IN THIS ISSUE:
M aking insulin from adult stem cells
S an Diego consortium for regenerative medicine
E LISA at 35
The Burnham Report Spring 2006 Vol. 3, No. 2
Building of
a legacy
Health
In this issue... Spring 2006 Vol. 3, No. 2
PAGE
CONTENT
President’s Message
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RESEARCH MATTERS
THE BURNHAM REPORT John C. Reed, M.D., Ph.D. President and CEO Karin Eastham Executive Vice President and COO Blair Blum Senior Vice President, External Relations Edgar Gillenwaters Vice President, External Relations Chris Lee Director, External Relations Nancy J. Beddingfield Editor, The Burnham Report www.burnham.org
The Burnham Report is published
four times each year by the Burnham Institute for Medical Research. We welcome your input. Please send comments or requests to info@burnham.org. Thesubscribe BurnhamtoReport available To future is issues of the as a virtual magazine Burnham Report Click at Here.
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Making Insulin from Adult Stem Cells
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ELISA at 35
4 Genetic Difference Linked with Diabetes, Other Autoimmune Diseases
5 Burnham Institute Selected as Joint Center for Molecular Modeling
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San Diego Consortium for Medical Research
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News and Notes
PHILANTHROPY MATTERS
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Shared Vision
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Team Burnham
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Letter from Blair Blum
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Donations – 1st and 2nd quarter, 2006
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Living Treasure
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Burnham Wishlist
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The Legacy Society
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Calendar of Events
www.burnham.org.
10901 North Torrey Pines Road La Jolla, CA 92037
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President’s message We have many reasons to celebrate these days at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research. Earlier this spring, we marked our 10th year as “Burnham.” In 1996, we changed our name from “La Jolla Cancer Research Foundation” to “The Burnham Institute,” recently refined to our current name. Becoming “Burnham” held great significance for us. We were honored to bear the name of the family that had been, and continues to be, steadfast in their support of the Institute. The name change also signified our evolution from cancer research into other disease areas, represented today in three research centers. You can read about Malin Burnham’s thoughts on this 10th Anniversary in “Shared Vision,” published in this issue of The Burnham Report. Our lead story presents a major breakthrough in diabetes research. A collaboration directed by Dr. Fred Levine has transformed adult stem cells into insulin-producing cells. This discovery presents the possibility of designing new treatments based on activating existing cells within the pancreas. It also proves the existence of adult stem cells in the pancreas. In this issue you will also learn about another discovery linked with diabetes. Dr. Tomas Mustelin found that a genetic flaw, a change in a single piece of genetic code, is a marker for type 1 diabetes and is linked with a host of other autoimmune diseases. In this issue, you can learn about Dr. Eva Engvall’s discovery of the ELISA assay 35 years ago and why is it is used more widely today than ever in medical research. Our theme for this issue of The Burnham Report, “Building a Legacy of Health,” ties in with Team Burnham for Medical Research. With Team Burnham, we are relying on people blessed with good health to partner with us next January at the Phoenix Rock n’ Roll Marathon. In the intervening months, Team Burnham members will help us tell the stories of our medical research as they train in preparation for our run for cures. Team Burnham needs you. Please join us! John C. Reed, M.D., Ph.D. President and CEO
www.burnham.org
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Making insulin from adult stem cells
“Our proven ability to transform adult stem cells into insulin-producing cells greatly expands the possibility that beta cell regeneration therapies can be developed for the treatment of diabetes.” Medical researchers collaborating at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research and the Rebecca and John Moores Cancer Center and Department of Pediatrics at the University of California at San Diego recently proved that endocrine progenitor stem cells exist in the adult human pancreas, and they showed that these stem cells can be transformed into insulin-producing cells. This is encouraging news to the 14.6 million Americans who suffer from diabetes. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes are characterized by the loss and dysfunction of insulin-producing cells, also known as beta cells, which reside in the structures called islets. Beta cells comprise less than 2% of the pancreas. In recent years, the success rate for experimental islet transplantation has improved, but it is not widely available as a treatment for diabetes, due to the shortage of islet cells and other complications.
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Drs. Mark Mercola, Pamela Itkin-Ansari, Maria Barcova, Edward Monosov, Fred Levine (front), Bjorn Tyrberg, and Ergeng Hao. (Other collaborators not photographed: Dr. Jonathan Lakey and Ifat Geron) left to right:
Developing new treatments based on beta cell transplantation is the focus of intensive study among medical scientists working on diabetes. In the current study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, researchers were able to screen non-insulin producing adult human pancreatic cells from a part of the pancreas that does not produce insulin. These adult pancreatic cells were marked genetically and mixed with developing pancreatic cells known to be a rich source of endocrine progenitor stem cells and growth factors that induce the progenitor cells’ development into insulin-producing beta cells. The cells were then transplanted into mice, and after three months tissue from the mice was examined. The previously non-insulin producing cells labeled with the genetic marker included insulin-producing beta cells. “We hypothesized that the inductive factors in developing
pancreatic cells might work on cells in the adult pancreas and that turned out to be true,” said Fred Levine, M.D., Ph.D., Adjunct Professor at the Burnham, project director and senior author on this paper. “We have shown, in as rigorous a manner possible, proof-of-concept for the existence of stem cells within the adult human pancreas that can make new insulin-producing cells. Our proven ability to transform these adult stem cells into insulin-producing cells greatly expands the possibility that beta cell regeneration therapies can be developed for the treatment of diabetes.” Dr. Levine will give an update on this project as part of his Burnham Community Lecture, “Stem Cell Therapy for Diabetes: Prospects and Problems,” on August 8th. (See Calendar, this issue for details.) Click here to learn more.
ELISA at
35
It’s been nearly 35 years since Dr. Eva Engvall co-discovered one of the most widely used diagnostic tests in the world, which she named ELISA. Today, you would be hard pressed to find a member within the scientific community who needs to be reminded that ELISA is an acronym for Enzyme Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay. ELISA, a simple test that uses the targeting ability of antibodies to seek and identify proteins, is applied to new fields every year, from detecting pregnancy or the AIDS virus in humans, to identifying diseases in plants and animals. ELISA leverages the inherent function of antibodies, molecules developed by the body’s immune system to attack and destroy foreign proteins in the body. An enzyme, a molecule that facilitates a reaction, is attached to antibodies that bind to a specific target. A chemical is then added to the mix, and if the target-antibody-enzyme complex is present, the mixture changes color. “We had an idea that what we believed would provide a substantial improvement to existing diagnostic testing and have the potential for many applications, but we never imagined ELISA would have
the impact it has had,” said Dr. Eva Engvall, Ph.D., M.D.HC., adjunct Professor at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research. Indeed, ELISA is the assay used most widely to detect or diagnose virus infection, especially infection of blood-borne viruses, including HBV, HCV, HIV, and HTLV, whose sensitivity and practicability have rendered it the most common primary screening assay. ELISA replaced a popular diagnostic test developed in the 1960s known as radio immunoassay (RIA) that was expensive, required sophisticated equipment, and posed health safety concerns for lab personnel and waste disposal. ELISA could be carried out without any special devices, as a home pregnancy test, field tests for malaria and other diseases of developing countries, and in-office medical and veterinary tests. On the other hand, the commercialization of ELISA
Eva Engvall, Ph.D., M.D.HC.
test kits with the help of technical advancements led to rapid automation of diagnostic systems. The automation of ELISA spawned mass pipetting devices, large scale sample readers, and the 96-well microtiter plate. Dr. Engvall’s work on the development of the Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay, ELISA, has been widely acclaimed, including honors from The German Society for Clinical Chemistry, the U.S. Clinical Ligand Assay Society, and in 1995, a special award from the Ed and Mary Shea Family Foundation. Dr. Engvall received an honorary degree in Medicine from the University of Copenhagen in November 1994. Dr. Eva Engvall was recently interviewed about her discovery by National Public Radio’s Chief Science Correspondent, Joe Palca.
Click here to access NPR’s story about ELISA.
www.burnham.org
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Genetic Difference
Linked with Diabetes, Other Autoimmune Diseases
For several years, Dr. Tomas Mustelin, professor, founder and director of the Inflammatory Disease Program at the Burnham, has been studying the function of proteins that act as gatekeepers for the immune system. His laboratory found that a small change in the genetic script of one of these genes, an enzyme called
balance: the T-cells must see enough of a foreign molecule to respond to it with an immune response, without attacking “self.” A key mechanism for T-cells’ showing some restraint against acting on “self” is that they have negative regulators of activation, such as LYP. Small genetic differences are not
“We now have much more insight into how lymphocytes are prevented from mounting an autoimmune response” lymphoid tyrosine phosphatase (LYP), can be an early predictor for type 1 diabetes, in which the immune system attacks insulinproducing cells. Independent studies from other laboratories have confirmed that this same genetic variant of LYP is identified with other autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, Lupus, and Graves’ disease. T- Lymphocytes, white blood cells that fight infection, have a unique receptor that recognizes “antigen”, foreign molecules from bacteria or viruses. The same receptor also recognizes “self,” the body’s own cells. Normally in a virus infection, T-cells recognize foreign molecules in complex with “self” antigens, in a delicate
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unusual and are often passed from person-to-person as mutations of a single gene. It is rare, however, when both copies of a gene are flawed. In the case of LYP, which sits in a location that’s very important for the function of the protein, the mutation pre-empts LYP’s ability to protect against attacks by the immune system. Mustelin confirmed his findings in tissue samples from type 1 diabetics known to suffer immune attacks on their pancreatic cells, in which he found that both copies of the LYP gene are flawed with this mutation. He examined samples from several different populations of diabetic patients and confirmed that this genetic difference is a marker for the disease, which
Graduate student Lucia Musumeci, Nunzio Bottini, PhD., and Tomas Mustelin, M.D., PhD.
usually manifests in childhood. Recently, Mustelin’s group has found that the flawed version of the LYP gene results in too much LYP activation in these autoimmune diseases. They are developing inhibitors for this faulty enzyme, which could be promising leads for new treatments of the many autoimmune diseases rooted in this genetic difference. “We now have much more insight into how lymphocytes are prevented from mounting an autoimmune response,” said Mustelin. “And we have a new candidate gene that behaves by gain of function, which presents an interesting target from a therapeutic point of view.” Dr. Mustelin’s discoveries were published in the journals Nature Immunology and Nature Genetics over a two-year span. Recently, he served as Editor of a special volume of Seminars in Immunology in which he compiled contributions from the world’s experts on the role of signaling molecules in autoimmune and inflammatory disease.
Pavel Pevzner, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego; From Burnham: Piotr Cieplak, Ph.D., Adam Godzik, Ph.D. inset: Yuzhen Ye, Ph.D., Burnham. left to right:
Burnham Institute to Establish
Joint Center for Molecular Modeling New tools will be made available to researchers worldwide through open-source databases and may be applied ultimately in the design of smarter drugs. Dr. Adam Godzik at the Burnham will lead a team of researchers who will design tools to speed up interpretation, and potential use of, information gleaned from the human genome project. Armed with $2.1 Million over the next three years, this consortium, known as the Joint Center for Molecular Modeling, will support scientists collaborating from Burnham and UCSD’s Computer Science and Engineering Departments as they develop innovative software for improving the quality of predictions of three-dimensional protein structures from raw genetic code. These new tools will be made available to researchers worldwide through open-source databases and may be applied ultimately in the design of smarter drugs. Researchers are sequencing millions of genes per year in different genomic projects. The solving of structures for protein products of these genes
proceeds at slower pace: 3,000 to 5,000 per year. Dr. Godzik and co-principal investigators Drs. Pavel Pevzner, Yuzhen Ye and Piotr Cieplak developed novel ways to extract rules and trends of how structures change and evolve using inflammation from already solved protein structures, they predict how, for instance, a human protein would differ from its counterpart in mice or bacteria. “Dr. Godzik brings together an interdisciplinary team with an impressive track record,” said Dr. Jerry Li, Program Director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the National Institutes of Health, which funded the new project. “By developing and using new computational approaches, the group will improve our ability to accurately model the three-dimensional structures of proteins, which are invaluable to functional studies and rational drug design.” www.burnham.org
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San Diego
Consortium for Regenerative
Medicine
Signing the March 17th agreement to establish the San Diego Consortium for Regenerative Medicine are Douglas Bingham, Executive Vice President and COO, The Scripps Research Institute; Richard Murphy, President and CEO, the Salk Institute; Marye Anne Fox, Chancellor, University of California, San Diego; John Reed, President and CEO, Burnham Institute for Medical Research. from left to right:
Four of the Nation’s Preeminent Research Institutions, all based in San Diego, have announced their commitment to join forces in establishing an independent, nonprofit consortium dedicated to stem cell research. On March 17, 2006, the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, The Scripps Research Institute and the University of California, San Diego announced their commitment to join forces in establishing an independent, nonprofit consortium dedicated
to stem cell research to be called the San Diego Consortium for Regenerative Medicine. As a Consortium, the partner institutions will unite in developing programs that build on the extraordinary strengths of the participants, creating a “supercollaboration” in the emerging
field of stem cell research that has the potential to lead to greater understanding of disease, and ultimately to new therapies.
Click here to learn more. http://www.burnham.org/default.asp?contentID=149
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News and Notes New insights into actions of Vitamin A may expand cancer treatment. Dr. Gregg Duester’s laboratory has recently published results in Nature Cell Biology that show a new mechanism for Vitamin A-like molecule retinoic acid. In the paper, they demonstrate that retinoic acid inhibits the actions of fibroblast growth factor (FGF), a protein that stimulates cell division. Already, Burnham scientists (Drs. Marcia Dawson and Xiao-kun Zhang) have contributed a Vitamin A-like (retinoid) drug that is currently used to treat some types of leukemia. Dr. Duester’s findings imply that tumors that depend on FGF for their growth may be sensitive to retinoid therapies, suggesting that retinoid drugs should be tested in patients with such malignancies. New biomarker for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease discovered. In a paper just published in Nature, Dr. Stuart Lipton and colleagues described the mechanism whereby proteins misfold and form abnormal deposits. Protein misfolding is currently thought to be the major contributing factor to neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and Lou
Gherig’s (ALS). Dr. Lipton’s group discovered that an enzyme responsible for normal protein folding is attacked by free radicals in these diseases, thus destroying its normal activity, resulting in aberrant folding of proteins. Detection of the enzyme after attack by free radicals, such as nitric oxide, is a potential biomarker for the disease process, and also may represent a new target for development of therapeutic drugs. First steps against West Nile Virus and Hepatitis C virus. Mosquito-borne West Nile Virus is emerging as a serious disease. In 2005, approximately 2500 cases of serious infections involving fever and meningitis/encephalitis occurred in the USA alone, leading to ~100 deaths in this country. It is also a serious disease of horses, with 100 deaths in California alone in 2005. Drs. Strongin, Godzik, Smith and Liddington have designed inhibitors of a key enzyme made by the virus that is similar to the well-known HIV protease - a target of several AIDS drugs (published in Biochemical Journal). Dr. Liddington’s group has determined the 3-dimensional structure of the enzyme, which could be useful in rational drug design. The insights learned
from this study may also be applied to the design of drugs to treat the related Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). Approximately 2% of the U.S. population is chronically infected with HCV. It causes ~10,000 deaths each year, and accounts for half of the 4,000 liver transplants performed annually in the United States. Since death from HCV-induced liver disease usually occurs 20 or more years after the infection, the HCV death rate is anticipated to triple in the next 15 to 20 years. Dr. Dorit Hanein, Associate Professor, Cancer Center at Burnham, chaired the 3rd International Conference on Structural Analysis of Supramolecular Assemblies by Hybrid Methods held in March at Lake Tahoe. This conference convened specialists in diverse branches of structural biology, drawing primarily from the fields of x-ray crystallography, electron cryomicroscopy, and computational biology.
Click here for more news and notes. http://www.burnham.org/hybridmethods2006/
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PHILANTHROPY
MATTERS
SHARED VISION By Patty Fuller Longevity breeds wisdom. Creativity sparks innovation. Expertise wins results. This is the trademark tagline of Burnham Real Estate Companies, founded in 1891 by Malin Burnham’s grandfather, John Burnham. “I recognized the same entrepreneurial spirit in the La Jolla Cancer Research Foundation, (now known as the Burnham Institute for Medical Research), founded by Dr. William and Lillian Fishman in 1976, and I wanted to help them achieve their dreams,” says Malin. “At the time, I knew little about scientific research and had no emotional tie to cancer, but I realized there was a deep amount of scientific talent at the Institute,” continued Malin. “There are very few opportunities for a lay person to be involved in an organization that would have a positive effect throughout the world, so I
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decided to accept the Fishman’s invitation to join the board in 1982,” says Malin. After 14 years of service, the Burnham Family Foundation decided to make a major gift to the Institute. “It was ten years ago that Dr. Erkki Ruoslahti, former President and CEO of the Institute, asked me to rename the Institute after our family,” remembers Malin. “That request weighed heavily on my mind, since our family was not used to putting its name on public institutions. However, after taking some time to talk to our peers, I was convinced it was the right thing to do.” Over the last ten years, Malin and his family have not only participated in the act of giving to the organization, but the act of working for Burnham, either as a lay person, board member, committee member or volunteer. The impact of their involvement is widespread. Today, the nonprofit organization has grown to nearly
750 people and has an annual operating budget of approximately $90 million, 80% of which is raised through competitive research grants. The scientists are working hard to find cures or new therapies for everything from Alzheimer’s and Arthritis to Cancer and Cardiac Disease. “Who would have known that some day my volunteer work would help save my life?” concluded Malin. “Dr. Eva Engvall, a scientist at Burnham, helped to develop the PSA test that diagnosed my prostate cancer in 2002. Philanthropy has a way of giving back in ways we never imagine.” Malin Burnham and Dr. William H. Fishman Founding President and CEO
“ Leading by example”: President & CEO Dr. John Reed conquers San Diego’s Rock n’ Roll Marathon, June 4, 2006
Team
Burnham The Burnham Institute for Medical Research has officially launched a new effort to raise community awareness of the Institute and at the same time, raise funds to advance research efforts underway at the Burnham: Team Burnham for Medical Research. No racing experience necessary! This race and our team is for ordinary people willing to make an extraordinary commitment. Over the course of five months, we will train members of Team Burnham for Medical Research to complete a marathon or half-marathon on January 14, 2007 as part of the Phoenix, Arizona Rock n’ Roll Marathon. While training for the race, each member of Team Burnham will do
her/his part to conquer disease by raising $3,000 for the innovative research underway at the Burnham. Funds raised will support researchers at the Institute who are studying cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and a whole range of other diseases. Funds can also be designated to support stem cell research at the Institute, medicine’s new frontier which holds potential for a broad variety of diseases, including ALS, diabetes, and diseases of the brain and nervous system. Part of the $3,000 raised will be set aside to cover entry fees, traveling costs to Phoenix, and hotel stay. As a member of Team Burnham, you will be paired with a Burnham “buddy” who will keep you upto-date on the exciting research at the Burnham Institute; you will receive world-class personal coaching with weekly group runs and/or walks through the experienced professionals at West Coast Road Runners; you will receive fundraising support from experienced professionals; and you and
your supporters will be able to track your fundraising progress through your personal website. John C. Reed, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO of the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, was the first person to sign-up for Team Burnham. Dr. Reed, a veteran marathon runner, will lead the charge on January 14th as Team Burnham storms Phoenix! The public launch of Team Burnham for Medical Research will be held on Tuesday, August 1, 2006 at the Burnham’s campus in La Jolla, California. At this celebration all team members will officially begin their training program, receive their schedules, and meet their team of coaches and buddies from the Institute. For more information on how you can join Team Burnham for Medical Research, please contact our Team Manager, Amber Evans at 858-646-3103 or by e-mail at teamburnham@burnham.org. You can also find out more information about Team Burnham and all the work underway at the Institute by visiting www.burnham.org. Team Burnham for Medical Research is geared to both beginners and experienced runners or walkers. The personal coaching you receive will get you up to speed, as you keep pace with research progress at the Institute. It’s a great way to get fit, have fun, run or walk the race of your life, and make a tremendous difference in the fight against disease. Join us!
Click here to learn more or to sign up for Team Burnham.
www.burnham.org
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Letter from
Blair Blum Dear Burnham Institute for Medical Research Friends: We have had a fun and very busy last six months in External Relations, sharing many events with community members as we celebrate the Institute’s 30th anniversary. Through small and large cultivation events, we have raised community awareness about the breadth and depth of our medical research. For example, at our first free community lecture on campus, Dr. Jeff Smith talked about his work developing nanotechnologies that will detect and treat a form of plaque, in blood vessels, known as a silent killer. As far as awareness goes, a recent article in the journal Nature by Dr. Stuart Lipton reports discovery of a chemical reaction that may lead to degenerative brain diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s due to the improper folding of proteins. For those of you who missed the President’s Council event, “The Creative Mind,” please plan to join us next year as we honor all donors at the $1000 level with an interesting seminar that connects science to art, music and inventions. John Reed, M.D., Ph.D., our President and CEO was recently named among the top 10 “Doctors of the Decade” for his work in cellular biology and honored at a lovely party given by Board Chair Nico Nierenberg and his wife Caroline. Anne Evans and her family provided a wonderful evening introducing individuals in the community to the Burnham who are interested in our stem cell work. We had a Burnham scientist at each table discussing our progress and the hope that stem cell research brings to medicine. Additionally, Bob Klein, the architect of Prop 71, was on hand to discuss the progress on releasing the initiative’s funding. Our upcoming gala, “Fire and Ice,” will be the biggest event of the year as we complete the celebration of our 30th anniversary by honoring Roberta and Malin Burnham. Please plan to attend on Saturday evening, October 7th. In this issue, we announce Team Burnham for Medical Research and our Race in Phoenix in January, 2007. I encourage all runners to sign up to help us run for medical research! Our fundraising continues to climb because of you, our valued partners in discovery. Federal and competitive research dollars do not cover 100% of the cost of medical breakthroughs so we must look to the community to contribute 10 cents on every research dollar we receive. Please continue to be generous with your charitable dollars. We need you on our team. Remember, from our research, comes the power to cure! Blair Blum Sr. Vice president, External Relations
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Annual
Gala
Please join us on October 7, 2006 for the Burnham Institute’s Annual Gala, “Fire and Ice”, where we will honor Roberta and Malin Burnham for their continued and generous support. This year the Institute is Celebrating “30 Years of Medical Breakthroughs” and the 10th anniversary of its naming as the Burnham Institute. Each year, funds raised by the Gala through table sponsorships and a live auction are vital to advancing our Save the Date medical research.
donations First and Second Quarters 2006
In the first and second quarters of 2006, the Burnham Institute for Medical Research received 160 generous gifts totaling $1,078,678. We are grateful to the following individuals, foundations, and corporations whose giving supports our medical research at the level of $5,000 or more.
Annual Gala Chaired by Muffy Walker and saturday, october 7, 2006
supported by a stellar honorary committee with Betsy Manchester as Honorary Chair, the gala will be held at the future site of the Manchester Grand Del Mar. For more information or to reserve a table, please contact Jocelyn Wyndham at (858) 795-5216 or jwyndham@ burnham.org.
Individuals Dr. Eileen Adamson and Dr. Dan Mercola Mr. and Mrs. Steve and Lisa Altman Mr. and Mrs. Malin and Roberta Burnham Mr. and Mrs. Howard and Toby Cohen Mr. and Mrs. Robert and Janice Davidson Mr. and Mrs. Greg and Cindy Kozmetsky Mr. Joel Marcus Mr. and Mrs. Jim and Susan Morris Mr. and Mrs. Donald and Tami Tucker Mr. and Mrs. William and Bobbi Warren Ms. Carolyn Wheeler and Family Mr. and Mrs. Albert and Armi Williams Mr. Terrance Lee Zehrer
Foundations Robert M. Golden Foundation Kenneth Jonsson Family Foundation Leon Straus Foundation Corporations MHE Coalition Serologicals Corporation Click here for more information or to donate now.http://www.burnham.org/
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Burnham
Wishlist Living
Treasure
Recently, 85 friends of Lillian Fishman, gathered to pay tribute to Mrs. Fishman at a luncheon hosted by Roberta and Malin Burnham. Congresswoman Susan A. Davis marked the occasion with a proclamation: WHEREAS Lillian Waterman Fishman, together with Dr. William Fishman, in 1976 founded the La Jolla Cancer Research Foundation, known today as the Burnham Institute for Medical Research; and WHEREAS Mrs. Fishman personifies a lifetime of learning and giving that has touched an incalculable number of lives; and WHEREAS she has mentored generations of young scientists who trained with Dr.Fishman in a career that spanned over 40 years; and WHEREAS scores of cancer patients who have benefited from diagnostic tests based on discoveries from the Fishman Laboratory; and WHEREAS, at the age of 91 and with her work unfinished, Mrs. Fishman continues to inspire young scientists in training at the Burnham Institute and continues to create an entrepreneurial environment for scientific freedom; therefore be it RESOLVED BY CONGRESSWOMAN SUSAN A. DAVIS
that on this day, Wednesday, May 31st 2006, Lillian Waterman Fishman is honored as a “living treasure” for her dedication to advancing the frontiers of medical research and her contributions to the health and well being of people around the world.
This month, we are featuring needed equipment for two new shared facilities the Institute is currently establishing. The Functional Genomics Facility allows researchers to assess the function of individual genes in living cells. This facility, described in the previous newsletter, needs equipment for culturing and analyzing human cells. The Medicinal Chemistry Facility provides custom chemical synthesis for investigators engaged in chemical biology and drug development. In addition, this facility will provide analysis of how these chemical compounds are metabolized in animal models – whether they last minutes, hours, or days in the bloodstream. The Medicinal Chemistry Facility helps Burnham investigators bridge the gaps between basic biology research, chemical biology, and the development of promising new therapeutic drugs. Equipment for Functional Genomics Tissue culture incubator
Tissue culture hood $9,000 Microcentrifuge $2,000 Microscope $2,200 Multichanel Pipetter
www.burnham.org
$900
Bar code reader $1,000 Microplate sealer $1,200 Ultracold -80° freezer $7,000 Equipment for Medicinal Chemistry Explosion-proof refrigerator
$2,700
Buchi Rotory Evaporator
$2,900
Parr Hydrogenator
$6,400
Karl Fischer Titrator
$7,000
Precise balance scale
$3,800
IKA Heating Stirrer
$1,000
Chemistry Oven
$1,200
Click here for more information or to donate now.http:// www.burnham.org/default.asp?contentID=149
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$6,000
Legacy
Society Bequests…A Gift for Future Generations If you prefer to defer a charitable gift until after your lifetime, a bequest in your will or living trust is an uncomplicated way to support medical research for future generations. A bequest may take several forms. It can be a specific sum, a percentage of your estate, or the remainder of your estate after expenses and gifts to loved ones. Bequests can include gifts of cash, securities, real estate, and personal property. The donation is exempt from federal estate taxes. If you plan to meet with your attorney to discuss or update your will, let us know. We can provide you with the appropriate language to designate a gift to Burnham Institute for Medical Research in your will. There a several options to consider when you make a charitable bequest. Your gift can be used to build our endowment, support general research, or designated to help find a cure for a disease that has touched your life, whether it is cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, or any of the other diseases we study at the Institute. Bequests may also be given “in memory of” a loved one, and we have many ways to grant appropriate recognition. When you include Burnham Institute for Medical Research in your will or living trust, you and your family are invited to join our Legacy Society. Participants receive special recognition on our donor wall and in our annual report (unless you wish your gift to remain anonymous), and invitations to special events at the Institute. If you would like to receive more information about bequests, contact Patty Fuller at pfuller@burnham.org or by telephone at (858) 795-5231. Click here to learn more about the Burnham’s Legacy Society.
Endow San Diego – A partnership between The Burnham Institute for Medical Research and The San Diego Foundation The Burnham Institute for Medical Research has joined The San Diego Foundation in a nonprofit partnership called “Endow San Diego.” This is a multi-year regional initiative, started by The San Diego Foundation, to increase awareness of the importance of endowments in our community to the charity of one’s choice. “Endow San Diego” gives everyone in our county the chance
to leave money in their estate plans to an organization they are passionate about and one they want to help sustain with a legacy gift. The Burnham Institute for Medical Research has registered its Legacy Program with “Endow San Diego” and hopes you will consider our work worthy of a future gift from your estate. As we look to the future, we need to remember those institutions that have the ability
to make great changes in our lives and in the lives of our families. The Burnham Institute for Medical Research is one of those institutions, so please consider an endowment gift to guarantee the continuation of great medical research.
For more information, contact Patty Fuller at pfuller@burnham.org or by telephone at (858) 795-5231.http://www.
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Calendar of Events Team Burnham for Medical Research August 1, 2006 - 4:00 - 5:00 pm - Join us - kick-off event for Team Burnham for Medical Research Chairmen’s Hall at the Burnham — (See article in this issue of The Burnham Report.)
Burnham Community Lecture Series August 8, 2006 - 7:00 pm - “Stem Cell Therapy for Diabetes: Prospects and Problems” Dr. Fred Levine, Adjunct Professor, Stem Cells and Regeneration Program Fishman Auditorium at the Burnham — (This is a free educational lecture, for the general public. Reservations required.)
VIP Pre-Gala Sponsor Party September 10, 2006 - Exclusive dinner party for 2006 Gala table sponsors To be held at a private home in La Jolla
“Fire and Ice” Gala October 7, 2006 - 6:30 pm - 30th Anniversary bash. Dinner, Dancing, Live Auction. A black-tie event. Manchester Grand Del Mar For more information about these events, please contact Jocelyn Wyndham, (858) 795-5216, jwyndham@burnham.org. Yousubscribe To can subscribe to future to The Burnham issues of The Burnham Report as Report a virtualclick magazine, here. by email to externalrelations@burnham.org
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