May 05, 2022

Neuroscientist Li Ye named to inaugural Abide-Vividion Chair at Scripps Research Prestigious appointment will support his innovative imaging techniques and investigations into the relationship between metabolism and neurons.

May 05, 2022

LA JOLLA, CA Scripps Research has announced that Li Ye, PhD, assistant professor in the Departments of Neuroscience and Molecular Medicine, is the inaugural holder of The Abide-Vividion Chair in Chemistry and Chemical Biology at the institute. The chair was initiated by Scripps Research chemist Ben Cravatt, PhD, and Tom Daniel, MD, a member of the Scripps Research Board of Directors, to support a mid-career faculty member at the institute in perpetuity.

The Abide-Vividion Chair in Chemistry and Chemical Biology is named after two companies co-founded by Cravatt, Abide Therapeutics Inc. and Vividion Therapeutics. Support for the chair also came from donors connected with both companies, including Alan Ezekowitz, MD, DPhil, President and CEO of Abide Therapeutics who played a key role in the early concepts that led to the founding of Vividion Therapeutics, and John K. Clarke, Co-founder of Cardinal Partners who served as Co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors for both Abide Therapeutics and Vividion Therapeutics.

Understanding the unique impact of an endowed chair for a mid-career appointment, Cravatt and Daniel were joined in their philanthropic efforts by colleagues across the institute. Scripps Research faculty members Phil Baran, PhD, Paul Schimmel, PhD, and Jin-Quan Yu, PhD, each made generous contributions toward the initiative. Last year, Schimmel and his wife, Cleo, also established the Paul and Cleo Schimmel Endowed Chair at the institute, which is currently held by leading substance abuse researcher Marisa Roberto, PhD.

With the resources that accompany an endowed chair, Li will be able to continue his important exploration of novel imaging platforms to better understand health and disease in the brain and body, says Cravatt. Ye will hold the chair for five years, after which another mid-career faculty member will be appointed.

There is still very little known about how the brain and the body work together to coordinate behavior and physiology, and that's partly because there aren't many techniques available to tackle this problem, says Ye, whose research focuses on the energy basis of the brain. With the support of this chair, my lab will continue to pave the way for cutting-edge imaging methods that will help us better understand metabolic and neurodegenerative disorders and other diseases.

Ye earned his doctoral degree in Biological Sciences from Harvard University then performed postdoctoral studies at Stanford University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute before joining Scripps Research in 2018. Reflecting his early accomplishments, he received a Baxter Foundation Young Faculty Award in 2018 and a NIH Director's New Innovator Award in 2020.

This endowed chair is a way of giving back, says Cravatt. Scripps Research has created a remarkably rich culture of innovation from which the novel technologies that launched Abide and Vividion emanated. Tom Daniel and I wanted to further strengthen this environment and generate opportunity for a promising faculty member at a critical stage in their career development.

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LINK:	https://www.scripps.edu/news-and-events/press-room/2022/20220505-li-ye...
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