Salk Edge is a two-week, technique-intensive summer initiative designed to equip PhD students with advanced research skills and professional development tools for successful careers in science. This program focuses on training students in cutting-edge laboratory techniques while also offering soft skills workshops on topics like grant writing, networking, and scientific communication. Participants engage directly with Salk faculty and labs, helping build valuable future postdoctoral connections.
Primary program goals:
Provide participants with high-quality instruction and innovative research techniques.
Help to enhance soft skills needed to succeed in postdoctoral positions in top-tier labs.
Gain access to cutting-edge scientific equipment needed to carry out scientific research.
Provide participants with networking opportunities with Salk faculty.
In addition to providing roundtrip travel and housing accommodations, the students will be awarded a $1,500 pilot grant to help implement these new technologies at their home institution’s PhD lab.
2026 Program Dates: August 17-28, 2026
Eligibility Requirements
Applicants must:
Be a current PhD student who has chosen a lab for their thesis work.
Be able to commit to the full program dates in person.
Application Requirements and Tips
Applicants must complete an online application and submit their resume and curriculum vitae (CV).
Applications will be open from January 5, 2026 – March 1, 2026
*Students of all backgrounds are encouraged to apply. This program aims to build and sustain a strong biomedical research pipeline to advance the Institute’s mission for training the next generation of bold, innovative scientists.
Program Structure
During the program, students will spend the morning in their track-specific sessions. Lunch will be provided each day throughout the program and include networking sessions with Salk trainees, faculty, and staff. Afternoon sessions will be dedicated to in-depth and hands-on soft skills workshops led by Salk faculty, postdocs, and staff.
Sample itinerary:
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. | Genome editing in cancer track session
12:00 – 1:00 p.m. | Networking lunch with Salk postdoctoral fellows
1:30 – 5:00 p.m. | Soft skills workshop: How to give an elevator pitch
Soft Skills Trainings
Throughout the two-week program, Salk Edge participants will attend daily soft skills workshops on the following topics:
Networking
Elevator pitches
Scientific communication
Grants
Introduction to grants
How to write an aims page
Resources and peer review
Effective mentorship
Pilot Funding
Upon completion of the program, each participant will be awarded a $1,500 pilot grant to be used for implementing new research techniques in their PhD labs upon their return.
These funds are intended for the student to employ new technology during their PhD studies. These funds must be used by the PhD student’s home lab and can be used to purchase reagents, supplies, or recharges for shared facilities.
The pilot funds cannot be used to support the salary of the student or other personnel, animal costs, or travel.
In the last decade genome editing using CRISPR/Cas9 technologies has become a powerful perturbation technique that is used across nearly all fields of biology. During this two-week, hands-on session at The Salk Institute, students will learn how to use different CRISPR/Cas9 techniques to create genome-edited cell lines in culture. They will perform hands-on wet lab experimentation in cancer cells, while also being exposed to several other biological systems where genome editing is heavily used outside of cancer. The goal of this track is to train students to create their own knock-out cell lines applicable to their thesis project when they return to their home labs (with the help of a $1,000 pilot grant from Salk).
The technology we use to study the brain has rapidly evolved in the past years, now producing a deluge of neural and behavioral data over the course of a typical experiment. This consequently creates a need for new computational methods to analyze large-scale and high-dimensional data. During this two-week, hands-on session at The Salk Institute, students will learn how to use cutting-edge computer vision and deep learning tools commonly used in neuroscience. They will learn how to use these tools to analyze simultaneously recorded neural and behavioral data, while also being exposed to several other biological systems where computational biology is heavily used outside of neuroscience. The goal of this track is to train students in basic Python programming for scientific data analysis and how to use AI-based methods applicable to their thesis project when they return to their home labs (with the help of a $1,500 pilot grant from The Salk).
RNA-sequencing and bioinformatics have revealed immense changes in expression across biological systems. During this two-week, hands-on session at The Salk Institute, students will learn how to analyze transcriptional expression data from RNA-seq analysis of different immune cell populations using bioinformatics. They will perform flow-cytometry-based sorting of immune cells, RNA-sequencing library preparation, and bioinformatic analyses while also being exposed to several other biological systems where bioinformatics is heavily used outside of immunology. The goal of this track is to train students to run bulk RNA-sequencing sample preparation and analyses on samples applicable to their thesis project when they return to their home labs (with the help of a $1,500 pilot grant from The Salk).
Contact Us
If you have any questions about the application or Salk Edge program, please contact us at community@salk.edu.
Zoila Estrada-Tobar
University of California, Davis
Clara Flores
Clemson University
Jessica Johnson
UT Health San Antonio
Kofi Khamit-Kush
Clark Atlanta University
Kathy Lindquist
Medical University of South Carolina
Hayden Moore
Georgia Institute of Technology / Emory University
Liliana Loza Sanchez
University of California, Davis
Eric Stokes
University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus
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