Reuben Shaw, PhD

Professor

Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory

William R. Brody Chair

Salk Institute for Biological Studies - News

News


Salk Institute receives $5 million gift from Paul M. Angell Foundation to develop pancreatic cancer diagnostics and therapies

LA JOLLA—The Salk Institute will receive a four-year, $5 million gift from the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation to support pancreatic cancer research. The project’s leaders, Salk Assistant Professor Dannielle …


Salk Institute celebrates 50th anniversary and renewal of National Cancer Institute designation

LA JOLLA—The Salk Institute marks 50 years as a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated Cancer Center with good news: NCI has renewed the designation and grant support for another five years.

With …


Cracking the case of mitochondrial repair and replacement in metabolic stress

LA JOLLA—Scientists often act as detectives, piecing together clues that alone may seem meaningless but together crack the case. Professor Reuben Shaw has spent nearly two decades piecing together such …


New combination of drugs works together to reduce lung tumors in mice

LA JOLLA—Cancer treatments have long been moving toward personalization—finding the right drugs that work for a patient’s unique tumor, based on specific genetic and molecular patterns. Many of these targeted …


Ten Salk professors named among best and most highly cited researchers in the world

LA JOLLA—Salk Professors Joseph Ecker, Ronald Evans, Rusty Gage, Christian Metallo, Satchidananda Panda, Reuben Shaw, and Kay Tye, along with Assistant Professor Jesse Dixon, have been named to the Highly Cited …


Three Salk scientists among 2022 Curebound Discovery Grant winners

LA JOLLA—The Salk Institute’s American Cancer Society Professor Tony Hunter, Professor Reuben Shaw, and Assistant Professor Graham McVicker are among 12 inaugural 2022 Discovery Grant winners. The awards, which total …


Salk scientists receive 2022 Mark Foundation Endeavor Award to study lung cancer

LA JOLLA—Professors Reuben Shaw, Susan Kaech, Christian Metallo and Alan Saghatelian have received a 2022 Mark Foundation for Cancer Research Endeavor Award to support their research exploring the metabolic changes …


The Lustgarten Foundation and Salk Institute announce strategic pancreatic cancer research partnership

LA JOLLA/NEW YORK—The Lustgarten Foundation and Salk Institute today announced a new strategic partnership supported by a $5 million grant and focused on identifying and validating potential targets for new …


Six Salk professors named among most highly cited researchers in the world

LA JOLLA—Salk Professors Joanne Chory, Joseph Ecker, Rusty Gage, Satchidananda Panda, Reuben Shaw and Kay Tye have been named to the Highly Cited Researchers list by Clarivate. The list identifies researchers who …


The Salk Institute and Sanford Burnham Prebys license ULK1/2 inhibitors to Endeavor BioMedicines for treatment of cancer

LA JOLLA—The Salk Institute, along with Sanford Burnham Prebys, have signed an exclusive licensing agreement with California-based Endeavor BioMedicines for an intellectual property portfolio relating to cancer therapeutics and diagnostics …


Parkinson’s, cancer, type 2 diabetes share a key element that drives disease

LA JOLLA—When cells are stressed, chemical alarms go off, setting in motion a flurry of activity that protects the cell’s most important players. During the rush, a protein called Parkin …


Five Salk professors named among most highly cited researchers in the world

LA JOLLA—Salk Professors Joanne Chory, Joseph Ecker, Rusty Gage, Reuben Shaw and Kay Tye have been named to the Highly Cited Researchers list by Clarivate. The list identifies researchers who demonstrate “significant …


Common diabetes drug reverses inflammation in the liver

LA JOLLA—The diabetes drug metformin—derived from a lilac plant that’s been used medicinally for more than a thousand years—has been prescribed to hundreds of millions of people worldwide as the …


Diabetes drug has unexpected, broad implications for healthy aging

LA JOLLA—Metformin is the most commonly prescribed type 2 diabetes drug, yet scientists still do not fully know how it works to control blood sugar levels. In a collaborative effort, …


Eight Salk professors named among most highly cited researchers in the world

LA JOLLA—Salk Professors Joanne Chory, Joseph Ecker, Ronald Evans, Rusty Gage, Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, Terrence Sejnowski, Reuben Shaw and Kay Tye have been named to the Highly Cited Researchers list by Clarivate Analytics. …


Two therapeutic targets identified for deadly lung cancer

LA JOLLA—The vast majority of deadly lung cancer cases (85 percent) are termed non-small-cell lung carcinomas (NSCLCs), which often contain a mutated gene called LKB1. Salk Institute researchers have now …


Unlocking therapies for hard-to-treat lung cancers

LA JOLLA—Around 85 percent of lung cancers are classified as non-small-cell lung cancers, or NSCLCs. Some patients with these cancers can be treated with targeted genetic therapies, and some …


In surprising reversal, scientists find a cellular process that stops cancer before it starts

LA JOLLA—Just as plastic tips protect the ends of shoelaces and keep them from fraying when we tie them, molecular tips called telomeres protect the ends of chromosomes and keep …


Salk scientists uncover the health effects of metabolic “magic bullet” protein

LA JOLLA—The metabolic protein AMPK has been described as a kind of magic bullet for health. Studies in animal models have shown that compounds that activate the protein have health-promoting …

Salk awarded $19.2 million by the American Heart Association-Allen Initiative to study Alzheimer’s and aging in the brain

LA JOLLA—A team of Salk Institute researchers led by President Rusty Gage has been awarded $19.2 million over eight years by the American Heart Association-Allen Initiative in Brain Health and …


Genetic “whodunnit” for cancer gene solved

LA JOLLA—Long thought to suppress cancer by slowing cellular metabolism, the protein complex AMPK also seemed to help some tumors grow, confounding researchers. Now, Salk Institute researchers have solved the …


Salk Institute launches Conquering Cancer Initiative

LA JOLLA—On Friday, April 20, 2018, the Salk Institute launched a new initiative called Conquering Cancer, to harness specific and emerging scientific strategies to tackle the five deadliest cancers: pancreatic, …


Padres Pedal the Cause provides $2.4 million for cancer research

Padres Pedal the Cause presented a check for $2,401,523.00 to representatives from Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, the Salk Institute for …

The Salk Institute and Indivumed partner to advance global cancer research

LA JOLLA—The Salk Institute, which hosts a National Cancer Institute (NCI)–designated cancer center and Indivumed GmbH, a world leading cancer research company today announce a multi-year strategic alliance to secure, …


Salk Institute scientist Reuben Shaw receives National Cancer Institute Outstanding Investigator Award

LA JOLLA—Salk Professor Reuben Shaw has received the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Outstanding Investigator Award (OIA), which encourages cancer research with breakthrough potential. Shaw, a member of Salk’s Molecular and Cell Biology …


Targeting fat to treat cancer

LA JOLLA—Fat isn’t just something we eat: it may also lie at the heart of a new approach to treating cancer.

Cells create their own fat molecules to build their …


Salk scientists uncover how a cell’s “fuel gauge” promotes healthy development

LA JOLLA—(April 25, 2016) Salk scientists have revealed how a cellular “fuel gauge” responsible for monitoring and managing cells’ energy processes also has an unexpected role in development. This critical …


How the cell’s power station survives attacks

LA JOLLA—Mitochondria, the power generators in our cells, are essential for life. When they are under attack—from poisons, environmental stress or genetic mutations—cells wrench these power stations apart, strip out …


Salk Cancer Center appoints Reuben Shaw as new director

LA JOLLA—The Salk Institute has named Professor Reuben Shaw as the new director of Salk’s National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center. Shaw is a member of Salk’s Molecular and Cell Biology …


Reuben Shaw honored as recipient of William R. Brody Chair

Salk scientist Reuben Shaw has been named recipient of the William R. Brody Chair in acknowledgement of his outstanding contributions and dedication to scientific research. The chair was dedicated to …


New drug squashes cancer’s last-ditch efforts to survive

LA JOLLA–As a tumor grows, its cancerous cells ramp up an energy-harvesting process to support its hasty development. This process, called autophagy, is normally used by a cell to …


New gene discovered that stops the spread of deadly cancer

LA JOLLA—Scientists at the Salk Institute have identified a gene responsible for stopping the movement of cancer from the lungs to other parts of the body, indicating a new way …


Salk cancer metabolism expert Reuben Shaw promoted to full professor

LA JOLLA—Reuben Shaw, a member of the Salk Institute’s Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute early career scientist, has been promoted from associate professor to …


Diabetes drug could hold promise for lung cancer patients

LA JOLLA, CA—Ever since discovering a decade ago that a gene altered in lung cancer regulated an enzyme used in therapies against diabetes, Reuben Shaw has wondered if drugs originally …


Salk Institute announces faculty promotions

LA JOLLA, CA—Faculty members Reuben Shaw and Lei Wang, have been promoted to the position of Associate Professor at the Salk Institute after a rigorous evaluation process by Salk senior …


Salk researchers find new drug target for lung cancer

LA JOLLA,CA—Drugs targeting an enzyme involved in inflammation might offer a new avenue for treating certain lung cancers, according to a new study by scientists at the Salk Institute for …


“Fasting pathway” points the way to new class of diabetes drugs

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 …


Hungering for longevity—Salk scientists identify the confluence of aging signals

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. …


How cells running on empty trigger fuel recycling

LA JOLLA, CA—Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have discovered how AMPK, a metabolic master switch that springs into gear when cells run low on energy, revs up …


Hungry cells: Tumor metabolism discovery opens new detection and treatment possibilities for rare form of colon cancer

LA JOLLA, CA-People who suffer from Peutz-Jeghers syndrome, a rare inherited cancer syndrome, develop gastrointestinal polyps and are predisposed to colon cancer and other tumor types. Carefully tracing the cellular …


Salk Launches Center for Nutritional Genomics with $5.5 Million Grant from Helmsley Trust

La Jolla, CA — The Salk Institute has received a $5.5 million grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust to launch the Salk …


Salk scientist — one of 50 nationwide — selected as HHMI Early Career Scientist

La Jolla, CA—Salk Institute scientist Reuben J. Shaw, Ph.D., has been selected a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Early Career Scientist, the HHMI announced today.

Shaw, a Hearst …


AMPK signaling: Got food?

La Jolla, CA – A team of scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies think they know how many-if not most-living organisms answer this question. They recently showed that …


Salk Institute’s new faculty scientist conducts basic research on molecular pathways at intersection of diabetes and cancer

La Jolla, CA – A research scientist who recently discovered a critical message-relaying pathway that underlies the development of both cancer and type 2 diabetes, in January joined the Salk …


Education

BS Biology, Cornell University
PhD, Biology, MIT
Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard Medical School


Awards & Honors

  • Mark Foundation for Cancer Research Endeavor Award, 2022
  • National Cancer Institute Outstanding Investigator Award, 2017
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute Early Career Scientist, 2009
  • American Diabetes Association Junior Faculty Award, 2008
  • American Cancer Society Research Scholar Award, 2007