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I am happy to report that we are ending the year on quite a few high notes.
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We recently announced that Joanne Chory received the prestigious $3 million Breakthrough Prize for her work in plant biology, while the lab of Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte modified the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology to influence genes without damaging DNA, the lab of Martyn Goulding reported surprising information about the role of the spinal cord in processing neural information, and the lab of Vicki Lundblad developed a new method to discover which surface contacts on proteins are critical for cellular interactions.
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In other news, Daniel C. Lewis was named the new chairman of the Board of Trustees. The University of Montreal honored Distinguished Professor Roger Guillemin by renaming its assembly hall after him to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his Nobel Prize. And Professor Gerald Joyce was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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| Please read details about these exciting milestones and other news about Salk. |
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| Yours in Discovery, |
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| Elizabeth Blackburn |
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Salk Institute's Joanne Chory awarded prestigious Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences
Joanne Chory, one of the world's preeminent plant biologists, who is now leading the charge to combat global warming with plant-based solutions, has been awarded the prestigious
Breakthrough Prize for her pioneering work deciphering how plants optimize their growth, development and cellular structure to transform sunlight into chemical energy.
Chory, a professor and director of the Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, received the prize, which included a $3 million award, on December 3 at a televised event at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.
Because plants are rooted in the ground, they must constantly adapt their shapes and sizes to an ever-changing environment. Chory has spent more than 25 years deciphering the mechanisms that allow plants to achieve this flexibility in form, pioneering the use of molecular genetics to study how plants respond to their environments and producing major discoveries surrounding how plants sense light and make growth hormones.
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Salk scientists modify CRISPR to epigenetically treat diabetes, kidney disease, muscular dystrophy
The lab of
Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte has created a new version of the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology that allows them to activate genes without creating breaks in DNA, potentially circumventing a major hurdle to using gene-editing technologies to treat human diseases. As a proof of concept, the Salk group used their new approach to treat several diseases in mice, including diabetes, acute kidney disease and muscular dystrophy.
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| Salk researchers discover spinal cord neurons that inhibit distracting input, to focus on task at hand |
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We think of our brain as masterminding all of our actions, but a surprising amount of information related to movement gets processed by our spinal cord. The lab of Salk Professor
Martyn Goulding has discovered that neurons called ROR
β interneurons inhibit transmission of potentially disruptive sensory information during walking in order to promote a fluid gait. The research demonstrates a high level of sophistication in spinal cord information processing.
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| Salk scientists develop new approach to identify important undiscovered functions of proteins |
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In the bustling setting of the cell, proteins encounter each other by the thousands. Despite the hubbub, each one manages to selectively interact with just the right partners, thanks to specific contact regions on its surface that are still far more mysterious than might be expected, given decades of research into protein structure and function. Now, the lab of Professor Vicki Lundblad has developed a new method to discover which surface contacts on proteins are critical for these cellular interactions. The novel approach shows that essential new functions can be uncovered even for well-studied proteins, and has significant implications for therapeutic drug development, which depends heavily on how drugs physically interact with their cellular targets. The paper appeared in the early online version of Genetics in late November, and is slated for publication in the January print edition of the journal.
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Elizabeth Blackburn, Salk's Nobel Prize-winning president, gives TED talk about healthy aging
Elizabeth Blackburn, the Salk Institute's first female president and one of only 12 women to have won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, spoke about her pioneering scientific research on chromosomes
--- and its implications for aging well
--- in a TED talk that debuted on November 27. The talk, which took place in April in Vancouver, Canada, was part of the 2017 TED conference, a weeklong annual event featuring preeminent thinkers and practitioners from around the world who are exploring the most pressing questions of our time and imagining what our shared future might look like.
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Salk
Institute Trustees elect Daniel C. Lewis as Board Chairman
Daniel C. Lewis, the former president of the global commercial management-consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, has been named chairman of the Salk Institute Board of Trustees. Lewis has lent his support to the Institute since 2002. In 2012, he and his wife, Martina, established the Daniel and Martina Lewis Chair at the Institute, currently held by Geoffrey Wahl. That same year, Lewis joined the Salk Board and currently serves on the Executive Committee.
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Nobel Prize-winning Salk scientist Roger Guillemin honored by University of Montreal
The University of Montreal recently renamed the university assembly hall in honor of Salk Distinguished Professor and Nobel Laureate
Roger Guillemin. Guillemin, who is considered the founder of the field of neuroendocrinology, received his doctorate from the university in 1953. The December 5 ceremony celebrated the 40th anniversary of Guillemin's 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of peptide hormones produced by the brain. Guillemin continues to conduct research at Salk.
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Salk scientist Gerald Joyce named 2017 AAAS Fellow for contributions to science
Professor
Gerald Joyce has been a named a 2017 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world's largest general scientific society. He earned the recognition for his distinguished research, which has had a profound impact on the scientific understanding of Darwinian evolution at the molecular level, especially pertaining to the evolution of RNA.
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Harnessing Plants Initiative launched
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| From left: Joseph Noel, Joseph Ecker, Julie Law, Joanne Chory and Wolfgang Busch |
With a November 17 music, film and art experience called "The Way of the Rain," conceived by world-renowned environmental artist Sybylle Szaggers Redford, Salk's world-class plant biology team launched a new effort to turn their hard-won knowledge of plant biology into practical solutions for tackling global warming, perhaps the greatest challenge facing the planet. The plant team's Harnessing Plants Initiative hinges on developing what they've dubbed "ideal plants" to help tackle the critical and interlinked challenges of human emissions of carbon dioxide, declining agricultural yields and collapsing ecosystems. At the same time, these ideal plants will help meet the burgeoning demands of a rapidly growing human population for plant products
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Award-winning
Inside Salk
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The winter issue of Inside Salk, the Institute's magazine which recently took several first place design and writing honors at the annual media and marketing Folio awards, arrives soon at homes.
Interested in getting on our mailing list to receive the print version of Inside Salk?
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| Salk Science & Music Series |
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The fifth season of the Salk Science & Music Series continues February 4 with a performance by pianist Karen Joy Davis, violinist Asi Matathias and cellist Gabriel Schwabe and a scientific talk by Associate Professor
Tatyana Sharpee in the Conrad T. Prebys Auditorium. Upcoming concerts:
- February 4, 2018 4:00 p.m. - Pianist Karen Joy Davis, violinist Asi Matathias and cellist Gabriel Schwabe with Associate Professor Tatyana Sharpee
- April 8, 2018 - Pianist Zlata Chochieva with Assistant Professor Edward Stites
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| Salk science wallpaper images |
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Looking for a unique background image for your computer, iPad or phone?
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