Scintillon News
A brain network that curbs the urge to eat
November 17, 2021 9:18 AM
Scintillon Institute researchers uncover an evolutionarily conserved brain region that puts a “brake” on food intake which may advance therapeutics for obesity and related disorders with excessive eating such as Prader-Willi syndrome. Do you ever wonder why you stop eating even when there are appealing foods available? The cerebellum compares hunger state with after-eating nutritional status in the gut to regulate dopamine reward signals in the striatum to control meal size.
Scintillon Institute Investigator Awarded NIH R35 Early-Career Grant
August 30, 2021 3:56 PM
Metabolism or the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions defines the very wellbeing of humans. But can we better understand how cellular metabolism goes awry in various human diseases? The National Institute of General Medical Sciences just granted Scintillon’s Dr. Valentin Cracan $2.4 million to find out more! The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) has recognized Dr. Valentin Cracan as one of the nation’s highly talented and promising scientists to receive a Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award for Early-Stage Investigators (R35 MIRA-ESI). This grant provides about $2.4 million over five years to support the ongoing work at the Cracan’s lab that has received a number of NIH grants already since it was established about 3 years ago. We spoke with Valentin as we were interested in his research in the context of his new, special grant.
Does science save lives during this pandemic?
July 21, 2021 10:47 AM
Did science save lives during this pandemic that we are still in? - Are Biomedical and Bioengineering Sciences interesting and important subjects? “Yes!” many of today’s high school students will say that without hesitation. But is science research a field where you want to build a career? Many students may still want to say “Yes…” but maybe blindly. Scintillon Institute, a premium San Diego research institution for nonprofit purposes, has built its now famous Scintillon “SURE” (SUmmer REsearch) program to help top-performing high school students to find out for themselves whether conducting scientific research and becoming a career scientist is for them.
A New Twist in the Tale of Experimental Immunotherapies for Parkinson’s Disease
April 23, 2021 10:11 AM
A new study co-led by Scintillon Institute’s Associate Professor, Dr. Rajesh Ambasudhan, and Adjunct Professor Dr. Stuart Lipton (also a practicing Neurologist at UC San Diego) shows that certain immunotherapy approaches for Parkinson’s disease (PD) may cause harmful neuroinflammation by activating microglia (brain’s immune cells) and that this adverse effect could offset therapeutic benefits elicited by the antibody treatment. The study appeared in the April 13, 2021 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America.
Celebrating Scintillon wins in early 2021
April 15, 2021 10:21 AM