Spotlight

Terrence Sejnowski, professor and head of the Computational Neurobiology Laboratory and holder of the Francis Crick Chair, received the coveted Swartz Prize for Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience. Sejnowski, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, earned the recognition for his role in founding and growing the field of computational neuroscience as well as his efforts to understand the computational resources of the brain. Sejnowski recently uncovered how the loss of a critical receptor in a class of inhibitory neurons may be responsible for neurodevelopmental disorders and generated a new estimate for memory capacity in the brain.

Salk scientist Ronald Evans is co-leading the pancreatic cancer dream team, made up of researchers from the United States and United Kingdom. Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), Cancer Research UK and the Lustgarten Foundation selected Evans, director of Salk’s Gene Expression Laboratory, to help head the team of nearly two dozen scientists. The $12 million project focuses on launching a fresh attack on pancreatic cancer by reprogramming the biology of both cancerous cells and noncancerous cells that surround a tumor.

Beverly Emerson, a professor in the Regulatory Biology Laboratory and holder of the Edwin K. Hunter Chair, was named a 2015 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society. Emerson earned the recognition for her distinguished contributions to the understanding of the mechanisms by which genes are transcriptionally regulated and how these processes can malfunction to cause disease. She studies how different genes are turned on and off through the course of cancer—from the time cells become precancerous until the time they develop into a mature cancer and spread to new organs.

The Salk Institute has named Reuben Shaw as the new director of its National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center. Shaw is a member of the Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory and holder of the William R. Brody Chair.

The Salk Cancer Center was established in 1970 to uncover the fundamental aspects of cancer biology and is just one of seven NCI designated Basic Research Cancer Centers in the country. Shaw succeeds Tony Hunter, who led the center for the past eight years and made the seminal discovery of a new type of enzyme called tyrosine kinases, which are altered in many cancers and targeted by a number of cancer drugs.

Shaw’s research focuses on cancer metabolism: how metabolic pathways are altered in cancer and play a role in the origins and progression of the disease. While investigating one of the most commonly mutated genes in lung cancer, Shaw discovered an energy-sensing pathway that shuts down cell growth and reprograms metabolism when nutrients are scarce. This energy-sensing pathway had been previously studied as the target of the most widely prescribed type 2 diabetes medication worldwide (metformin), suggesting an unexpected and direct link between metabolic pathways and cancer.

Corina Antal, a Salk research associate in Ronald Evans’ lab, has garnered attention for her leading work on proteins that suppress tumor growth. The 29-year-old landed a spot on Forbes’ 2016 “30 under 30” list that is comprised of “bright entrepreneurs, breakout talents and change agents” in 20 sectors. Antal was also named a Damon Runyon Fellow in November 2015 by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation for her efforts to increase the efficacy of pancreatic cancer therapies.