The Scripps Research Institute

The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) is a medical research facility that focuses on research in the basic biomedical sciences. Primarily located 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.

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History

TSRI's roots can be traced to the Scripps Metabolic Clinic, founded on the current site in 1924, by the noted philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps. In 1952 it evolved into the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation. Initially focusing on the study of immune disorders, 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.

Structure

Located on 35 acres of land between the Torrey Pines State Reserve and the University of California, San Diego, TSRI has departments of cell biology, chemistry, immunology, molecular biology, molecular and experimental medicine, neurobiology, chemical physiology, neurobiology, genetics and molecular and integrative neurosciences. In addition, it incorporates:

• The Skaggs Institute for Chemical biology
• The Pearson Center for Alcoholism and Addiction Research
• The Harold L. Dorris Neurological Research Center
• The Helen L. Dorris Child and Adolescent Neuro-Psychiatric Disorder Institute
• The Institute for Childhood and Neglected Diseases
• The Center for Integrative Molecular Biosciences
• The Kellogg School of Science and Technology

The president of TSRI is Richard Lerner. Among the 293 members of faculty are notable chemists, Kyriacos Costa Nicolaou and Dale L. Boger, as well as Nobel Laureates Gerald Edelman, Kurt Wüthrich and K. Barry Sharpless.

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.

Scripps Florida

TSRI is currently in the process of building a sister facility at the Jupiter campus of Florida Atlantic University in Palm Beach County, Florida. Scripps Florida now operates with approximately 188 scientists, technicians, administrators, and graduate students at a 40,000 square-foot lab facility. Upon completion the institute will operate out of a 364,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art biomedical research facility focusing on basic biomedical science, drug discovery, and technology development.

Currently, Scripps Florida comprises two departments, Biochemistry and Infectology. In addition, it incorporates the Translational Research Institute (TRI), aimed at developing technologies to enhance drug discovery. A Cancer Biology department is due to open in late 2006 and a small graduate program is planned to accommodate 24 students.

Related links

• E.W. Scripps Company
• Edward W. Scripps
• Ellen Browning Scripps