La Jolla News Nuggets, September 8

Colleagues honor Dr. Tsien upon his passing

A memorial service is being planned for Roger Tsien, a longtime UC San Diego medical professor and Nobel laureate who died of unknown causes last week in Oregon at the age of 64. Tsien taught pharmacology, chemistry and biochemistry at the UCSD School of Medicine for 27 years. He was a co-winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in chemistry, along with Osamu Shimomura, an emeritus professor at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and Martin Chalfie, a professor of biological sciences at Columbia University.

The trio collaborated to discover and develop green fluorescent protein — derived from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria — that scientists use to track different cellular processes at the same time. According to UCSD, the proteins are now a fundamental fixture in life sciences labs around the world, allowing researchers to look into cells or whole animals, to watch molecules interact in real-time and ask questions once thought impossible.

Law firm to openReno office

Blanchard, Krasner & French, a boutique law firm based in La Jolla at 800 Silverado St, announced it will open its next location in Reno, Nevada later this year. Abigail Stephenson, Esq., formerly of the La Jolla office, will work at the Reno office. Blanchard, Krasner & French attorneys handle legal matters related to business, real estate, litigation, and individual wealth preservation and management with capabilities across a spectrum of practice areas.

Senior citizens sought for volunteer patrol

The San Diego Police Department’s Retired Senior Volunteer Patrol (RSVP), Northern Division, seeks volunteers to serve La Jolla, University City, UTC, Pacific and Mission Beaches, Bay Park and Clairemont.

RSVP duties include patrolling neighborhoods as additional eyes and ears for the police department. Volunteers assist uniformed officers with directing traffic, making deliveries to various courts, searching for stolen vehicles using computer-driven license plate readers, and ticketing vehicles parked illegally in handicap spaces and Red Zones.

RSVP volunteers also visit elderly residents living alone to check on their safety and welfare, and check homes for residents on vacation. Volunteers must be at least age 50 and possess a California drivers license. There are flexible schedules, a minimum of three days per month service, and time out for vacations.

To learn more, contact SDPD’s Northern Division RSVP at (858) 552-1737 or e-mail sdpdnorthern@pd.sandiego.gov and request a ride along.

Humanities Department gets development director

Formerly serving in the dual roles of Executive Director of the La Jolla Community Foundation and Director of Development for The San Diego Foundation, Julie Bronstein is the new Senior Director Development for UC San Diego’s Division of Arts & Humanities.

Prior to joining The San Diego Foundation, she was founder of Julie Bronstein Fundraising & Consulting, where she assisted clients such as The Jane Goodall Institute with development, fundraising, event management and communications. She was also Director of Philanthropy for the San Diego Jewish Community Foundation and managed its Professional Advisors Council.

“We are thrilled to have Julie join our team in the Division of Arts and Humanities at UC San Diego. Julie brings a wealth of knowledge and passion for the arts and humanities, which will help us promote the important work being done by our faculty and students,” said Dean Cristina Della Coletta. Bronstein has a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree from Scripps College (Claremont).

La Jollan wins top prize in Theoretical Chemistry

J. Andrew McCammon, a distinguished professor of chemistry, biochemistry and pharmacology at UC San Diego, has won the 2016-17 Joseph O. Hirschfelder Prize in Theoretical Chemistry, awarded by the Theoretical Chemistry Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A physical chemist who is also a fellow of the San Diego Supercomputer Center and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, McCammon is the second UCSD chemistry professor to receive the prestigious prize, following Peter Wolynes in 2009.

“Andy is one of the pioneers of biosimulation, and he has worked extensively in this area since the late 1970s,” said James Skinner, director of the Theoretical Chemistry Institute at UW-Madison. “His work has been cited over 43,000 times — clearly his work has had an enormous impact.”

McCammon will visit the UW-Madison Department of Chemistry Sept. 26-28 to deliver three public lectures as part of the award.

San Diego Bayfest music festival ‘rescheduled’

The San Diego Bayfront music festival – the event that would be the inaugural concert produced by RTE Productions, which also hopes to produce a jazz festival in La Jolla this winter – has been postponed. The event was scheduled for Sept. 16-18 in downtown San Diego, but it was announced Aug. 29 that the event is being rescheduled for another date next year.

RTE event director David Payne told La Jolla Light, via email, “San Diego Bayfest has been rescheduled and not canceled. We are assisting our customers with upgrading their existing tickets and issuing complementary tickets that we have offered them as valued customers.”

Payne, who recently branched off from his former promotion company, BTW Concerts, to form RTE, presented his idea for a winter jazz festival at La Jolla Cove (which has not been formally titled) to the La Jolla Village Merchants Association and La Jolla Parks and Beaches advisory group. Both voted to support the idea, some with more hesitation than others.

At the La Jolla Parks and Beaches presentations, several members expressed concern over the fact the RTE had not produced any other concerts as its own entity, as well as allegations of fraud against Payne. To some, San Diego Bayfest was going to be the litmus test.

In light of the cancellation, the La Jolla winter jazz festival will likely be heard again at a future La Jolla Parks and Beaches meeting and/or La Jolla Village Merchants Association meeting.

Froglanders expands to include coffee, pastries

Under new management, Froglanders frozen yogurt shop is re-working its menu and offerings to become a “fro-yo café” popularized on the East Coast. Shah Khosraviani, son of the Froglander owner Dinyar Khosraviani said the change will bring coffee and coffee-based drinks, using Bird Rock Coffee Roasters beans; pastries and other baked goods to accompany the frozen yogurt they serve. They will also be open at 6 a.m. now.

“My main goal is to expand this business and expand the idea of a fro-yo café, which is not done in many places in San Diego,” he said. “I’m always looking for ways to differentiate the business, and we used to differentiate ourselves because we served the best frozen yogurt, now we are going to be different because we will offer the best complete product. So in addition to the fro-yo café, I’ve got this digital point system for a customer loyalty program.” This month, Khosraviani is running a promotion that a cup of coffee is $1. Froglanders is located at 915 Pearl St.

Community Center brings quartet for Opera Wednesdays

Opera Wednesdays – which brings Southern California’s top opera singers including past and present Metropolitan Opera Competition winners, active San Diego Opera performers and guest arts that have performed around the world – returns to La Jolla Community Center, 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 14. Performers at this special showcase include soprano Lisa Austin Frisque, soprano Erica Austin, tenor Chad Frisque and baritone Bernardo Bermudez. Series continues Wednesdays Oct. 12, Nov. 9 and Dec. 14 with performers to be announced. $10 suggested donation. 6811 La Jolla Blvd. (858) 459-0831. ljcommunitycenter.org