San Diego Biomedical Research Institute

04/07/2026

San Diego BioMed is excited to share its new partnership with , a San Diego philanthropic organization that is dedicated to raising and strategically investing funds in translational cancer research.

Recently, San Diego BioMed principal investigators joined Curebound and other partners for the event, Curebound Connects, where CEO Robin Toft, Chief Science Advisor, Ezra Cohen, MD and Scientific Advisory leaders introduced their strategic plan and vision for the future of cancer research.

Cancer is a complex, multifaceted disease that San Diego BioMed scientists are attacking from multiple fronts. Through this partnership, with aligned goals and complementary strengths, we will enhance innovation, bridge the gap between discovery and treatment, and accelerate the impact of cancer research on patient health and quality of life.

Thank you, Curebound, we are excited for the journey ahead!

03/19/2026

“Autosomal Allelic Inactivation: Variable Replication and Dosage Sensitivity,” is now available as a reviewed preprint in eLife!

In this latest study, the Gilbert lab contributed to a larger effort that explored why some genes are expressed more from one copy of a chromosome than the other.

Typically, you inherit two copies of genes, one from each parent, and both tend to be active to determine hereditary traits. In some cases, however, one copy may be active and the other silent. Based on this, the researchers identified the regions, called Inactivation/Stability Centers (I/SCs), that influence which gene copy is used in a cell and when each copy is duplicated during cell division. The choice of which copy is active appears to be random.

Because different cells may activate different gene copies, tissues can then become a patchwork of cells with slightly different gene activity. While this cellular diversity may be a normal part of development, it can also affect how genetic diseases appear.

If a person carries a harmful mutation in one copy of such a gene, the random silencing of the healthy copy in some cells could reduce the amount of functional gene product below what the body needs. The researchers found that many genes located within these regions are linked to conditions such as Parkinson's disease, Epilepsy, inherited deafness, and intellectual disabilities.

Overall, this work reveals a previously underappreciated layer of gene regulation in the human genome and suggests that random, cell-to-cell differences in gene activity may play an important role in human development and disease.

Congrats to the Gilbert lab and colleagues for their findings and hard work!

Read and learn more @ https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.109938.1

03/18/2026

“Microhomology-mediated end joining acts directly on replication forks to repair single-ended double strand breaks,” is now available online!

When cells divide, they must copy their DNA so that the divided cells each receive a complete set of genetic instructions. During this process, the DNA-copying mechanisms can stall or break under what is called “replication stress,” which is common in cancer cells. These breaks, however, can be repaired so that the cell survives.

In this study, the Gilbert lab contributes to a larger effort as the researchers collaborate to examine that repair process called microhomology-mediated end joining (MMEJ). The researchers found that this repair pathway can act directly at the broken replication fork, working alongside another repair mechanism known as break-induced replication (BIR).

They also discovered that a protein called Polθ helps carry out this repair, while another key DNA damage response protein, ATR, can suppress it and instead promote the BIR pathway.

Importantly, the study found that blocking both ATR and Polθ at the same time strongly kills cancer cells experiencing high replication stress, while having much less effect on normal cells. This suggests a potential new strategy for developing targeted cancer therapies.

Great work by San Diego BioMed’s Gilbert lab and the whole team! We look forward to their continued discoveries!

Read and learn more @ https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.01.15.699632

02/04/2026

Today, San Diego BioMed joins together for World Cancer Day. The World Cancer Day campaign 2025-27 “United by Unique” places people at the center of care and explores new ways of making a difference.

Behind every cancer diagnosis is a unique human story—stories of resilience, grief, hope, and healing. People-centered care means seeing the whole person and meeting their unique needs with compassion and empathy.

Share your story, support those affected, and advocate for people-centered care. Your voice can inspire change!

Among our institute, we understand cancer is a multifaceted disease. To address the complexity of this formidable threat San Diego BioMed scientists are attacking cancer from multiple fronts. From basic research into DNA mutation and replication errors to clinical trials evaluating the effect of muscle weakness on tumor recurrence, our mission is to give every patient a fighting chance.

Our faculty are world renowned for pushing scientific barriers in the sphere of cancer research:
• Dr. James Binley successfully designed stabilized mutant HIV proteins that became the foundation of vaccine research.
• Dr. Joanna Davies has identified several T cell subsets that are associated with muscle strength and mass in cancer patients.
• Dr. Celine DerMardirossian discovered how cells sense and respond to physical changes in the body.
• Dr. Daniel Murin focuses on understanding how antibodies help immune cells kill cancer.
• Dr. Takanori Otomo is studying cellular cleaning mechanisms to fight cancer
• Dr. Greg Seumois is discovering sensitive biomarkers for early cancer detection

01/30/2026

Check out what the San Diego BioMed team has been up to in our triannual newsletter: The Bench and Beyond!

The team ended 2025 on a strong note and continues to carry this momentum in the start of this new year. Thank you to all those who support us!

The latest release (Volume 9, Issue 1) can be found at https://sdbri.org/newsletters/

01/30/2026

Congratulations to Dr. Daniel Murin and the Murin Lab for their recent publication titled, “MINFLUX nanoscopy to study the NK cell immune synapse,” which is accessible as a book chapter in Methods of Cell Biology or on Elsevier.

San Diego BioMed’s Murin lab spotlights novel techniques in the fast-moving environment of biomedical research as it intersects with technological innovation.

Dr. Murin comments: “This work is a culmination of several months of effort to setup new methodology for studying natural killer (NK) cell biology using the cutting-edge technique of MINFLUX nanoscopy. We wanted to be able to see a protein named CD16a, which is responsible for inducing antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), within immune synapses formed by NK cells. We anticipated the need for sub-10 nanometer localization precision to be able to detect individual proteins on the NK cell surface and therefore turned to MINFLUX nanoscopy to perform these studies. MINFLUX is the result of Nobel Prize winning work in super-resolution microscopy that enables scientists to label proteins with fluorophores that blink and then identify those proteins with up to single nanometer localization precision. Before we began this project, there were no protocols for utilizing the MINFLUX in the way required to study NK cell synapse structure. Therefore, Dr. Ross was able to pioneer a new methodology that enabled us to collect high quality single molecule data. The paper we have published as a book chapter in Methods in Cell Biology details this methodology and includes protocols for sample prep, data collection, and data analysis.

This is second paper published by the Murin Lab in less than a year and we are very proud of this accomplishment!”

Read and learn more at https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.mcb.2026.01.021

11/13/2025

San Diego BioMed participates in Global MAP Foundation Youth Med-Surg discovery Program at Brown Simulation Center in Sharp Grossmont:

Scientists from San Diego BioMed's Marcondes lab participated in an amazing initiative coordinated by Dr. Allain Legend Raymond, a cardio thoracic surgeon, and founder the Global MAP Foundation, to provide teens with exposure to medical sciences. The Med-Surg Discovery workshop was geared at kids from 13 to 17 years old and took place last Saturday, November 8th, at the James Brown Simulation Center in Sharp Grossmont. Over 30 teenagers took part in the program, from La Mesa to Chula Vista. They learned how to perform life-saving CPR, examined thoracic anatomy in detail, learned principles of surgery and heart dissection, and had the opportunity to learn about pathology of heart and other organ tissues. San Diego BioMed and the Global MAP Foundation are aligned in the mission of empowering the next generation to learn science, and to giving people of all ages, backgrounds, and walks of life the opportunity to reach their full potential with dignity.

10/20/2025

San Diego BioMed’s Milner Lab has published their most recent findings in renowned journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Congratulations on the tremendous work! This paper expands on their studies of the blood–brain barrier (BBB). The BBB is critical for maintaining brain stability and equilibrium. The deterioration of the BBB naturally with age is an important factor in the onset of disease and particularly vascular dementia.

Building on their finding that hypoxia stimulates receptor αvβ3 integrin induction on brain endothelial cells, the Milner Lab investigates whether αvβ3 integrin exerts a destructive or protective influence on BBB integrity. After careful observations, their discoveries suggest that hypoxic induction of endothelial αvβ3 integrin enhances BBB integrity by stabilizing endothelial adhesion. This raises the interesting possibility that pharmacological upregulation of endothelial αvβ3 integrin in the aged brain might hold therapeutic promise for vascular dementia.

Read and learn more at: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2510931122

09/08/2025

The team at San Diego BioMed invites you to read the latest issue of our triannual newsletter: The Bench and Beyond!

https://sdbri.org/newsletters/

08/25/2025

“Cannabis Use Moderates Methamphetamine- and HIV-Related Inflammation: Evidence from Human Plasma Markers,” MDPI

HIV continues to be a public health issue and an incurable chronic infection, despite the availability of antiretrovirals to change the fate from a fatal immunodeficiency. Yet, persons living with HIV (PWH) have a high incidence of co-morbid disorders that result from chronic inflammation, including neurological disorders. Importantly, HIV infection rates remain high among populations that use addictive substances, especially stimulants such as Methamphetamine (M**H). M**H further increases risk for cardio- and neurovascular pathology aggravating the effects of HIV. Importantly, M**H users also use other drugs, being cannabis among the most common. Yet, little is known about how M**H and cannabis interact with HIV to modify disease outcomes that can be tracked with biomarkers.

At San Diego BioMed, the Marcondes lab and the UCSD HNRC and Department of Psychiatry joined forces to examined potentially interacting associations of lifetime methamphetamine use disorder (MUD), recent cannabis use, and HIV with four plasma markers of immune and inflammatory functions. They applied statistical methods to data on plasma concentrations of four biomarkers that are reporters of leukocyte transmigration and vascular health, linked to neurocognitive disorders in PWH that are polysubstance users, CXCL10/IP-10, CCL2/MCP-1, ICAM-1, and VCAM-1. The study revealed that recent cannabis use was associated with lower levels of these biomarkers among PWH with lifetime M**H use disorder, but only persons without HIV displayed cannabis-associated lower VCAM-1 levels, indicating protective effects in vascular health. The results suggested that cannabinoid pathways may be worthwhile clinical targets for treating sequelae of chronic inflammatory conditions such as the ones caused by HIV and M**H use disorders. The Marcondes lab is invested in basic and translational science that will help populations of substance users to decrease rates of HIV infection and reverse the damaging effects of M**H use. This is a real teamwork. And congratulations to the first author of the study, from SDSU/UCSD joint doctoral program, Dr. Jeffrey Rogers.

Read and learn more at https://doi.org/10.3390/v17081143

08/07/2025