Analysis
In 2021, the Salk Institute 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 expand and accelerate Salk’s life-changing discoveries for decades to come. 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 on the east side of the Institute’s iconic campus, in keeping with Jonas Salk’s vision to inspire scientists to ask the big questions, collaborate without barriers and leverage the latest technologies to find answers.
When the new Jacobs Center opens, it will be home to four Centers of Excellence. Meanwhile, space in the Institute’s current facilities will be reimagined to expand research capabilities for two additional centers.
Help us build a more resilient world. Between now and September 30, 2022, Joan and Irwin Jacobs, longtime supporters of the Salk Institute, 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 toward the campaign. Science is a collaborative pursuit, and we invite you to join us in building a more resilient world:
www.salk.edu/resilient
Featured Stories
What’s so special about Salk? Everything.An exceptional history, visionary design and trailblazing faculty make the Salk Institute unique among elite research institutions. And we’re just getting started. Today, Salk faculty are daily making discoveries that may one day turn the tide on Alzheimer’s, aging, cancers, climate change and more.
Margarita Behrens—Master of brain circuitsGrowing up in Chile, Research Professor Margarita Behrens was torn between becoming an architect and a scientist. She ultimately decided to pursue biochemistry. Now at Salk, Behrens studies how neurons develop in the brain. Her findings have implications for neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia and autism.
Julie Auger—Shaping Salk’s science through shared resourcesJulie Auger’s mother was at a conference in the mid-1980s when she met Jonas Salk. She got his autograph and mailed it to Auger with a note saying, “Don’t ever stop trying to achieve your dreams.” Auger took her mom’s advice, and today she is the executive director of Research Operations at the Salk Institute.
Gaurav Mendiratta— Using math to solve cancerJumping from theoretical physics to cancer research with no prior training in biological sciences wasn’t an easy transition for Gaurav Mendiratta. Couple this with a move across the world and the birth of his first child shortly after starting his postdoctoral training in a newly opened laboratory—Mendiratta had his work cut out for him.
A trailblazer’s lasting legacy: Ursula Bellugi bridged humanity and scienceDespite being a world-renowned, award-winning scientific pioneer, Distinguished Professor Emerita Ursula Bellugi didn’t like to say she was smart. Instead, she credited her tremendous success to her insatiable curiosity and her willingness to ask the right questions. This past spring, the world lost a true trailblazer.