Featured Events: The Science of... Decadence
Written by Cindy Buchner, SDSF Newsletter Editor

Three upcoming events delve into the science of the delicacies we devour. These are the only festival programs for which a donation is requested, but in exchange you are treated to a tasting of the delicacy.  Spaces going fast!

Heard the news? Red wine has anti-aging properties. Learn about the science of taste perception, while sipping several carefully chosen vintages at The Science of Wine sponsored by Alexandria Real Estate and Equities, Inc.

Sample beers and nibble on light appetizers at Rock Bottom Brewery as you hear about the ways that the same yeast used to make your favorite beer is helping to find the cure for cancer. The Science of Beer.

Learn about ancient beliefs and recent scientific discoveries about the benefits of the chocolate while tasting delights generously provided by Chuao Chocolatier, San Diego's premier artisan chocolate maker, during The Science of Chocolate.

Meet the Scientist: Nobel Prize Winner Roger Guillemin
Written by Jennifer Rust, Staff Writer mySDScience.com

Roger Guillemin won the Nobel Prize in Physiology in 1977 for being the first to discover hormones that the brain uses to regulate a variety of processes. Born in France in 1924, Guillemin entered medical school in 1943. As a physician he was drawn to research. In 1969, he moved his laboratory from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas to the Salk Institute, where he has enjoyed a long and distinguished career. He is currently the Interim President of the Salk Institute.
As part of the San Diego Science Festival, Dr. Guillemin will participate in the Lunch with a Laureate program in which high school students are able to have an informal brown bag lunch with local Nobel winners.

Q: It seems like you were always drawn to research, even while practicing medicine, what was it about research that you found compelling?
A: I’ve always been puzzled by what was not obvious to me; what I didn’t know. There are two ways of knowing something: listening to those who teach knowledge or actually digging into the unknown and trying to find out an answer for yourself.
Also, maybe I was not generous enough to remain as a physician. As a physician, your life is run by the needs of others. That requires a great deal of generosity and devotion and maybe I was not that good.

Q: What do you hope to impart to students who participate in the Lunch with a Laureate program during the San Diego Science Festival?
A: It’s a difficult question to answer, but one thing that I can tell young people: there’s no such thing as a dumb question, only dumb people. If you ask a question it is because you don’t know the answer, so don’t ever hesitate to ask whoever is next to you a question to which you wish to have an answer.

Q: If you had chosen another field what would it be and why?
A: That would have been engineering. I’ve always been interested in doing stuff with my hands. In fact, for many years in my office at the Salk Institute, I had a standing piece of art made of papier-mâché in the form of a hand. Visitors would ask what it meant and I would tell them that the hand is just as important as the brain. It is close anyway, for the sort of things we do in the laboratory.
Engineering is incredible, and I hesitated for some time when I was young. Would I go to medical school or engineering school? Eventually medical school prevailed.

Q: What is the best personality trait for a scientist?
A: Curiosity, of course. Absolute intellectual honesty, you cannot do meaningful science if you cheat. It’s absolutely out of the question.

Q: Is cheating a problem that’s common in the field?
A: No, thank God it’s very rare. But there have been some people who did cheat, and they were smart enough to cheat in an acute subject, and it looked as if they had revolutionized the way of thinking in various fields. When it was recognized that their work didn’t jibe, they were confronted in such ways that they had to admit that they had cheated. But that’s rare because people in science by definition want to know the truth.

Q: I got the impression from your biography on the Salk website you’re very involved in art. Is this the case?
A: Well, yes and no. Everybody should be involved in art in one way or another. My genuine involvement started in the laboratory here at the Salk Institute. We had been very advanced in my lab with computers. In fact, we published years and years ago some of the first computer programs for statistical studies. We started making all sorts of graphs for our research.
It occurred to me that we could do a little better than graphs. I was one of the very first people to ever use this simple software to do drawings, small paintings, long before the printers that we have now were available. The only way that I could actually see those images in print was to use photography. I have in another office of mine here at the Institute some of these computer paintings.
Later on, when the software improved, I started painting for real and I started printing those [referring to large paintings on his walls] on big printers. Now we can print those on canvas. Anybody with a laptop can now do this sort of thing. And I actually really enjoyed doing it. I’ve not done much for the last couple of years because I’ve been so busy with the Presidency of the Salk Institute, but I had several shows of my computer paintings.

Q: It is often said that you pioneered the field of neuroendocrinology. How do you feel when you hear that?
A: Well, I’m delighted to hear it, but I immediately say, “you know I was not all alone.” I was not all by myself. There were some younger people. Some were my students to start with, now they are my distinguished colleagues. This sort of science is made by groups of people.
Practically every single molecule that was characterized in my laboratory, first at Baylor and then at the Salk Institute, is a major target for the mitigation of cancer of the prostate, problems of infertility, cancer of the pituitary, all sorts of things. It’s always wonderful to see that. I never took patents on any of these molecules because knowledge belongs to everybody and as a physician you’re supposed to help people.

Q: What brought you to the Salk Institute?
A: Jonas Salk did. We were perfectly happy in Houston, but when he invited me, and when I saw this building, I said “Gee, that’s where I want to end my days,” so to speak. This was in 1969 and with no hesitation I told Jonas absolutely. The whole group who was with me in Houston moved from Texas, and some of them are still here working at the Salk Institute.

Q: Your Nobel Prize winning work required the use of sheep brain, a lot of sheep brain. Can you tell me what this work was like?
A: Thinking back about it almost 50 years later, I am still amazed that I had the consistency and the persistence to do it. We manipulated in my lab over 50 tons of sheep brain. Actually, several labs in the world tried to isolate these brain hormones and they gave up because it was just too much.
We chose sheep because the sheep skull is such that we can remove the brain without damaging the part called the hypothalamus, which if you deal with brain from cows, or other animals, they have a structure which damages the tissue during removal.
I went to every major slaughterhouse in West Texas, Northern Colorado and New Mexico, and I showed the local veterinarians on the staff exactly what I wanted and how to do it. Then I would pass a contract with the owner of the slaughterhouse. None of this was cheap. These were not cheap sheep.
It had to be so many because we suspected, and proved later, that these molecules we were looking for, which exist in the brains of all of us, are present in incredibly small quantities. Also, the methods that were available in those days to purify these molecules, called peptides, were very primitive. Eventually, out of I don’t know how many million brains, we isolated a tiny amount of the first of the molecules. This was the molecule that controls the thyroid.
That’s why we had to have so many. We later isolated the endorphins. By then it was like kid stuff. It took me less than a couple of months to get the structures. The methodology had improved, but at the very beginning it was very difficult.

Q: What are the benefits of participating in a program like the Lunch with a Laureate program?
A: Being with younger people, students in an academic environment, is wonderful in terms of the stimulation it gives to acquire new knowledge.

Q: What advice would you give to a young scientist?
A: Well that is a difficult question because, number one, the approaches to scientific discoveries have changed several hundred percent over what the methodologies were in my days. The isolation, the recognition of the structure, of DNA by Jim Watson and Francis Crick revolutionized the ways of thinking and the approaches in biology.
With the methodology nowadays it looks to me as if there is no question that cannot be answered.

Sponsor Spotlight: Illumina
Written by Jennifer Rust, Staff Writer mySDScience.com

Illumina, the fastest growing technology company in the United States, is helping to make the 2009 San Diego Science Festival exciting, and informative, by illuminating everything from careers to genes.

Illumina has been the leader in genetic analysis technology for the past decade, developing the tools that make it possible for researchers to investigate questions once thought unanswerable. Why did the Tasmanian Tiger go extinct? Why does one kind of cancer act so differently from another? Where did humans come from? Illumina creates technologies that allow researchers to explore these phenomena, and soon it will offer the public a chance to use cutting edge innovations to better understand themselves and their health. Illumina has recently added a diagnostics branch to their company.

Not surprisingly, this innovation has resulted in rapid growth of the San Diego based company. Since 1998 Illumina has grown to more than 1600 employees worldwide with commercial sites in the US, Europe, Asia, and Australia. This growth is one of the driving forces behind Illumina’s sponsorship of the Festival.

“The San Diego Science Festival provides us with an opportunity to get young minds inspired about life sciences as well as to introduce the San Diego community to Illumina. We are a rapidly growing company and we want people to know that we’re here, to come and talk to us and see us as a potential employer,” says Joel McComb, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Life Sciences Unit.

While the Science Festival will allow tomorrow’s scientists to get to know the best biotech companies in San Diego, like Illumina, it will also provide these companies with a chance to show the general public what they can do. Illumina’s goal is to help people understand themselves better by understanding their genes and DNA, which is right in line with the Festival’s theme this year: The Science of You.

To do this Illumina has partnered with 23andMe to bring genotyping to the people. Their booth at the Festival’s Expo Day on April 4th will give participants a chance to learn a little more about their own genes. “We’re going to have an interactive area where people can find out if they have hard or soft ear wax, or why they pucker their lips when biting into a lemon wedge. At the booth people can find out how their genome helps make them who they are in a way that isn’t intimidating,” says Maurissa Bornstein, Public Relations Manager at Illumina.

Illumina’s booth is sure to be informative in more way than one. This growing, innovative company will give everyone a chance to learn about the science going on in San Diego and the science going on in their own bodies.

Expo Update: Volunteers Needed!

We are looking for energetic, enthusiastic people to help staff our Science Expo on April 4th at Balboa Park.  Volunteers will help us staff information booths, hand out maps, answer questions and help our many collaborators throughout the day.  In return, volunteers will be given a Festival t-shirt and our undying gratitude!  If you are interested in helping out, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Expo Day Countdown...  33 days until Expo Day!!!

About SDSF: The largest celebration of science on the West Coast has hundreds of programs for students, families, and adults across San Diego in the month of March through Expo Day on April 4th.

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Tech Trends: Spaces are going quickly. Sign up today for insight from Microsoft's Academic Evangelist about technology and careers including hands- on demonstrations of latest technology including Silverlight, CSI Photosynth, Xbox and Mobile phones on March 6th, 9:00 - 11:30.