I had the privilege of touring the Sanford-Burnham Institute in La Jolla recently, which for me was fascinating. I know little about science, so the lectures, discussions, and tours we received from professors, scientists and pharmacologists was all new to me.
The Sanford-Burnham Institute was started back in the 1970's by two professors from Tufts who were forced to retire from that instituion but weren't ready to hang it up. So, they started their own institute, and through grants from the National Institute of Health and wealthy philantropists, like Denny Sanford, who donated $50 million in 2006, have developed a world class research center, with locations in La Jolla, Orlando and Santa Barbara. Each location studies different medical conditions. Here in La Jolla the focus is on stem cell research and cancer, in addition to studying orphan diseases.
Orphan diseases are those that affect less than 200,000 anually, and are usually ignored, because it's not cost effective to study diseases that effect so few. However, Dr. Jose Luis Millan has been studying an orphan disease called hypophosphatasia, or soft bone disease for decades. The babies born with this disease usually don't live to celebrate their first birthday, but finally, Dr. Millan has developed a treatment for this condition which as yielded remarkable results. The drug enobia has allowed children with this disease to grow and thrive. Interestingly, drugs that are developed for orphan diseases get to market much sooner than the 13.5 years that most drugs take to get to market.
Our tour allowed us to view a slide presentation by Dr. Millan, visit a stem cell lab and actually see what they were doing, have a Q and A with Dr. Millan, and talk to a pharmacist.
In Orlando, the focus of research is on diabetes and obesity. Another area of research focuses on children's health. The institute ranks among the top four institutions nationally for NIH grant funding. Last year they received $98million from the NIH and a $10million gift from a San Diego philanthropist. The research at the Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics uses robotic systems to screen more than one million compounds a day to find active hits. The Prebys Center is central to Sanford-Burnham's focus on translating basic medical research into new treatments.
I was thrilled to tour and get to know what this fine research facility was doing to enhance medical science. Right in our own backyard research is being carried on that may one day change the world. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to attend this tour, and I thank Lorna for arranging it. Great job.
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