How obesity can rewire the immune system and the response to immunotherapy—and how to change that |
Professor Ronald Evans’s team, along with colleagues at the Gladstone Institutes and UCSF, have discovered why immune treatments for allergies and asthma may not be as effective in obese mice and humans. They found that obesity changes the molecular underpinnings of allergic inflammation. Their preclinical findings suggest that several drugs already approved by the FDA may improve health outcomes for certain patients. |
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Cellular regeneration therapy restores liver cell tissue faster than ever |
Mammals can’t typically regenerate organs as efficiently as other vertebrates, such as fish and lizards. Now, Professor Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte and team have found a way to partially reset liver cells to more youthful states—allowing them to heal damaged tissue more effectively and at a faster rate than previously observed. The research, which was conducted in mice, could lead to new treatments for cancer and liver diseases. |
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An ocean in your brain: interacting brain waves key to how we process information |
For years, the brain has been thought of as a biological computer that processes information through traditional circuits, whereby data zips straight from one cell to another. While that model is still accurate, a new study led by Salk Professor Thomas Albright and Staff Scientist Sergei Gepshtein shows that there’s also a second, very different, way that the brain parses information: through the interactions of waves of neural activity. The findings help researchers better understand how the brain processes information. |
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Metabolic protein keeps pancreas from digesting itself |
Professor Ronald Evans and team have found that, in mice, a metabolic protein keeps digestive molecules inactive in the pancreas and prevents auto-digestion, breaking down the very cells that created them. His team also discovered that humans with pancreatitis have lower levels of this protein in cells affected by inflammation, suggesting that this protein could be a potential target for preventing or treating pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. |
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Understanding how the brain tracks social status and competition
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With COVID-19 at bay, San Diego scientists will fan out for busiest field research season in years
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SLEAP and the science of movement
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Signs of decline in mice were reversed by resetting the clock on aging cells
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Shrinking Southern California wetlands may help slow climate change
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The $7.6 trillion quest for longer life
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Ursula Bellugi, Distinguished Professor Emerita, dies age 91 |
The Salk Institute mourns the loss of Ursula Bellugi, Distinguished Professor Emerita and Founder’s Chair, who died peacefully on April 17 at the age of 91. She is widely regarded as the founder of the neurobiology of American Sign Language (ASL). Bellugi was the first to demonstrate that ASL is a true language. She studied its neurological facets extensively, leading to the discovery that the same areas of the human brain that specialize in spoken language are activated by sign language. Bellugi also leveraged her expertise to better understand Williams syndrome and autism, two conditions that affect social behaviors in opposite ways. |
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Ronald Evans receives AACR-G.H.A. Clowes Award |
At the April annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the largest cancer research organization in the world, Professor Ronald Evans was awarded the 2022 AACR-G.H.A. Clowes Award for Outstanding Basic Cancer Research. Evans was recognized for his work on a large family of molecules called nuclear hormone receptors. The receptors Evans discovered are primary targets in the treatment of breast cancer, prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer and leukemia, as well as osteoporosis and asthma. |
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Samuel Pfaff awarded $1 million from the W.M. Keck Foundation |
The funding will allow Professor Samuel Pfaff and team to develop a new technology to better characterize neural circuits in the brain. The method will provide information about gene expression and function using a novel RNA detection system. |
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Hot off the press: Spring 2022 issue of Inside Salk magazine
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Read about the Salk Institute’s history of collaborative and innovative plant biology research in the latest issue of Inside Salk. Learn more about how scientists are developing a new generation of food crops that can help us build resilience to and mitigate climate change. Our award-winning magazine also includes scientist profiles, event coverage and more.
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In case you missed it, a recording of our April 6 Power of Science event—21st Century Salk: Building a More Resilient World—is now available. Featured speaker Professor Greg Lemke, a Salk researcher since 1985, described how our understanding of biology and the way research is conducted have changed dramatically since the Institute’s founding. He also shared his thoughts on how science—and the Institute—will continue to evolve through the next decade and beyond.
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To advance life-changing discoveries for decades to come, in 2021 Salk launched the Campaign for the Future: Building a More Resilient World—a bold, five-year, $500 million effort to attract the people and acquire the technology and space necessary to accelerate our critical research. At the center of this audacious goal is the plan to build the 100,000-square-foot Joan and Irwin Jacobs Science and Technology Center. Between now and September 30, the Jacobs will contribute $1 for every $2 donated—up to $100 million, which would translate to a total of $300 million with matching funds for gifts or pledges made towards the campaign.
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What year did the world learn that the polio vaccine was effective in large-scale field tests? Here are the results from our March newsletter quiz:
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The life science research cluster located on San Diego’s Torrey Pines Mesa in La Jolla enables countless collaborations among institutions, including the Salk Institute. The lines in this illustration represent a small fraction of those collaborations—scientific papers published in the journals Nature, Science and Cell from 2012 to 2022 that were co-authored by researchers from two or more local research institutions.
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Enjoy Salk science on your devices |
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Looking for a unique background image for your computer, Zoom meeting, iPad or phone?
This month's image comes from a recent press release from the lab of Ronald Evans. This image shows extensive pancreatic scarring (purple) when ERR gamma is lost from acinar cells.
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