Daily Business Report: June 12, 2023
Ted and Jean Scripps Marine
Conservation and Technology
Facility opens at Scripps Oceanography
By Lauren Fimbres Wood | UC San Diego
The ocean is facing myriad threats including stressors to ecosystems from a changing climate, overfishing, pollution, and more. Finding solutions to mitigate or adapt to these changes will require interdisciplinary research and education—and a place to house this collaborative and cutting-edge science.
Enter the Ted and Jean Scripps Marine Conservation and Technology Facility at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Perched upon a hillside with sweeping ocean views, this newly opened facility will facilitate future discoveries and train the next generation of scientists.
Located on the north entrance to Scripps Oceanography, the 40,410-gross-square-foot facility will be the primary location of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation
at Scripps. The center employs an interdisciplinary approach to education of future leaders in marine stewardship, and to research to understand and maintain the integrity of ocean ecosystems in the face of rapid climate change.
A 100-seat lecture hall, and two state-of-the-art class laboratories, supplied with temperature-controlled seawater, will provide high-level undergraduate courses on marine biology, biological oceanography, marine ecosystems and their functioning. These instruction spaces are essential to accommodate the university’s growing enrollment in marine biology, environmental, and conservation coursework.
The newly opened Ted and Jean Scripps Marine Conservation and Technology Facility at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. (Credit: Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego)
Illumina CEO Francis DeSouza resigns
in aftermath of Carl Icahn proxy fight
By Chris Jennewein | Times of San Diego
Illumina CEO Francis DeSouza, who survived a proxy challenge from corporate raider Carl Icahn, has resigned from the San Diego genetic sequencing pioneer effective Sunday.
In an unusual Sunday morning announcement, the company’s board said it had accepted DeSouza’s resignation and appointed vice president and General Counsel Charles Dadswell as interim CEO.
“We thank Francis for his contributions and leadership, and are very excited about embarking on the next chapter of Illumina’s great journey,” said Chairman Stephen P. MacMillan.
“Illumina’s technology remains at the forefront of DNA sequencing and has continued to set the pace for the industry,” MacMillan said. “We are confident Illumina can continue to execute on its goals while we conduct and complete a CEO search process.”
DeSouza survived the challenge to his board seat last month by securing more than twice the number of shareholder votes that Icahn’s candidate received.
Veronica Zerrer appointed
to California Veterans Board
Veronica Zerrer, of San Diego, has been appointed to the California Veterans Board by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Zerrer has been a full-time author since 2020. She was owner of the Scolding Cat Bookstore from 2007 to 2013.
Zerrer was an opinion editor at Dot Magazine from 2005 to 2007 and a contributing Writer at Orange County Blade Magazine from 2003 to 2005. She was director of development at The Center Orange County from 2001 to 2003.
Zerrer served as a plans and operations officer in the U.S. Army, 1st Infantry Division from 1984 to 1989.
She served in several roles with the 35th Infantry Division between 1989 and 1998, including as scout platoon leader, communications officer and company commander. Zerrer was a cryptologic technician in the U.S. Navy from 1976 to 1980.
She is a co-chair of the San Diego LGBT Center’s Benjamin F. Dillingham, III and Bridget Wilson Veterans Wall of Honor Advisory Council and President of the Neutral Corner Center.
The position requires Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Zerrer is a Democrat.
Mayor endorses ordinance
banning homeless encampments
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria is backing an ordinance banning homeless encampments in most public places that the City Council is scheduled to vote on it on Tuesday. As proposed, the new Unsafe Camping Ordinance would ban tent encampments in all public spaces “if” a shelter bed is available. It also would bar encampments at all times in certain sensitive areas including parks, canyons, and waterways, as well as near schools and homeless shelters, and at transit stations regardless of shelter capacity.
Salton Sea may be staving off
earthquakes as it disappears
By Alex Fox
New research led by scientists at San Diego State University (SDSU) in collaboration with UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography finds that as the Salton Sea in Southern California has dried up, it has stabilized the southern section of the San Andreas Fault, perhaps delaying the next “big one.”
This section of the fault poses the largest seismic hazard in all of California because of the damage a significant earthquake could cause to the populous Los Angeles metropolitan area.
The paper, published on June 7, 2023 in the journal Nature, shows that for the last 1,000 years major earthquakes emanating from the southern San Andreas Fault have coincided with periods when the basin that holds the Salton Sea filled with water to form the prehistoric Lake Cahuilla – a body of water with 40 times the volume of the present-day Salton Sea.
The researchers investigated this relationship with computer modeling and found that when the Salton Sea basin filled, Lake Cahuilla’s weight bent the surrounding crust and its water penetrated deep underground, each of which altered the forces acting on the fault in ways that could help trigger a massive rupture and severe shaking.
Salk Institute mourns the loss of Francoise Gilot
Françoise Gilot, artist, best-selling author, and wife of the late Salk Institute founder and vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk, died on June 6 at a hospital in Manhattan at the age of 101.
Gilot was well known for her fascination with architecture and a lifelong interest in science. Her love of architecture led Gilot to visit the Institute’s campus in 1969, where Jonas Salk personally led her tour. They were married in 1970 and remained wed until Salk’s death in 1995.
TuSimple among first to receive fully
driverless test license in China
SAN DIEGO — TuSimple Holdings Inc., a San Diego autonomous driving technology company, has been awarded a fully driverless test license by the Pudong New Area of Shanghai in China. TuSimple is among the first batch of companies to be awarded, thus enabling the company to conduct SAE Level 4 fully autonomous Driver Out testing in the designated test areas of Yangshan Deep-water Port and Donghai Bridge. Shanghai is also set to become the first city in China to pass legislation to allow Level 4 fully driverless testing of autonomous trucks.
Neurocrine Biosciences to present at
Goldman Sachs health care conference
SAN DIEGO — Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. will present at the Goldman Sachs 44th Annual Global Healthcare Conference on Thursday, June 15, 2023 at 8 a.m. in Dana Point. CEO Kevin Gorman and CFO Matt Abernethy will present at the conference. The live presentation will be webcast and may be accessed on Neurocrine Biosciences’ website under Investors at www.neurocrine.com. A replay of the webcast will be available on the website one hour after the conclusion of the event and will be archived for approximately one month.
Mapp adds several new updates
to its core product Mapp Cloud
SAN DIEGO — Mapp announces the addition of several new updates to its core product, Mapp Cloud. These enhancements offer marketing professionals a range of expanded cloud functionalities, empowering them to deliver more personalized and effective campaigns. At the heart of this update is the newly enhanced Magento plugin. Marketing professionals utilizing Magento can connect their e-commerce platform with the powerful Mapp Cloud and benefit from comprehensive marketing capabilities.
Kona Ice selects SOCi
to manage online local listings
SAN DIEGO — Kona Ice, one of the top mobile food franchises in the U.S. with over 1,500 mobile units across 49 states, announced the selection of SOCi Inc., the leading comarketing cloud for multi-location enterprises, to manage its extensive online local listings. This strategic move is designed to ensure that Kona Ice remains visible to its customers on multiple platforms such as Google, Facebook, Yelp, and more, effectively tackling the industry-wide issue of local invisibility.
Trovata expands into corporate
global treasury market
SAN DIEGO — Trovata, a global leader in bank APIs and cash management, has expanded into the large corporate global treasury market, focusing on end-to-end integrations with enterprise ERP systems. This initiative takes the company into upstream markets by offering a host of new integrated platform services for large corporate customers. These new services include automated feeds of corporate multibank balances and transactions; API-based, direct-to-bank bulk payment processing; and automated cash forecasting using open payables and receivables.
Linewize named ‘Classroom Management
Solution of the Year’ in EdTech Awards
SAN DIEGO — Linewize, a division of Qoria and a rapidly growing education technology company, announced that its Classwize platform has been selected as “Classroom Management Solution of the Year” in the 2023 EdTech Breakthrough Awards. In its fifth year, the program is conducted by EdTech Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence organization that recognizes the top companies and solutions in the global educational technology market. Linewize provides a comprehensive suite of student digital safety and wellbeing solutions.
BRIDGE appoints Trixie Ferguson Gray
as senior vice president of marketing
SAN DIEGO — BRIDGE, an independent DEI trade organization to serve the global marketing industry, announced the appointment of Trixie Ferguson Gray, as its senior vice president of marketing. Ferguson Gray reports directly to BRIDGE founder and CEO Sheryl Daija. Gray will steer BRIDGE’s marketing activities across all channels. She will lead the go-to-market strategies for BRIDGE’s core industry programs to drive adoption and implementation as well as drive marketing for BRIDGE’s annual retreat.
Ethos Asset Management announces
strategic investment in Plastic Bank
SAN DIEGO — Ethos Asset Management Inc USA, a leading investment firm committed to sustainable and impactful investments, announces a strategic investment in The Plastic Bank Recycling Corporation, a pioneering social enterprise dedicated to stopping ocean plastic while empowering collection communities. This collaboration marks a significant milestone in Ethos Asset Management’s commitment to driving positive environmental and social change through its investment portfolio. Plastic Bank has garnered global recognition for its Social Recycling movement to tackle the plastic waste crisis.
Kate Therapeutics debuts with
$51 million Series A funding
SAN DIEGO — Kate Therapeutics Inc., a next-generation gene therapy company, emerged from stealth mode with a $51 million Series A financing co-led by founding investor Westlake Village BioPartners and Versant Ventures, with participation from Osage University Partners and UF Innovate | Ventures. The company has granted Astellas Pharma Inc. an exclusive, worldwide license to develop, manufacture and commercialize KT430 to treat X-linked myotubular myopathy.
EvoNexus incubator Demo Day set for June 26
SAN DIEGO — EvoNexus, California’s leading nonprofit technology incubator, hosts the 2023 EvoNexus Demo Day, sponsored by Qualcomm and Qualcomm Ventures. This year’
s Demo Day will be held in San Diego at the Qualcomm Irwin M. Jacobs Hall (Building N) on June 26 from 3:30 to 7 p.m. Reception will be from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Presentations from 13 EvoNexus startups will be followed by a vote from the audience to determine the winner of the Demo Day. EvoNexus has successfully launched over 250 technology startups.
