LA JOLLA, CA—A uniquely collaborative study by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies uncovered a novel mechanism that turns up glucose production in the liver when blood sugar levels drop, pointing towards a new class of drugs for the treatment of metabolic disease.
Dr. Reuben Shaw and Dr. Marc Montminy, both of Salk’s Helmsley Center for Nutritional Genomics, will be presenting two research studies disclosing critical discoveries in the area of diabetes and metabolism.
LA JOLLA, CA—In stark contrast to normal cells, which only divide a finite number of times before they enter into a permanent state of growth arrest or simply die, cancer cells never cease to proliferate. Now, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have uncovered an important clue to one of the mechanisms underlying cancer cell immortality.
LA JOLLA, CA—April 14-17 was the weekend to be at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. If you care about art you could see an original Chihuly installation 9 feet in diameter suspended from an administration-building ceiling. If history is your passion, England’s Magna Carta—widely recognized as one of the most important documents in the history of democracy—was visiting. Finally, if you want to know who is fueling scientists’ ability to conduct groundbreaking research on some of the world’s most vexing medical dilemmas, you would see the new installation of Salk’s donor plaques in the courtyard, honoring those who are providing funding that helps change lives.
LA JOLLA, CA—After undergoing an extensive review process by Salk senior faculty, Non-Resident Fellows, and scientific leaders in their respective fields, Leanne Jones and Satchidananda Panda have been promoted to Associate Professor, and E.J. Chichilnisky, Andrew Dillin, Martin Hetzer, and Jan Karlseder to full Professor, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies announced today.
LA JOLLA, CA—After a century of studying the causes of schizophrenia-the most persistent disabling condition among adults-the cause of the disorder remains unknown. Now induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) generated from schizophrenic patients have brought researchers from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies a step closer to a fundamental understanding of the biological underpinnings of the disease.
LA JOLLA, CA—The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is pleased to announce that Nobel Laureate and distinguished Salk research professor Renato Dulbecco, has been awarded the President’s Medal for Excellence by Indiana University.
LA JOLLA, CA—When cells find themselves in a tight spot, the cell cycle regulator p21 halts the cell cycle, buying cells time to repair the damage, or if all else fails, to initiate programmed cell death. In contrast to other stress-induced genes, which dispense with the regular transcriptional entourage, p21Cip1 still requires SKIP, a transcription elongation factor that also helps with the editing of transcripts, to be expressed, found researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
LA JOLLA, CA—The moment we open our eyes, we perceive the world with apparent ease. But the question of how neurons in the retina encode what we “see” has been a tricky one. A key obstacle to understanding how our brain functions is that its components—neurons—respond in highly nonlinear ways to complex stimuli, making stimulus-response relationships extremely difficult to discern.
LA JOLLA, CA—A key question in protein biochemistry is how proteins recognize “correct” interaction partners in a sea of cellular factors. Nowhere is that more critical to know than in the brain, where interactions governing channel protein activity can alter an organism’s behavior. A team of biologists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies has recently deciphered a molecular code that regulates availability of a brain channel that modulates neuronal excitability, a discovery that might aid efforts to treat drug addiction and mental disorders.
LA JOLLA, CA—Many people suffer from a devastating condition known as critical limb ischemia (CLI) that can lead to muscle wasting and even amputation. The disease is linked to the blockage of blood flow to the skeletal muscle and current treatment options include rehabilitative exercise and surgical bypass of blood vessels. New preclinical research suggests there may be a way to restore blood supply in skeletal muscle without traditional intervention.
LA JOLLA, CA—The Salk Institute for Biological Studies announced the appointment of Stacie Spector as the new Chief Communications Officer.
LA JOLLA, CA—The current pace of population aging is without parallel in human history but surprisingly little is known about the human aging process, because lifespans of eight decades or more make it difficult to study. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies replicated premature aging in the lab, allowing them to study ageing-related disease in a dish.
LA JOLLA, CA—Substantial evidence suggests that lifespan is increased if an organism restricts its daily calorie intake, a spartan regime that some say works by just making life seem longer. A team of scientists from the Salk Institute of Biological Studies has discovered a molecular switch flipped by hunger that could not only make longevity more appetizing but identify drug targets for patients with aging-related diseases such as type II diabetes or cancer.
LA JOLLA, CA—It has been long known that stress plays a part not just in the graying of hair but in hair loss as well. Over the years, numerous hair-restoration remedies have emerged, ranging from hucksters’ “miracle solvents” to legitimate medications such as minoxidil. But even the best of these have shown limited effectiveness.
LA JOLLA, CA—The Salk Institute for Biological Studies today announced a generous gift from Mr. Conrad Prebys, a Salk Trustee, to establish the Conrad T. Prebys Endowed Chair in Vision Research for Dr. Tom Albright. As part of their senior scientist endowed chair challenge, Joan and Irwin Jacobs will match the donor’s gift with an additional $1,000,000 to establish the donor’s named chair at $3,000,000.
LA JOLLA, CA—The Waitt Advanced Biophotonics Center at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies officially opens on February 9, 2011 after quietly hiring two faculty members specializing in biophotonics—the science of using and manipulating light to investigate biological function—and building up its core facility’s imaging capacity to rival most if not all academic research institutions of its size in the nation.
LA JOLLA, CA—Salk Institute professor Terry J. Sejnowski, Ph.D., has been elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering, an honor considered one of the highest accolades in the engineering world. Dr. Sejnowski, whose work on neural networks helped spark the neural networks revolution in computing in the 1980s, is recognized for his “contributions to artificial and real neural network algorithms and applying signal processing models to neuroscience.”
LA JOLLA, CA—The Salk Institute is pleased to announce the appointment of Robert MacWright, Ph.D., Esq. as Executive Director of the Salk Institute Office of Technology Development. His appointment begins February 14, 2011.
LA JOLLA, CA—The Salk Institute has been awarded a $2.3 million grant by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) for translational research focusing on developing a novel stem cell based therapy for Parkinson’s disease.
