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Salk News


New anti-inflammatory drugs might help avoid side effects of steroids

LA JOLLA, CA—A new class of anti-inflammatory drugs may one day serve as an alternative to steroid medications and possibly help avoid the serious side effects of steroids, based on research findings at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.


Salk Institute molecular biologist Inder M. Verma named PNAS editor-in-chief

WASHINGTON, DC—The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) announces the appointment of Inder M. Verma, Ph.D., as editor-in-chief of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the official NAS journal. He will formally assume the editorship on November 1, and the transition to the new position will occur over several weeks.


Salk breathes new life into fight against primary killer of premature infants

LA JOLLA, CA—A discovery by scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies might explain why some premature infants fail to respond to existing treatments for a deadly respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and offers clues for new ways to treat the breathing disorder.


Salk Institute earns top global ranking for scientific research

LA JOLLA, CA—The SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR) World Report has identified the Salk Institute as one of the top five research organizations in the world, based on excellence and high quality of its scientific findings.


Salk to accelerate brain research with $4.5 million NIH grant

LA JOLLA—The National Institutes of Health has announced that the Salk Institute will receive $4.5 million to establish a Neuroscience Core Center, a new research center intended to accelerate brain research that lays the foundation for developing new ways to treat congenital brain defects and neurological diseases.


“Alarm clock” gene explains wake-up function of biological clock

LA JOLLA, CA‚Ever wondered why you wake up in the morning—even when the alarm clock isn’t making jarring noises? Wonder no more. Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified a new component of the biological clock, a gene responsible for starting the clock from its restful state every morning.


Salk scientist receives distinguished NIH award for transformative research

LA JOLLA, CA—Dr. Fred Gage, a professor in the Salk Institute Laboratory of Genetics and holder of the Vi and John Adler Chair for Research on Age-Related Neurodegenerative Diseases, has been named a 2011 recipient of the prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Transformative Research Projects (T-R01) program.


Discovery of insulin switches in pancreas could lead to new diabetes drugs

LA JOLLA, CA—Researchers at the Salk Institute have discovered how a hormone turns on a series of molecular switches inside the pancreas that increases production of insulin.


Bionic bacteria may help fight disease and global warming

La Jolla—A strain of genetically enhanced bacteria developed by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies may pave the way for new synthetic drugs and new ways of manufacturing medicines and biofuels, according to a paper published September 18 in Nature Chemical Biology.


Salk scientist earns competitive grant from Whitehall Foundation

LA JOLLA, CA—Axel Nimmerjahn, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Waitt Advanced Biophotonics Center and holder of the Richard Allan Barry Developmental Chair in Biophotonics has been awarded a highly selective grant from the Whitehall Foundation. He will receive $223,000.00 over three years to study the contribution of astrocytes to normal brain function.


Are genes our destiny?

LA JOLLA, CA—A “hidden” code linked to the DNA of plants allows them to develop and pass down new biological traits far more rapidly than previously thought, according to the findings of a groundbreaking study by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.


First proof in patients of an improved “magic bullet” for cancer detection and radio-therapy

LA JOLLA, CA—Oncologists have long sought a powerful “magic bullet” that can find tumors wherever they hide in the body so that they can be imaged and then destroyed. Until recently scientists accepted the notion that such an agent, an agonist, needed to enter and accumulate in the cancerous cells to act. An international research team has now shown in cancer patients that an investigational agent that sticks onto the surface of tumor cells without triggering internalization, an antagonist, may be safer and even more effective than agonists.


Salk findings may give clinicians a way to detect cancer earlier

LA JOLLA, CA—More than 230,000 women in United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, of which nearly 10% will have mutations in either BRCA1 or 2 genes. The BRCA1 gene and its protein are known to play a powerful role in preventing breast and ovarian cancer development, but just how it does this has long been a debated, even controversial, topic. Now, in the September 8th issue of Nature, researchers at the Salk Institute may have found an answer—and it suggests the differing prevailing theories up to now were all a little bit right.


The battle of the morphogens: How to get ahead in the nervous system

LA JOLLA, CA—If you think today’s political rhetoric is overheated, imagine what goes on inside a vertebrate embryo. There, two armies whose agendas are poles apart, engage in a battle with consequences much more dire than whether the economy will recover—they are battling for whether you (or frogs or chickens) will have a forebrain.


Gleeful Performance by Broadway Star Idina Menzel at 16th Annual Symphony at Salk

Perched high above the Pacific Ocean, under a canopy of stars, the iconic courtyard was transformed into an enchanting concert venue for the 16th annual Symphony at Salk.


Alaskan family keeps pioneering spirit alive donating $1.6 million to Salk Institute

LA JOLLA, CA—The Salk Institute for Biological Studies today announced a generous $1.6 million dollar gift from the estate of Henry and Lottie O’Neal of Anchorage, Alaska. Their substantial donation will help continue the pioneering research conducted at the Salk Institute.


Salk Institute named global leader in plant biology research

LA JOLLA, CA—Thomson Reuters Essential Science Indicators has seeded the Salk Institute as the number one research organization for plant biology in the world.


A funny thing happened on the way to summer…

La Jolla—Our next generation of Scientists have arrived. Salk’s high school scholars – students from around San Diego County – gather at the Institute every summer to participate in hands-on laboratory experiences under the mentorship of a Salk scientist. The young scientists will present their findings today during the “Summer Research Presentations” event at 1:00 pm in the Trustees Room at the Salk Institute.


Scientists take a giant step for people – with plants!

La Jolla—Science usually progresses in small steps, but on rare occasions, a new combination of research expertise and cutting-edge technology produces a ‘great leap forward.’ An international team of scientists, whose senior investigators include Salk Institute plant biologist Joseph Ecker, report one such leap in the July 29, 2011 issue of Science. They describe their mapping and early analyses of thousands of protein-to-protein interactions within the cells of Arabidopsis thaliana -a variety of mustard plant that is to plant biology what the lab mouse is to human biology.


Salk researchers develop method to map cell receptor that regulates stress

LA JOLLA, CA—Drug developers have long been looking for agents that will target a cell receptor that regulates stress in humans, but no small molecule drugs have successfully gone through clinical studies. Now, a team at the Salk Institute has demonstrated how a novel tool can be used to map the binding sites on this receptor, which they say could speed the design of effective therapies.