• Fred Gage, Ph.D, the Vi and John Adler chair for research on age-related neurodegenerative diseases at the Salk Laboratory of Genetics, recently led a team of researchers to the landmark discovery that genomic stability and mental disorders are connected. His team shed light on how “jumping genes” — restless bits of DNA that are ordinarily forced to stay in place — move freely about the genome, contributing to symptoms of Rett syndrome, a rare neurodevelopmental disease within the autism spectrum. He and his team at Salk Institute for Biological Studies published their findings today, Nov. 18, in the journal Nature. The team’s findings also highlight the complexity of molecular activity that underlies other psychiatric disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. (Photo courtesy of Joe Belcovso, Salk Institute for Biological Studies.) • Francisco Werner, professor and director of the Institute of Marine and Coastal Studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey, will become the new director of the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla next year. The Venezuela native and University of Washington doctoral program alum will continue to focus on the understanding of the marine environment through numerical models at the world-renowned center. As director, he will build on the center’s large-scale monitoring surveys in the California Current, eastern tropical Pacific and southern ocean. He is also expected to oversee the construction of a new laboratory in La Jolla and research vessel scheduled for completion in 2013. Werner will replace Usha Varanasi, director of the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, who will retire this year. • La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology recently selected prominent life sciences executives William Rohn y Rhonda Rhyne to the institute’s board of directors. Rohn, former chief operating officer of Fortune 500 company Biogen IDEC, played a key role in his company’s 1997 launch of RituxanO, the world’s most prescribed treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He has more than 30 years of management experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, including 10 years of executive leadership as president of IDEC Pharmaceuticals and COO of Biogen IDEC. In 2003, Rohn spearheaded the effort that led Biogen IDEC to become the third-largest biotechnology company in the world. Rhyne, former president of cardiovascular medical technology company CardioDynamics, has focused much of her 25 years in health care on improving the lives of patients with heart disease, the leading cause of death, according to the American Heart Association. She led CardioDynamics from a small startup company to a multi-million dollar organization. In 2003, Rhyne won the Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award in medical products, and in 2005 she earned the San Diego Business Journal Women Who Mean Business Award. She serves as chair and CEO of the Association for Innovative Cardiovascular Advancements, serves on the board of directors for Athena San Diego, a nonprofit organization for executive women, and is on the Dean’s Advisory Council for Washington State University’s College of Pharmacy. • The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Extension Scholarship Committee selected Sonali Nigam to receive a UC Alumni “Change the World” scholarship to pursue biotechnology management. Nigam, a 2005 UCSD alumna, works for Genentech Inc., a San Francisco-based biotechnology company that develops and manufactures drugs for treating cancer, asthma and cystic fibrosis. Nigam ultimately hopes to use her scholarship to ensure that everyone who needs treatment drugs can have access to them. She will pursue a joint online certificate program offered by UC San Diego Extension and the University of Washington in biotechnology project management to pursue her goal of creating an organization that enables the transfer of biotechnology processes and products to the developing world. • A collection of photography from La Jolla native Carl Nettleton will be on display throughout the month of November in the window of Nelson’s Photo La Jolla, located at 7720 Fay Ave. On display will be one of Nettleton’s popular California brown pelican photos taken near the cliffs at La Jolla Cove. Nettleton, a La Jolla High School graduate who chaired the school’s 85th anniversary in 2007, took his first photography class during the LJHS summer session years ago. He has been keeping up with the hobby ever since, and enjoys taking coastal photographs of water and marine life, particularly birds. • La Jolla resident Doug Sawyer is leading the United Way of San Diego (UWSD) in its 90th year of operation. The president and CEO of United Way of San Diego County, 28-year veteran of the banking industry and dedicated member of numerous nonprofit boards, has successfully implemented positive change to the San Diego community since the assumption of his position at UWSD in 2005. Under his leadership, UWSD has implemented strategic programs based on the nonprofit’s community impact business model, which concentrates on research and solutions for critical issues facing vulnerable populations in San Diego. Sawyer has been a key agent of change in San Diego in the areas of health, education and income, and he continues to improve the quality of life for San Diegans and create lasting impact on the community.