lung Cancer Out loud - Moores Cancer Center - UC San Diego

News Briefs
2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry Shared by Moores UCSD Cancer Center Member
Roger Tsien, Ph.D.
A rendering of GFP and
a peptide.
UC San Diego researcher and Moores UCSD Cancer Center
member Roger Tsien, Ph.D., will share the 2008 Nobel Prize
in Chemistry with Osamu Shimomura of the Marine
Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole and Boston University
School of Medicine and Martin Chalfie of Columbia
University in New York. The scientists are being honored for
the discovery of Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) and for their
work to design and create glowing molecules that enter cells
and light up their inner workings.
Tsien, Professor of Pharmacology, Chemistry, and Biochemistry
and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, has
dedicated his career to the development and application of
fluorescent protein probes that enable scientists to monitor
how cells work. He and his collaborators have engineered dyes
that can get inside cells leading to new opportunities to
monitor and image various processes in cells, including tracking
when and where genes are turned on and off. Such fluorescent
proteins have potentially wide-ranging uses in neurobiology
and cancer. Most recently, Tsien has begun to build on this
work to develop a novel way to image and possibly even deliver specially targeted
drugs to cancer tumors, and is trying to translate these approaches to the clinic.
Longboard & Luau Raises Half a Million For Cancer Research
The surf was up at the August 24 “Luau and Longboard Invitational” near the Scripps
Institution of Oceanography pier, in La Jolla where guests, surfing legends, scientists,
business leaders, and cancer patients and survivors came together to celebrate 15 years
of surfin’ for a cure. Thanks to Title Sponsor Pfizer La Jolla and Gold Sponsor
Genentech Oceanside, this year’s event raised more than half a million dollars for
cancer research for the Moores UCSD Cancer Center. In total, the Luau has raised
more than $3 million.
The event highlight was the presentation of the Rell Sunn “Queen of Makaha” Award,
which was established in memory of Sunn, a Hawaiian surfer and longtime Luau and
Longboard Invitational supporter who lost her battle to breast cancer. Each year, the
award is given to an individual for his or her dedication to helping others in the fight
against cancer in ways that
embody the true “aloha” spirit.
This year’s recipient was Doris A.
Howell, M.D., Founder of San
Diego Hospice and namesake of
the palliative and supportive care
service at the Moores Cancer
Center. Howell was recognized
for her selfless devotion to the
care of others, especially those
whose lives have been affected by
cancer.
Surf Legend Rusty Preisendorfer with Title Sponsor, “Team Pfizer.”
4
“Everything is Possible
Celebration”
Seany Foundation Raises Funds
for Ewing’s Sarcoma Research
Amy & Mitch Robins with Dyan & Barry Abrams.
On August 3, the Moores UCSD Cancer
Center lobby and the Ben and Sheri
Kelts Bamboo Court were transformed
into a magical sunflower garden for the
“Everything is Possible Celebration.” Amy
and Mitch Robins, founders of the Seany
Foundation, coordinated and underwrote
this special evening, which included unique
silent and live auction items, including a
private dinner prepared by executive chef
Jeffrey Strauss of Pamplemousse Grill.
The Seany Foundation is named after the
Robins’ beloved son Sean, who lost his
battle to Ewing’s sarcoma in November
2006. The celebration raised more than
$75,000 for the Sean Lewis Robins
Endowed Research Fund at the Moores
Cancer Center. As Mitch said, “This is
what Sean would have wanted.”
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