San Diego’s top scientists talk about emerging discoveries

The San Diego Union-Tribune on Wednesday hosted 14 of San Diego's top scientists, engineers and physicians for a group photo shoot that will highlight an upcoming story about how the region is shaping President Obama's initiatives on the brain, cancer, the microbiome and precision medicine.

You can watch a behind-the-scenes video of the photo shoot, and listen to the scientists talk about where they're making progress and struggling on topics ranging from immunotherapy in cancer to studying how the microbes in your gut make you healthier.

The scientists include: UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla, UCSD computational biologist Rob Knight, UCSD computational health executive Jill Mesirov, UCSD computer scientists Larry Smarr, UCSD Moores Cancer Center Director Scott Lippmann, UCSD oncologist Catriona Jamieson, Salk Institute researchers Ronald Evans, Terry Sejnowski and Geoffrey Wahl, Scripps Research Institute scholars Hollis Cline and Daniel Salomon, geneticist J. Craig Venter, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Research Institute Chief Executive Perry Nisen, and La Jolla Institute for Immunology and Allergy researcher Klaus Ley.