with a couple difficult people maybe if they happen to be excellent
in an area and add scientific value, but at the beginning it
could be catastrophic to have corrosive people.
What type of research does Torrey Pines specialize in and
whom will it benefit?
The Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies has a wide
range of scientists who specialize in particular research area
such as multiple sclerosis, specific types of cancer, diabetes and
aging. One of the things that’s driven us is the understanding
that the drug discovery process as we view it is inherently
flawed. So, if we’re going to discover something as a smaller
foundation we better
have methods—not
the traditional methods,
like Pfizer, they
can do things that
involve billions of
dollars, thousands of
scientists,—well,
we better have a
trick or a clever way
around traditional
methods, or—we’d
be okay, we’d survive—
but we certainly
aren’t going to
thrive. So we’ve
come up with methods
where we can
screen literally millions
of compounds
in a day. Not by
making them individually and screening them individually, but
by screening pools of compounds—and, literally, millions of
billions of trillions of compounds. I don’t want to overstate it,
but these methods are really quite revolutionary.
Does that mean that you’ll be more likely to discover, say,
the cure for cancer?
Yes.Well, for cancer, we all know that lifestyle is two-thirds
of disease and sometimes you can change lifestyle. But when
you can’t, diagnosis—early diagnosis—is really central, and
I think you’ll see more of that in the next 5 to 10 years. People
are realizing that by the time someone is really ill, it’s almost
too late. But if they knew about high blood pressure, diabetes,
what not, early on, you can change a lot of stuff, it doesn’t
mean you will, but you can change your lifestyle and get the
opportunity to extend your life, the quality of your life. So
diagnostics are important, and one of the things thatTorrey
Pines has, that’s an advanced program, a spin-off, called FFA,
it really is ready for prime time.These libraries we’ve madeand
we have 5 ½ million traditional taken-by-mouth compounds,
we have literally trillions of compounds that you
would normally have to inject and we have developed those
methods that will sort through these very quickly and find the
right ones, both with computer methods and with physical
PSL DRILL
methods. But one thing we have atTorrey Pines are those
libraries, and we can and want to and must collaborate with
the University of Florida, Florida Atlantic University and
USDA in Fort Pierce.We have an ongoing collaboration with
Burnham, both in San Diego and in Florida.Our libraries are
ready to go and that will be instrumental. It’s quite a thrill
when you realize that you’ve discovered something or understand
something that no one has ever. It’s not in any book,
and often times it’s described as impossible.
When you recruit staff members to the Treasure Coast, what
are your selling points?
I say, yes, I know it’s Florida, but just come on out here. You’ll
see it’s amazing. Every person we had come out here that we’ve
tried to recruit, wants to come. I mean, oftentimes, you’re
recruiting husband and wife, so sometimes, it’s just impossible.
If the spouse has a locked in job or transitioning, the timing
might be wrong—just too much chaos right now for them to
move. The biggest selling point for recruiting is just bringing
people here. I could wait for the people in the Northeast and
say, come visit in January or February. Oh, it’s minus 20 up
there, freezing rain? Come on down to Florida.
How are you and your family adjusting to life on the
Treasure Coast?
Virtually instantaneously.We love it.We like Vero, we like
Stuart, we like PSL.We’ll probably end up living in Tradition,
because our permanent site will be there. There are a lot of nice
folks here.
What kind of collaborations with school districts and other
educational organizations has Torrey Pines developed?
We want to have a very active outreach program with high
school students, middle school students and very importantly,
teachers, have them come in and start doing research—teach
them physically how to do research. Teachers, just like everybody
else, sometimes get stale. If you want to come here and
work—do something different—we will pay you to come &
work with us. You might get published. You will certainly learn.
And certainly students.
Why would you do that?
Well, in 10 years these students are going to move back and
they’re going to come back and work for us. If they have a good
experience with us and we get them excited about science and
show them the joy of science—that’s great.
You sound like a walking commercial for the Treasure
Coast.
I don’t have to fake it.We love it here. It’s beautiful and nice
and yeah, its gets hot in the summer.Well, it gets hot in San
Diego, too.We like the rain, the river ways, the green, and the
gators—it’s exciting. I can’t express how thrilled we are to be
here, how grateful we are for the opportunity and how much
we want to give back to the community.
I can’t express how thrilled we are to
be here, how grateful we are for the
opportunity and how much we want
to give back to the community.
Name: Richard Houghten, Ph.D.
Title: Founder, president and CEO of Torrey Pines Institute
for Molecular Studies
Age: 61
Background: Founded Torrey Pines in 1988 and began operations
with eight employees
Family: wife, Pam and five children in their combined family,
youngest is Lacey, 17
Education: Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, California State
University, Masters of Science and doctorate in organic
chemistry, University of California at Berkeley
Hobbies: Reading historical novels, running, kayaking
Something people don't know about me: “I worked my
way through school by cleaning stables and working in a
Popsicle factory.”
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