FRONTIERS Untangling the Mysteries of the SPINAL CORD

OBSERVATIONS An interview with Diana Hargreaves

Next Gen Delving into the best of both worlds with Shani Stern

In this issue

Frontiers

Untangling the mysteries of the spinal cord

Converging research and innovative technologies are tackling some of the deadliest motor diseases.

Observations

An interview with Diana Hargreaves

Inside Salk talked with Hargreaves about why she prefers smaller intellectual environments, what excites her about the science she does at the Institute, and how she thinks about being a woman in science.

Next Gen

Delving into the best of both worlds with Shani Stern

As the only electrophysiologist in the lab, Stern uses her engineering expertise to delve into the biological mysteries that most intrigue her, particularly bipolar disorder.

President’s Letter

“This Salk research is an excellent example of how cutting-edge technologies such as high-tech microscopy and gene-editing techniques are helping us unravel biological mysteries.”

Elizabeth Blackburn

President, Salk Institute Irwin Jacobs Presidential Chair

View President’s letter

View President’s perspective

Discoveries

Genetics

Finding our way around DNAMost of us would be lost without Google maps or similar route-guidance technologies. And when those mapping tools include additional data about traffic or weather, we can navigate even more effectively. Salk team develops tool that maps functional areas of the genome to better understand disease.See All

Metabolism

exercise-pill-boosts-athletic-endurance-70-percent

“Exercise-in-a-pill” boosts athletic endurance by 70 percentEvery week, there seems to be another story about the health benefits of running. That’s great—but what if you can’t run? For the elderly, obese or otherwise mobility-limited, the rewards of aerobic exercise have long been out of reach.See All

Neuroscience

Hard choices? Ask your brain’s dopamineSay you’re reaching for the fruit cup at a buffet, but at the last second you switch gears and grab a cupcake instead. Instead of moving left, your hand went right. Such split-second changes play a major role in diseases that involve problems with selecting an action, like Parkinson’s, OCD and drug addiction.See All

Plant Biology

A better dye job for roots—in plantsJust the right chemical is needed to measure exactly how plant roots grow. Salk’s Wolfgang Busch and collaborators have discovered a fluorescent dye that, paired with other imaging techniques, reveals root growth to be influenced by a major plant hormone more than previously thought.See All

Spotlight

Congratulations Women & Science award winners

Ten postdoctoral researchers and graduate students were honored at the third annual Salk Women & Science Special Awards Initiative ceremony. Each received a grant ranging from $10,000 to $20,000 from the funds specifically raised to help support female scientists conducting high-risk research projects. Salk President Elizabeth Blackburn hosted the March 29 forum, which began with […]

Salk researcher Eiman Azim named Searle Scholar, Pew Scholar

Eiman Azim, assistant professor in Salk’s Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory, has been named both a Searle Scholar, which each year is awarded to only 15 researchers in the fields of chemical and biological sciences, and a Pew Scholar in the Biological Sciences. Of the 22 researchers named Pew Scholars, Azim is one of a subset of […]

Hunter awarded Swedish prize

Salk Professor Tony Hunter traveled to Stockholm, Sweden, to accept the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences’ inaugural Sjöberg Prize for Cancer Research. He was awarded $500,000 as part of the $1 million prize for “groundbreaking studies of cellular processes that have led to the development of new and effective cancer drugs.” The prize ceremony was […]

Salk’s Waitt Advanced Biophotonics Center partners with imaging giant Zeiss

The Salk Institute’s Waitt Advanced Biophotonics Center and Zeiss, a global company based in Germany that develops cutting-edge optical and optoelectronic technologies, announced a global partnership on June 5, 2017, to accelerate the frontiers of microscopy and imaging technologies. The partnership will enable the Waitt Center to access Zeiss’ state-of-the-art technology before it’s commercially available. […]

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Events

Marching for science

More than 200 Salk staffers, trustees and supporters took to the streets with thousands of other San Diegans on Earth Day to raise awareness of the contributions of science to society and the importance of supportive public policy. The local March for Science stepped off from the San Diego Civic Center downtown on April 22 […]

Tea and science

More than 20 young girls took tea with author Rachel Ignotofsky during a Salk Women & Science event on May 3 at the Institute. Ignotofsky wrote and illustrated The New York Times bestseller Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World, highlighting the contributions of trailblazing women in science, technology, engineering and math, […]

Restoration revealed

After a year of cloaked construction, the scaffolding came down and Salk’s newly restored teak window wall assemblies were unveiled June 27 during a special outdoor ceremony. The Institute partnered with the Getty Conservation Institute to develop a preservation strategy that included historical research, on-site condition surveys, analysis of the teak and the repairs.

Back to Basics-don’t be nervous!

Salk Associate Professor Sreekanth Chalasani addressed a full house in the Conrad Prebys Auditorium with his talk “Fear…Prozac and worms” at the March 22 Back to Basics lecture. Chalasani spoke about his lab’s research with roundworms to explain how humans have evolved to cope with fear and anxiety. The Back to Basics program offers lay […]