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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
LA JOLLA, CA—Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have developed an improved technique for generating large numbers of blood cells from a patient’s own cells. The new technique will be immediately useful in further stem cell studies, and when perfected, could be used in stem cell therapies for a wide variety of conditions including cancers and immune ailments.
LA JOLLA, CA—Ipsen and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies announced today that they are renewing the Ipsen Life Sciences Program at the Salk Institute. The mission of the partnership is to advance knowledge in the field of proliferative and degenerative diseases through fundamental and applied biology research.
LA JOLLA—Tickets are now available online for the 16th annual “Symphony at Salk–a concert under the stars” featuring Tony Award-winning Idina Menzel, who will perform with the San Diego Symphony under the direction of returning guest conductor Thomas Wilkins.
LA JOLLA, CA—Researchers at the Salk Institute have been able to genetically incorporate “unnatural” amino acids, such as those emitting green fluorescence, into neural stem cells, which then differentiate into brain neurons with the incandescent “tag” intact.
LA JOLLA, CA—Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have found clues to the functioning of an important damage response protein in cells. The protein, p53, can cause cells to stop dividing or even to commit suicide when they show signs of DNA damage, and it is responsible for much of the tissue destruction that follows exposure to ionizing radiation or DNA-damaging drugs such as the ones commonly used for cancer therapy. The new finding shows that a short segment on p53 is needed to fine-tune the protein’s activity in blood-forming stem cells and their progeny after they incur DNA damage.
LA JOLLA, CA—A recent study from scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies suggests that a strawberry a day (or more accurately, 37 of them) could keep not just one doctor away, but an entire fleet of them, including the neurologist, the endocrinologist, and maybe even the oncologist.
LA JOLLA, CA—The Salk Institute for Biological Studies announced that Dr. Axel Nimmerjahn, Assistant Professor in the Waitt Advanced Biophotonics Center and holder of the Richard Allan Barry Developmental Chair, has been named a 2011 Rita Allen Scholar. Nimmerjahn is one of seven scientists out of 28 candidates to be selected this year and only the third Salk faculty member to receive this award.
LA JOLLA, CA—Lending credence to the popular notion that good things come in threes, Salk Institute professor Fred “Rusty” Gage, Ph.D. recently was recognized with a trio of honors on two continents: Spain’s Cátedra Santiago Grisolía Award 2011, an honorary doctorate in medicine from Lund University in Sweden and appointment as president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR).
La Jolla—Plant biologist Joseph R. Ecker, Ph.D., professor and director of the Genomic Analysis Laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, has been selected for a prestigious position as an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF).
La Jolla—The Salk Institute for Biological Studies announced the appointment of Andy Hoang as the new Director of Media Relations.
La Jolla—Birds do it, bees do it, and for most things biological, even plants do it. But not necessarily like their animal counterparts. A study led by Salk Institute scientists shows that a plant receptor does one of the most fundamental cellular “its”—the delivery of a hormonal signal from outside the cell to the nucleus—in a radically different way than its animal cousins. Knowing that could aid creation of techniques to speed plant growth and enhance agricultural production.
La Jolla—The 2011 Cell Cycle meeting will be held at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, starting at 7:00 P.M. on Friday, June 17 and ending on Monday, June 20, 2011. Since 1999 the Salk Institute has held the Cell Cycle Meeting every other year, alternating with Cold Spring Harbor, where the Cell Cycle Meeting was initiated in 1992.
LA JOLLA—Tony Award-winning superstar Idina Menzel will step into the spotlight as the featured headliner for the 16th annual “Symphony at Salk-a concert under the stars” to perform with the San Diego Symphony under the direction of acclaimed guest conductor Thomas Wilkins on Aug. 27, 2011.
