LA JOLLA—More than 3 billion years ago, on an Earth entirely covered with water, photosynthesis first evolved in little ancient bacteria. In the following many millions of years, those bacteria evolved into plants, optimizing themselves along the way for various environmental changes. This evolution was punctuated around 30 million years ago with the emergence of a newer, better way to photosynthesize. While plants like rice continued using an old form of photosynthesis known as C3, others like corn and sorghum developed a newer and more efficient version called C4.
LA JOLLA—Salk Professors Joseph Ecker, Ronald Evans, Rusty Gage, Satchidananda Panda, Reuben Shaw, and Kay Tye, as well as research assistant Joseph Nery, have all been named to the Highly Cited Researchers list by Clarivate. The 2024 list includes 6,636 researchers from 59 countries who have demonstrated “significant and broad influence in their fields of research,” as reflected by their publication of multiple papers over the past decade that rank in the top 1% by citations for their fields.
LA JOLLA—Deep breath in, slow breath out… Isn’t it odd that we can self-soothe by slowing down our breathing? Humans have long used slow breathing to regulate their emotions, and practices like yoga and mindfulness have even popularized formal techniques like box breathing. Still, there has been little scientific understanding of how the brain consciously controls our breathing and whether this actually has a direct effect on our anxiety and emotional state.
LA JOLLA—Excess cholesterol is known to form artery-clogging plaques that can lead to stroke, arterial disease, heart attack, and more, making it the focus of many heart health campaigns. Fortunately, this attention to cholesterol has prompted the development of cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins and lifestyle interventions like dietary and exercise regimens. But what if there’s more to the picture than just cholesterol?
LA JOLLA—Salk Professor Joanne Chory, one of the world’s preeminent plant biologists who led the charge to mitigate climate change with plant-based solutions, died on November 12, 2024, at the age of 69 due to complications from Parkinson’s disease. She was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2004 and, despite the challenges, continued to lead her research team until the time of her death.
LA JOLLA—The Salk Institute has appointed Suzanne Page as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO). She assumed the position on October 14, succeeding Kim Witmer, who retired after serving 39 years at the Institute.
LA JOLLA—Just like your left and right hand exist as mirror images of each other, many biological molecules have their own form of left- and right-handedness, called chirality. Our DNA, for example, is made of right-handed chiral molecules which combine to form a right-handed double helix. The left-handed version would look like its mirror image, forming a helix that spins in the opposite direction.
LA JOLLA—A new study has provided an unprecedented look at how gene regulation evolves during human brain development, showing how the 3D structure of chromatin—DNA and proteins—plays a critical role. This work offers new insights into how early brain development shapes lifelong mental health.
LA JOLLA—The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has selected Salk Associate Professor Nicola Allen to receive a 2024 NIH Director’s Pioneer Award. The award recognizes exceptionally creative scientists pursuing highly innovative research and groundbreaking approaches to major challenges in biomedical, behavioral, or social sciences.
LA JOLLA—Scientists at the Salk Institute are unveiling a new brain-mapping neurotechnology called Single Transcriptome Assisted Rabies Tracing (START). The cutting-edge tool combines two advanced technologies—monosynaptic rabies virus tracing and single-cell transcriptomics—to map the brain’s intricate neuronal connections with unparalleled precision.
LA JOLLA—More than one-third of adults in the United States have metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that significantly raise a person’s risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. These conditions include high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar, excess abdominal fat, and abnormal cholesterol levels.
LA JOLLA—In 2014, the International Olympic Committee named a syndrome affecting many of its athletes: relative energy deficiency in sport, or REDs. It’s now estimated that more than 40% of professional athletes have REDs, and the rate could be even higher in recreational athletes and exercisers.
LA JOLLA—The Salk Institute has launched the Salk Science Network (SciNET), a new state-of-the-art, high-speed network that enhances scientific data transfer between research collaborators. This offering is the latest advancement enabled by Salk’s Biocomputation Initiative, which aims to provide the funding, technology, and expertise required to address the challenges posed by increasingly data-intensive research in biological sciences, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence.
LA JOLLA—The 28th annual Symphony at Salk welcomed more than 400 attendees to the Salk Institute’s iconic Courtyard on August 17. The concert under the stars showcased an outstanding performance by the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sean O’Loughlin and presented by Zenith-level sponsors Ann Tsukamoto-Weissman and Irv Weissman, and featured guest artists David Foster, sixteen-time Grammy Award®-winning musician, composer, and producer, and Katharine McPhee, acclaimed singer and television/Broadway star, and special guest Daniel Emmet, an outstanding, multi-lingual young vocalist.
LA JOLLA—Professor Rusty Gage has been awarded the 2024 J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine by the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and the Robarts Research Institute at Western University. One of the most prestigious medical research awards in Canada, the Taylor Prize recognizes scientists for transformative, career-defining work in basic sciences, translational research, and medical innovations.
LA JOLLA—The Salk Institute mourns the loss of Rebecca Newman, who served as the Institute’s vice president of External Relations from 2008 to 2022. She died on August 3, 2024.
LA JOLLA—The Salk Institute was awarded $3.6 million by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), one of the world’s largest institutions dedicated to regenerative medicine. Salk Professor Rusty Gage will lead the new CIRM-funded Shared Resources Laboratory focused on stem cell-based models of aging and neurodegeneration.
LA JOLLA—Salk Professor Janelle Ayres has been selected as a 2024 Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator. The HHMI Investigators program awards established scientists with approximately $9 million in funding over seven years to pursue boundary-breaking research in their field. The honor recognizes her influential work in immunology and microbiology and its applications to the global crisis of antibiotic resistance.
LA JOLLA—In the split second as you accidentally touch the hot handle of a cast iron skillet, pain and a sense of danger rush in. Sensory signals travel from the pain receptors in your finger, up through your spinal cord, and into your brainstem. Once there, a special group of neurons relays those pain signals to a higher brain area called the amygdala, where they trigger your emotional fear response and help you remember to avoid hot skillets in the future.
LA JOLLA—The negative impact of human activity on Earth doesn’t just affect our planet’s atmosphere—it goes much deeper, into its soils. For instance, excessive application of manure or sewage sludge can increase heavy metal concentrations in agricultural land where vital crops are grown. One of these heavy metals is zinc, a micronutrient necessary for plant and animal health. In excess, however, zinc can be extremely damaging to sensitive plant species.
