Daily Business Report/Jan. 4, 2017
Illumina is a global leader in DNA sequencing with products used in oncology, reproductive health, agriculture and other areas. (Credit: Illumina Inc.)
Illumina Hires Top Scientist
For Clinical Genomics Strategy
Illumina, a San Diego-based leader in gene sequencing, announced Tuesday it has hired one of the world’s top clinical genomics experts as part of a strategy to use genetic information in clinical applications.
Garret Hampton, a Genentech executive, will join Illumina as executive vice president of clinical genomics.
“This is a strategically important hire for Illumina,” said Francis deSouza, president and chief executive officer. “Garret has been on the front lines of oncology and brings deep expertise in clinical genomics to the leadership team, key to his new role leading our clinical genomics organization.”
Hampton will be responsible for leading Illumina’s clinical genomics group, including the reproductive and genetic health and oncology businesses, and regulatory, clinical and medical affairs.
Garret holds degrees from Trinity College in Dublin and University College in London.
Illumina is a global leader in DNA sequencing with products used in oncology, reproductive health, agriculture and other areas.
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Qualcomm Launches New Chip for
Super Fast-Charging Android Phones
Qualcomm has finally launched its much-awaited latest chipset, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, which will power smartphones of 2017.
The chipset was created specifically for Android devices and comes with considerable upgrades over existing chipsets in the market. With the launch of Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, one of the trends of 2017 in the smartphone arena is already set.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 was announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The 835 is expected to debut in the next generation of premium smartphones when it ships in the first half of 2017. Its predecessors, the 820/821, were used in smartphones including the Google Pixel, the LG G5 and the Galaxy S7/Edge.
— From web reports
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San Diego State Receives 83,000+
Undergrad Applications for Fall
By Katie White | SDSU NewsCenter
San Diego State University has received more than 83,000 undergraduate applications for the second year in a row. The application period for fall 2017 closed on Nov. 30, 2016 with 83,129 freshman and undergraduate transfer student applications.
Among the fall undergraduate applicants are 59,920 first-time freshmen and 22,755 new transfer students. These numbers are consistent with last year’s applicants when the university received 59,977 first-time freshman and 22,846 transfer applications.
The most popular majors chosen by first-time freshman applicants were biology, nursing, psychology and business.
Current application levels combined with higher graduation and continuation rates have led to SDSU’s ascent in national rankings. SDSU is now ranked No. 74 among public universities and No. 146 overall in U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges, an increase of 37 spots from No. 183 overall in 2011. SDSU was also listed for the first time this year as one of the nation’s best institutions for undergraduate education by the Princeton Review.
Applicants can expect to receive acceptance notifications by March 2017.
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Scientists Take Steps Toward Mapping
How The Brain Stores Memories
A new study led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute sheds light on how the brain stores memories. The research, published recently in the journal eLife, is the first to demonstrate that the same brain region can both motivate a learned behavior and suppress that same behavior.
“We behave the way we do in a specific situation because we have learned an association — a memory — tying an environmental cue to a behavior,” said Nobuyoshi Suto, TSRI Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, who co-led the study with TSRI Professor Friedbert Weiss and Bruce Hope, a principal investigator at the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse. “This study provides causal evidence that one brain region can store different memories.”
Scientists know that our memories are stored in specific areas of the brain, but there has been some debate over whether a single brain region can store memories that control opposing behaviors. For example, can the same region store the meanings of red and green traffic lights — the memories that make a driver stop a car at a red light, then hit the gas pedal at a green light?
Suto’s research focuses specifically on the brain circuits that control motivation. In the new study, he and his colleagues set out to examine how rats learn to press levers to get sugar water — and where they store those motivational memories.
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Scripps Mesa Retail Center Sold for $11 Million
The Scripps Mesa Retail Center at Mira Mesa Boulevard and Interstate 15 has sold for $11 million to the Shah Family Trust. Wisconsin-based Hendricks Commercial Properties was the seller.
Scripps Mesa Retail Center is approximately 25,721 square feet and was renovated in 2015 at a cost of $1.7 million. The center has 18 tenants and recently leased the premises to 100 percent occupancy.
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Scott Drury Begins New
Role as SDG&E President
Scott D. Drury is the new president of San Diego Gas & Electric, succeeding Jeff Martin, who has become executive vice president and chief financial officer at Sempra Energy, the utility’s parent company.
Drury said his role is focused on advancing SDG&E’s efforts in clean, safe and reliable energy. “It’s an exciting time to be in the energy business,” he said. “At SDG&E, we’re inspired by the opportunity to improve the lives of our customers, and the communities where we live and work, by building the cleanest, safest, most reliable energy company in America.
Drury enters the position at a time when SDG&E sees itself as a leader in the race to create the utility of the future. In the last year, the energy company:
- Exceeded California’s aggressive renewable portfolio standards of 33 percent by 2020. In the last twelve months, customers have benefited from the carbon reductions that come with receiving more than 40 percent of their energy from renewable sources.
- Received approval and began construction of the largest battery-based energy storage project in America. The project is expected to be complete in the next month.
Drury has held various leadership roles within the company, most recently, he served as the company’s chief energy supply officer.
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Carl Vinson Strike Group
Bound for Western Pacific
Ships and units from the Carl Vinson Strike Group will depart San Diego for a regularly-scheduled deployment to the Western Pacific on Thursday and Friday.
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson Carrier Air Wing 2, and embarked Destroyer Squadron 1 will deploy with Ticonderoga class guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Michael Murphy and USS Wayne E. Meyer.
Homeported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Michael Murphy will join the Strike
group later this month as it makes its way to the Western Pacific.
The Navy said the Strike Group will leave with 7,500 sailors and will focus on maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts. It will conduct exercises in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region to include anti-submarine warfare, maneuvering drills, gunnery exercises and visit, board, search and seizure subject matter expert exchanges.
Carl Vinson will also embark aviation squadrons.
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UCSD Team a Finalist in Disney
Imaginations Design Competition
Four students from UC San Diego have been selected as one of only six teams of finalists from entries around the country for the Walt Disney Imaginations Design Competition.
The Imaginations Design Competition, now celebrating its 26th year, is designed and sponsored by Walt Disney Imagineering to encourage students to consider careers in creative and technical fields including digital arts, engineering, and architecture. It’s one of the ways that Walt Disney Imagineering searches for the next generation of talented theme park designers.
For this year’s competition, students were given the following challenge: to apply the same design principles used in creating Disney’s famous theme parks, resorts and immersive experience to develop new outdoor spaces within their own college or university that could address the diverse needs of students, faculty and visitors while also providing a respite from the stresses of everyday life.
The UC San Diego students are Terence Tien, Emeline Lee, Allison Masikip, and Julia Soderstjerna. their team designed “Pacific Trove,” a new, rejuvenating outdoor space saluting the famed history and natural icons of La Jolla. Nicknamed “Jewel City” by early Spanish settlers, La Jolla’s legend tells the tale of a powerful jewel, to which the city’s beautiful, natural wonders owe their existence. In this project, the powers of the famed jewel have recently been reawakened, and guests follow the numerous paths to share an experience of rediscovering their relationship with nature, through walking trails, tree slides and zip lines.
The 21 finalists are each awarded a five-day, all-expense-paid trip to Imagineering in Glendale. From Jan. 23-27, they will present their projects to Imagineering executives and take part in an awards ceremony on Jan. 27. Finalists also have the opportunity to meet and network with Imagineers, go behind the scenes where Disney magic is created, and interview for paid internships during their visit.
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Personnel Announcements
Maria Kunac Joins Silvergate Bank
Silvergate Bank has named banking veteran Maria P. Kunac as executive vice president in charge of the bank’s commercial real estate lending group.
Kunac has over 30 years of banking industry experience, most recently as president and chief executive officer of San Diego Private Bank from 2006 to 2015. Her additional 26 years in senior lending roles at other San Diego-based banks represents one of the strongest commercial real estate lending backgrounds in Southern California.
Kunac received a three-year appointment to the Federal Reserve’s 12th District Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council, through which she and other community bank leaders provided opinions and advice to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
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Tim Sayegh and Brandon Jenkins
Join Heaviland Landscape Management
Vista-based Heaviland Landscape Management has hired Tim Sayegh and Brandon Jenkins as regional account managers. The commercial landscape management company services more than 350 properties throughout San Diego County through landscape design, installation, maintenance and resource management.
Sayegh first entered the landscape industry 30 years ago. For more than 12 years, he owned and operated his own landscaping company, designing and installing commercial and residential landscapes, waterfalls, fire pits, lighting and hardscapes. He coordinated with Southern Nevada Water Authority for conversions, smart clocks and water efficiency programs. Sayegh is based at the Vista headquarters.
Jenkins’s passion for the booming landscape industry and beautiful weather brought him to California from Utah where he began his career. He holds a bachelor’s degree in landscape construction from Utah State University, as well as an associate degree in ornamental horticulture. Jenkins is based at the Miramar branch of Heaviland Landscape Management.
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Kathryn Martin and Michael Campbell
Elevated to Partner at Higgs Fletcher & Mack
Higgs Fletcher & Mack has promoted attorneys Kathryn Martin and Michael Campbell to partner. Their advancement brings the organization’s partner total to 46.
Martin joined Higgs Fletcher & Mack in 2005 and specializes in the defense of businesses and individuals in all phases of litigation, including general civil, business, class action, health care, public entity and transportation law in all California state and federal courts. Recently, she successfully defended one of the state’s largest school districts in a three-week jury trial. Martin also represents clients in arbitrations and administrative proceedings.
She graduated from the University of San Diego magna cum laude, with a dual major in political science and communications. Martin was awarded a full academic scholarship to attend California Western School of Law, graduating with honors in 2005.
Campbell’s practice focuses on defending individuals and entities in all forms of litigation. He has represented clients in the state and federal courts, including the California Court of Appeal. Prior to joining Higgs Fletcher & Mack, Campbell practiced in the employment law group at a national firm in San Diego and at a nationally recognized professional liability defense firm in Sacramento, where he represented doctors, nurses, hospitals, medical groups and skilled nursing facilities in both malpractice and employment law matters. He also served as a solicitor in the United Kingdom, where he still holds an active license to practice with one of the country’s most respected trade union defense firms.
