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  How do you feel? Molecules that sense touch and other pressures

  The inner workings of the brain have eluded neuroscientists for ages—including how we perceive sensations such as touch, pain, sound and even blood flow. In this Front Row lecture, Scripps Research professor and Nobel laureate Ardem Patapoutian discussed the molecular sensors that enable the mind to interpret different physical and chemical stimuli. These discoveries—for which Patapoutian was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine—are helping answer long-standing questions in neuroscience, such as how cells communicate with each other, how we sense our body in time and space, how these sensors impact different diseases and more.

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  Skaggs Biomedical Research Symposium at Scripps Research

  Students, faculty, and leadership from seven institutions across the west came together at Scripps Research for the 2024 Skaggs Biomedical Research Symposium—a celebration of life-changing innovations originating from our labs. Throughout three days of oral presentations, poster sessions and networking, participants shared and explored the groundbreaking science made possible by the generosity of the Skaggs family.

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  How donations empower future scientists | The Skaggs family’s impact

  Why are donations important in empowering the future leaders of science? As a nonprofit organization, Scripps Research relies on generous contributions from individuals, foundations and corporations to support our many biomedical research and educational programs, including our top-10 ranked doctoral program. The most impactful and enduring of these contributions came from the Skaggs family, who have a long and storied history of supporting nonprofit biomedical research and education programs across the western United States. In 2018, Scripps Research announced that the Skaggs family made a lead gift through The ALSAM Foundation toward the institute’s $100 million campaign to establish endowed fellowships for students in its Graduate Program. In honor of this gift, the program was renamed the Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Sciences.

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  Delivering medicines for a global population

  Infectious diseases like tuberculosis and malaria pose an ever-increasing risk to communities around the world. Meanwhile, a lack of investment, long treatment protocols and drug resistance have stymied innovation in this area. In this Front Row lecture, Vice President of Medicinal Chemistry Arnab Chatterjee discussed how the Calibr-Skaggs Institute of Innovative Medicines—the drug discovery and development arm of Scripps Research—is using innovative new approaches and technologies to overcome these historic barriers. His work at the Calibr-Skaggs Institute is helping accelerate the delivery of safe, effective and accessible medicines to countries spanning the globe.

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  Regenerating tissues to treat disease

  Regenerative medicine involves harnessing the body’s own capacity to repair tissues and organs. In this Front Row lecture, Associate Professor Michael Bollong shared how he's identifying and targeting the pathways controlling regeneration. By combining traditional drug discovery tools with modern biological techniques, Bollong and his lab are developing novel medicines that can intervene in the processes that cause a spectrum of human diseases and medical conditions, including heart disease, inflammatory disease and fibrosis.

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  Fixing the misfolded proteins that cause dementia and heart failure

  All proteins have a correct way of “folding” themselves into their 3D structures. When this folding process goes awry, including processes leading to protein misassembly, a number of devastating diseases can result. In this Front Row lecture, Scripps Research professor Jeffery Kelly shared how he's developing novel therapeutic strategies to target these protein misfolding diseases, which lead to deterioration of the heart and brain. His multi-disciplinary research has already led to the development of an FDA-approved drug available in the pharmacy called tafamidis (Vyndaqel® and Vyndamax®): a medicine that slows the progression of the neurodegenerative disease familial amyloid polyneuropathy and the degenerative heart disease called TTR cardiomyopathy.

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  Front Row spotlight with Jeffery Kelly

  Scripps Research professor Jeffery Kelly received an unexpected visit from a patient whose life was dramatically improved by tafamidis—a revolutionary drug for treating neurodegenerative and heart diseases, developed by Kelly himself. Kelly is a leading figure at Scripps Research, spearheading efforts to address some of the most pressing medical challenges, including Alzheimer’s and various amyloid diseases. His cutting-edge research on protein misfolding has not only led to the development of tafamidis but has also broadened our understanding of protein aggregation disorders.

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  Bringing precision therapy to mental disorders

  Mental disorders like depression and schizophrenia affect the lives of millions of people around the world, and yet, available treatment options have remained the same for decades. In this Front Row lecture, Scripps Research professor Hugh Rosen shared how his pioneering research has led to the development of the drug navacaprant, which precisely targets one of the brain’s behavioral circuits and is currently in clinical testing for major depressive disorder. Harnessing his expertise as a physician-scientist, Rosen has discovered and developed multiple other medicines, including ozanimod—a breakthrough treatment approved for multiple sclerosis and ulcerative colitis.

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  Scripps Research Day highlights

  On February 15, 2024, Scripps Research celebrated its 100-year anniversary with “Scripps Research Day,” as declared by the City of San Diego. The event marked a century of life-saving discoveries, while also looking toward the future of scientific achievement. Scripps Research President and CEO Pete Schultz and San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria gave remarks and shared the official city proclamation with Institute staff, scientists and students. Attendees enjoyed a photo booth, music, food, games and a historic archives booth presented by Scripps Research Library.

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  How experiences shape the developing brain and impact neurological diseases

  As we age, learn and grow over our lifetimes, the brain continually responds and adapts to what we experience. In this Front Row lecture, Scripps Research Chair of the Department of Neuroscience Hollis Cline revealed how sensory experiences shape the brain during development and aging—particularly visual experiences. Cline’s work has been critical in revealing how key visual brain circuits become disrupted in neurodevelopmental disorders, as well as in mapping the different communication pathways between neurons.