to the development of tools that have allowed the interrogation of the details of mechanisms involved in the immune response in living humans. “His studies in humans have revealed new aspects of immune responsiveness and their relationship to human disease,” said TSRI Professor Joel Buxbaum, host of the event.

The Beutler lecture was established by the TSRI Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine and sponsored by the Kroc Foundation to honor the legacy of the department’s founding chairman, Professor Ernest Beutler, who believed that laboratory science and clinical medicine were mutually informative. His many seminal discoveries include defining the biochemical basis for many of the hereditary anemias. Beutler identified that only one copy of the X-chromosome encoded gene for G6PD was active in females, thus anticipating the “Lyon Hypothesis.” He was a pioneer in bone marrow transplantation for the treatment of leukemia and a leader in the study of Gaucher's disease, and he developed the drug that has become the standard treatment for hairy cell leukemia.

Velia Fowler, Erica Ollmann Saphire to Speak at Women in Science Meeting

TSRI Professors Velia Fowler and Erica Ollmann Saphire will speak at the 13^th Women in Science and Technology Conference, sponsored by San Diego chapter of the Association for Women in Science, on Saturday, May 9, at the University of California, San Diego Faculty Club.

The one-day symposium, expected to draw 300 attendees, will offer workshops, roundtables and seminars focusing on career and personal development and peer networking.

Fowler will serve on a panel discussion, “Advocating for Yourself,” with Susan Howington, CEO of outplacement firm Power Connections, and Diane West, president of communications training company 2Connect.

Saphire will provide an “Emerging Science” lecture—“Antibodies Against Ebola Virus: The Roadmap and the VIC”—focusing on her work in viral hemorrhagic fever research.

TSRI postdoctoral fellows and graduate students attending the conference may apply for registration fee reimbursement through the Scripps California Society of Fellows program.

Kresge Library to Hold Training in New NIH Biosketch Format

TSRI’s Kresge Library has scheduled training sessions on the new National Institutes of Health (NIH) Biosketch format.

Three hands-on classes will be held in the IT training room in the 3050 building, second floor:

Monday, April 27, 11 AM to 12:30 PM
Tuesday, April 28, 1 to 2 PM
Wednesday May 13, 10 to 11:30 AM.

Two seminar-formatted courses also will be held: Wednesday, May 6, 11 AM to noon, in the Immunology building, 1W; and Monday, May 11, 11 AM to noon, in Molecular and Experimental Medicine building, E1 Podium side.

The new format extends the biosketch length to five pages. Researchers can now describe up to five of their most significant contributions to science with the historical background that framed their research and peer-reviewed publications and other materials—such as audio or visual products, patents, databases and more.

The training sessions, will cover:

Changes in the NIH biosketch format
Use of the TSRI VIVO publications list and My Bibliography for full publication URLs
Creation of a biosketch with Word and/or EndNote or SciENcv.

Class participants should bring a current NIH biosketch, an eRA Commons or MyNCBI login and password, and, if desired, a sample list of publications.

Online registration is available on the TSRI training website. For further details or to request additional training times, contact Angela Murrell, reference librarian, at amurrell@scripps.edu.

CA ScrippsAssists to Volunteer at ‘Paws in the Park’

California ScrippsAssists is recruiting volunteers for the San Diego Humane Society’s (SDHS) “2015 Walk for Animals – Paws in the Park” fundraiser on Saturday, May 9, 6 AM to noon, at NTC Park – Liberty Station in Point Loma. The annual pet-and-owner walk supports SDHS animal welfare services.

The ScrippsAssists team will staff the prize distribution area, collecting donor pledge forms and distributing prizes. Volunteers will receive a complimentary T-shirt to wear at the event, a pancake breakfast and snacks. Family, friends and children over age 16 can volunteer.

For additional information or to volunteer for the ScrippsAssists team, contact project lead Tanya Gresham, senior administrative assistant in the Wong and Yu labs, at gresham@scripps.edu or x4-2433.

To participate in the two-mile walk, visit the SDHS website.

CA Biosafety Committee Meeting Materials Due April 29

The TSRI Institutional Biosafety Committee is scheduled to meet on Wednesday May 13, from 3:30 to 4:30 PM, in the P2 conference room, Building 3301. To receive committee consideration, registration documents must be submitted by Wednesday, April 29 to Environmental Health and Safety via email to rachellv@scripps.edu.

At the Auditorium: San Diego Symphony

The San Diego Symphony’s Chamber Music Series presents pianist and composer Conrad Tao in concert on Tuesday, April 28, 7:30 PM. Tao, with members of the symphony, will perform his own composition Iridescience for iPad and Piano, Michael Gordon’s AC/DC for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano, and Bartok’s Piano Quintet in C Major. Visit the symphony’s website for ticket and program information.

The Auditorium at TSRI is located at 10640 John Jay Hopkins Drive, San Diego 92121.

Send comments to: mikaono[at]scripps.edu

baran
Professor Phil Baran has been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, joining 16 other TSRI faculty members as fellows of the academy.

McKeown
Scripps California Green Team chair Pete Herold (center) presents the 2015 McKeown Award for sustainability leadership to ScrippsAssists representatives Dee Haung (left) and Mishelle McClanahan-Shinn. (Photo by Cindy Brauer)

SSI
The California campus Students for Sustainability Initiative (SSI) marked Earth Day with a green chemistry lecture by Bruce Lipshutz (right), professor of chemistry at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Above, SSI member Aaron Feldman welcomes Lipshutz to the campus. (Photo by Cindy Brauer)

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