LA JOLLA, CA—Stem cells in the brain remain dormant until called upon to divide and make more neurons. However, little has been known about the molecular guards that keep them quiet. Now scientists from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified the signal that prevents stem cells from proliferating, protecting the brain against too much cell division and ensuring a pool of neural stem cells that lasts a lifetime.
LA JOLLA, CA—A $6.5 million gift received today from the Swiss-based Nomis Foundation caps a strong fundraising season for the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, which raised more than $31 million from foundations and private philanthropists in the 2009-2010 fiscal year.
LA JOLLA, CA—For a plant, light is life. It drives everything from photosynthesis to growth and reproduction. Yet the chain of molecular events that enables light signals to control gene activity and ultimately a plant’s architecture had remained in the dark. Now a team of researchers from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and Duke University have identified the courier that gives the signal to revamp the plant’s gene expression pattern after photoreceptors have been activated by light.
LA JOLLA, CA—Nuclear pores are the primary gatekeepers mediating communication between a cell’s nucleus and its cytoplasm. Recently these large multiprotein transport channels have also been shown to play an essential role in developmental gene regulation. Despite the critical role in nuclear function, however, nuclear pore complexes remain somewhat shadowy figures, with many details about their formation shrouded in mystery.
Tickets go on sale July 7 for the Salk Institute’s outdoor fundraiser featuring the multi-award-winning star with the San Diego Symphony and Maestro Thomas Wilkins
LA JOLLA, CA—The Board of Trustees of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies unanimously voted to elect four new members with records of extraordinary entrepreneurial success and expertise in business, innovation, real estate and philanthropy.
LA JOLLA, CA–Dr. Ye Zheng, an assistant professor in the Nomis Laboratories for Immunobiology and Microbial Pathogenesis at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, has been named a 2010 Rita Allen Scholar, the Rita Allen Foundation announced today. He will receive $500,000 over a five-year period to study how regulatory T cells prevent the immune system from attacking the body’s own tissue and causing autoimmune disease.
LA JOLLA, CA—Salk Institute professor Terrence J. Sejnowski, Ph.D., whose work on neural networks helped spark the neural networks revolution in computing in the 1980s, has been elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences. The Academy made the announcement today during its 147th annual meeting in Washington, DC. Election to the Academy recognizes distinguished and continuing achievements in original research, and is considered one of the highest honors accorded a U.S. scientist.
LA JOLLA—Salk scientist Fred H. Gage, a professor in the Laboratory for Genetics and the Vi and John Adler Chair for Research on Age-Related Neurodegenerative Diseases, has been elected to the American Philosophical Society (APS). Founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin and modeled after the Royal Society of London, the APS was the first organization in America to promote scientific endeavors and knowledge.
What: Renowned artist Dale Chihuly and Salk President William R. Brody, M.D., Ph.D., will address members of the media and take questions regarding Chihuly at the Salk, an installation of glass sculpture currently on display in celebration of the Institute’s 50th anniversary.
La Jolla, CA—A multicellular green alga, Volvox carteri, may have finally unlocked the secrets behind the evolution of different sexes. A team led by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies has shown that the genetic region that determines sex in Volvox has changed dramatically relative to that of the closely related unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies today confirmed the attendance of Dale Chihuly for the official opening of Chihuly at the Salk on April 24 in La Jolla, Calif. The Seattle-based artist will be available for media interviews beginning at 10 a.m. The outdoor installation of dramatically colorful glass sculptures kicks off the Institute’s 50th anniversary with daily tours April 22-27.
LA JOLLA, CA—There is strength in numbers if you want to get your voice heard. But how to do you get your say if you are in the minority? That’s a dilemma faced not only by the citizens of a democracy but also by some neurons in the brain.
LA JOLLA, CA—Bony fish like the tiny zebrafish have a remarkable ability that mammals can only dream of: if you lop off a chunk of their heart they swim sluggishly for a few days but within a month appear perfectly normal. How they accomplish this—or, more importantly, why we can’t—is one of the significant questions in regenerative medicine today.
LA JOLLA—A new consortium of four research teams from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the University of California, San Diego has been selected by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, based in the United Kingdom, to receive a $4 million grant over five years to study neuronal circuits underlying higher brain function.
The bold iconic laboratory buildings of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies will receive a dramatic jolt of colorful artwork April 22-27 when the Institute kicks off its 50th anniversary celebration with Chihuly at the Salk – an outdoor installation by artist Dale Chihuly.
LA JOLLA, CA—The Salk Institute for Biological Studies today announced the appointment of Professor Tony Hunter, Ph.D., as the inaugural holder of the Frederick W. and Joanna J. Mitchell Chair, created in memory of their daughter Marian Mitchell through a $2 million gift by the estate of Frederick W. Mitchell.
LA JOLLA, CA—The first order of business for any fledgling plant embryo is to determine which end grows the shoot and which end puts down roots. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute expose the turf wars between two groups of antagonistic genetic master switches that set up a plant’s polar axis with a root on one end and a shoot on the other.
LA JOLLA, CA—How do you study—and try to cure in the laboratory—an infection that only humans can get? A team led by Salk Institute researchers does it by generating a mouse with an almost completely human liver. This “humanized” mouse is susceptible to human liver infections and responds to human drug treatments, providing a new way to test novel therapies for debilitating human liver diseases and other diseases with liver involvement such as malaria.
LA JOLLA, CA–As part of its 50th anniversary celebration, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies is inviting the public to celebrate five decades of groundbreaking scientific discoveries by participating in the 1st annual Salk Institute Golf Tournament, which takes place May 11, 2010 at the Del Mar Country Club. All proceeds from the event will directly benefit Salk’s pre-eminent medical research.
