Scintillon News
2024 | See All News
The Scintillon Institute’s SURE Program 2024: Inspiring the Next Generation of Scientists
November 12, 2024 12:00 PM
This summer, the Scintillon Institute wrapped up its highly competitive SURE (SUmmer REsearch) Program, an intensive, four-week research experience designed to spark curiosity and ignite a passion for biomedical research in San Diego's top high school students (and a few college students). The program brought together motivated young minds and paired them with the Institute's world-class researchers, giving students hands-on experience in the labs that are tackling some of the biggest challenges in science, from neuroscience to immunology, virology, metabolism, stem cells, and more.
An experimental Alzheimer’s drug provides new hopes to treat Autism
October 8, 2024 12:00 PM
Critical roles of microRNAs in human health and disease are increasingly becoming clear. The 2024 Nobel prize in medicine, announced earlier this week, was awarded to this remarkable discovery. Adding new insights to this rapidly emerging field, a multi-institutional team led by Scintillon Institute and Scripps Research scientists reveal a key role for these tiny non-coding RNAs in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Using patient derived stem cell models, the team further discovers an aberrant neuronal activity in patient neurons, which the NMDA-receptor blocker Nitrosynapsin could at least partly recue.
A novel hypothalamic circuit and signaling mechanism for control of body temperature
September 5, 2024 12:00 PM
How do warm-blooded organisms maintain core body temperature (CBT) within a narrow range, an essential requirement for survival? It has been established that the preoptic area of the hypothalamus plays an important role in CBT regulation by integrating peripheral thermal information and by sending efferent signals that control thermoregulatory mechanisms like thermogenesis, sweating, shivering etc. The decline in thermoregulation is closely associated with the age-related decline in human health.
Transforming Imaging Measures Aging and Rejuvenation in Individual Cells
August 29, 2024 12:00 PM
A multinational team of scientists has pioneered a groundbreaking approach to measuring biological age with unparalleled single-cell resolution, potentially revolutionizing our approach to aging and age-related diseases.
New faculty members join Scintillon to study healthy aging and neurological diseases
July 12, 2024 08:00 AM
Scintillon Research Institute welcomes three new faculty members who have joined the institute. Our recent recruitment strategically enhances Scintillon’s existing strengths and primary focus on two areas: healthy aging and neurological diseases.
Defining the link between the cerebellum, dopamine and obesity
May 14, 2024 08:00 AM
Associate Professor Albert Chen has received a grant from the NIH/NIDDK to study feeding behavior and the cerebellum, an understudied and underappreciated brain region recently identified to have a potent influence on food intake. In collaboration with Associate Professor J. Nicholas Betley (University of Pennsylvania), this project will examine how the cerebellum interacts with midbrain dopaminergic reward centers and test the hypothesis that this cerebellar network is disrupted during obesity.
Pedersen Lab awarded CDMRP grant from DoD
March 19, 2024 08:30 AM
The Pedersen lab has been awarded a $5M Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs Consortium grant from the Department of Defense (TP230352) titled “The Role of Genetic Risk Factors and Immune Response on NVU Function in post-TBI Cognitive Impairment.”