Scripps Translational Science Institute

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Research Facilities & Resources

This aerial view illustrates the close proximity of (l-r) The Scripps Research Institute, Scripps Translational Science Institute and Scripps Health on N. Torrey Pines Road in La Jolla. Located within walking distance are several other research institutes and biotech and pharmaceutical R&D facilities.

The Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI) is headquartered in the heart of the San Diego biotech research community in La Jolla between The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and Scripps Health. Located within easy walking distance of STSI’s 14,500 square foot headquarters are biotech and pharmaceutical companies as well as academic research institutes, including the new West Wireless Health Institute.

STSI’s 4,500 square foot molecular and experimental medicine laboratory is equipped for sample collection, DNA isolation, high-throughput genotyping (Sequenom MassArray) and sequencing (Illumina GAIIx, Illumina Hiseq and Life Technologies SOLiD).

Other research facilities and resources available to researchers at STSI participating institutions are described below.

Scripps Health:

Providing a level of community access and dissemination for clinical research that is seldom encountered in large university health systems and rarely in private hospital systems, Scripps Health operates four acute-care hospitals on five campuses, 20 outpatient care centers, and a home health service in San Diego. In addition, Scripps Health’s primary care, family practice and adult specialty practice networks incorporate UC San Diego and U.S. Navy graduate medical education residency and fellowship trainees in providing medical care to adults and children of all racial backgrounds and socioeconomic statuses.

Through partnerships with Rady Children’s Hospital and San Diego State University’s Schools of Public Health, Nursing, Social Work, and Social Science, Scripps Health can facilitate participation by large numbers of demographically diverse subjects in translational and clinical research and training new investigators in socially responsible, community-disseminated research.

Through a strong linking of academic investigators with a more integrated community model of health care in the greater San Diego County, Scripps Health has an obvious advantage in assessing general clinical applications of new translational initiatives, bringing research coupled with tertiary and secondary level medical care into primary care “grassroots” clinical venues.

For more information: http://www.scripps.org

The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI):

At TSRI, investigators have full access to cutting-edge resources, some of which are not available at many biomedical research institutes. A prime example is TSRI’s synchrotron, which can facilitate the structural biology, proteomics and structure based drug discovery programs that are an integral part of the STSI blueprint.

TSRI is one of the nine institutions selected for the Molecular Libraries Screening Centers Network (MLSCN) that was established by NIH as part of its “Roadmap Initiative” to discover small molecule tools to translate basic biomedical discoveries into medically relevant applications. As a MLSCN center, TSRI conducts high throughput screens against various biological targets to uncover “proof-of-concept” molecules useful in studying human health and in developing new treatments for human diseases.

TSRI’s La Jolla campus includes over 1 million square feet of laboratory space and has one of the world’s leading private computational facilities with an array of computers, including LINUX high-performance computing clusters. Research is further supported by X-ray crystallography laboratories, high performance NMR spectrometry, electron microscopy, optical spectroscopy, a DNA sequencing laboratory and a fluorescence activated cell sorting facility.

For more information: http://www.scripps.edu

West Wireless Health Institute:

Founded in 2009, the Gary & Mary West Wireless Health Institute (WWHI) combines the individualized biologic approach of STSI’s core genomic programs with a physiologic tracking capability made possible with wireless sensors and wireless image (particularly ultrasound) acquisition and transfer. WWHI is one of the first medical research organizations in the world that supports the exploration and application of wireless technologies to advance human health and well-being. At WWHI, engineers and postdoctoral fellows are developing sensors for unmet medical needs.