Scripps Research

Not to be confused with Scripps Institution of Oceanography or Scripps College.

The Scripps Research Institute

TSRI's Center for Chemical Sciences
Established	1991 (1991)
President	Michael Marletta
Faculty	265
Staff	3,230
Location	La Jolla, California Jupiter, Florida , USA
Website	www.scripps.edu

The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) is an American medical research facility that focuses on research in the basic biomedical sciences. Headquartered in La Jolla, California, with a sister facility in Jupiter, Florida, the institute is home to 3,000 scientists, technicians, graduate students, and administrative and other staff, making it among the largest private, non-profit biomedical research organizations in the world.

History

TSRI's roots can be traced to the Scripps Metabolic Clinic, founded near the current site in 1924 by the philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps. In 1946 it evolved into the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation. Initially focusing on the study of immune disorders under the leadership of Frank J. Dixon, over the following 25 years the faculty grew and diversified its research interests, precipitating another name change in 1977, to The Research Institute of Scripps Clinic. In 1991 the Scripps Clinic and research division became separate corporations and The Scripps Research Institute was founded. In 1989 TSRI started a graduate program.

Structure

The California campus is located on 35 acres (140,000 m²) of land between the Torrey Pines State Reserve and the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla. In Florida, Scripps occupies 30 acres (120,000 m²) adjacent to the John D. MacArthur campus of Florida Atlantic University in Palm Beach County, Florida. TSRI has departments of cancer biology, cell biology, chemistry, genetics, immunology and microbial science, infectology, molecular biology, molecular and experimental medicine, molecular therapeutics, chemical physiology, neurobiology, molecular and integrative neurosciences, neurobiology of addictive disorders, aging and metabolism, and translational research. In addition, it incorporates:

• The Skaggs Institute for Chemical biology
• The Pearson Center for Alcoholism and Addiction Research
• The Dorris Neuroscience Center
• The Center for Integrative Molecular Biosciences
• The Kellogg School of Science and Technology
• The Worm Institute for Research and Medicine
• The Center for Regenerative Medicine
• The Scripps Energy & Materials Center
• The Translational Research Institute

The current president and chief executive officer of TSRI is Michael Marletta. Marletta recently replaced Richard Lerner who stepped down in 2012, after having led the Institute for 25 years. Among the 265 members of faculty are notable chemists and biologists, including Kyriacos Costa Nicolaou, Roy A. Periana, William R. Roush, Paul Schimmel, Ian Wilson, Dale L. Boger, Charles Weissmann, Peter G. Schultz, John R. Yates, Benjamin Cravatt III, Raymond C. Stevens and Peter Wright as well as Nobel Laureates Gerald Edelman, Kurt Wüthrich, K. Barry Sharpless and Bruce Beutler.

The Scripps Research Institute was noted as a standout in the Science Watch survey of "high-impact" papers in chemistry published between 1997 and 2008, ranked number one worldwide by citations per paper. Another measure of productivity, the Hirsch index (which has been published by Chemistry World), placed seven Scripps Research scientists— Wüthrich, Nicolaou, Sharpless, Richard Lerner, Yates, Schultz, and Chi-Huey Wong—in the top 100 of 2,000 chemists rated. Recently Science Watch placed Sharpless and Valery V. Fokin within Top 10 list of its "Top 100 Chemists 2000-2010" based on citations impact; other faculty in the list were Carlos F. Barbas, M. G. Finn and John R. Yates.

The Scripps Institution of Oceanography is often incorrectly associated with TSRI; it is in fact a nearby research facility that is part of UCSD. TSRI is a private institute not directly associated with UCSD. Confusingly, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography was once called the Scripps Institution for Biological Research.

Kellogg School of Science and Technology

The graduate program at TSRI started in 1989 as the Macromolecular and Cellular Structure and Chemistry (MCSC) Program. The Chemistry Program at Scripps followed three years after the establishment of the MCSC Program. In 2002, TSRI named its graduate program the Kellogg School of Science and Technology in honor of philanthropists Janet R. Kellogg and W. Keith Kellogg II. 2003 saw a redefinition of the Kellogg School curriculum which allowed students to sculpt course loads in myriad interdisciplinary manners. In 2005 TSRI's graduate program expanded to encompass the Jupiter, Florida campus. In addition to its Ph.D. programs, TSRI offers a Master’s Degree in the discipline of Clinical and Translational Investigation (MCTI) for physician-scientists. The institute also administers the Skaggs-Oxford Scholarship program, which allows students to pursue a joint Ph.D./D.Phil. with the University of Oxford.

The most recent graduate school rankings by US News and World Report places TSRI's program as 7th in chemistry (3rd in Organic Chemistry) and 7th in biological sciences.

Scripps Florida

The Florida campus of TSRI operates a 350,000-square-foot (33,000 m²) state-or-the-art biomedical research facility focusing on neuroscience, cancer biology, medicinal chemistry, drug discovery, biotechnology, and alternative energy development. Approximately 430 faculty, staff and students occupy TSRI's Florida campus. TSRI Florida is housed at the Jupiter campus of Florida Atlantic University.

The grand opening of the new facility took place on February 26, 2009, five years after Scripps Florida started operating, with a public ceremony that drew many dignitaries including Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.

Medical schools

TSRI and the Scripps Health hospital network planned to jointly start the Scripps School of Medicine, with its first students entering in 2013. It was to be located on the TSRI San Diego campus and would have been the area's second medical school alongside UCSD's. The school would have offered a curriculum lasting five years focusing on both clinical care and laboratory research. TSRI needed to raise $150 million to start the school. However, the plan has been cancelled.

Separately, Florida Atlantic University has started a new medical school in association with Scripps Florida, ending its relationship with the University of Miami's medical school. The first students entered the new program in fall 2011.

External links

• The Scripps Research Institute
• Scripps Florida
• Scripps introductory video
• Scripps Energy & Materials Center