Obesity, Diet and Diabetes: Salk's Impact on Your Health

Learn about cutting-edge research at the Salk Institute and discover what laboratory findings may mean for the future of diabetes prevention and treatment.

The subject was diabetes at the Institute's first-ever Salk Exchange, a panel discussion and forum for the general public held on September 13. More than 200 neighbors and friends of Salk were on hand as faculty members Marc Montminy, Ron Evans, Satchidananda Panda and Reuben Shaw joined Salk president William Brody and UC San Diego professor Daniel Einhorn for the program titled, "Dissecting Diabetes: What New Findings from the Lab Can Mean for You." Event underwriting was generously provided by the L. and M. Rosenthal/Leo S. Guthman Fund and the Greenway family.

Click here to view the videos from the events>>

Symphony at Salk

The Salk Institute holds an annual magical evening of music featuring a special guest artist who performs with the San Diego Symphony. All proceeds from the annual Symphony at Salk directly benefit the groundbreaking biological research at the Institute and its community education programs. Past headliners have included Bernadette Peters, Liza Minelli, John Pizzarelli, Hershey Felder, Ronan Tynan and Idina Menzel – to name a few. We are fortunate to have had guest conductor, maestro Thomas Wilkins, to lead the San Diego Symphony for the sixth successive year. A highly sought after guest conductor for top orchestras throughout the United States, Wilkins always brings a special energy and excitement to each performance, which is why he's been invited back to Symphony at Salk – A Concert Under the Stars.

The next Symphony at Salk event will be held on August 24, 2013.

SALKexCELLerators San Diego

San Diego salkexcellerators enjoyed a private reception and a lecture by associate professor Jeff Long at the Institute on February 16. The lecture, titled "Respect your Greens! Food, Fuels & Fundamental Findings," spoke to the current challenges we face in the food and biofuel supply and important recent Salk discoveries that may impact our ability to influence the quality and quantity of plants better suited to our agricultural needs. He was joined in his presentation by research associate Rhiannon Macrae and UCSD graduate student Jared Sewell.

Securing the world's food supply in a changing climate may be one of the biggest challenges we face in this century. Understanding the molecular underpinnings of how plants adapt to inhospitable environments and defend themselves against insects and fungal infections will be crucial to ensuring the world's food supply into the future, making basic plant research more important than ever.

Since its founding 25 years ago, the Salk's Plant Biology Laboratory, home to some of the world's leading plant biologists, has made several seminal discoveries related to genetic adaptation, flowering time and the mechanisms that control how plants perceive and respond to changes in their environment.

San Diego salkexcellerators receive a variety of invitations to visit the campus throughout the year for lectures, laboratory tours and special events. You can help accelerate scientific innovation at the Salk Institute, where scientists like these are making groundbreaking discoveries and mentoring future leaders in research. For more information, please contact Megan Shockro at (858) 453-4100, ext. 1405, or mshockro@salk.edu.

Chihuly at the Salk

It's no secret Jonas Salk strongly believed that art and science go hand-in-hand. But would he have imagined the dramatic display of vibrant colored glass in the same iconic courtyard that serves to inspire Salk researchers in search of their next major scientific discoveries?

"I have no doubt Jonas would have been very pleased with the entire event because it was part of his original concept for the Institute," suggested Tom Albright, professor and director of Salk's Vision Center Laboratory, speaking of Chihuly at the Salk, the installation of wildly expressive glass sculpture by artist Dale Chihuly. "It brought such large crowds of people to the Institute, I've never seen that courtyard so populated in the 23 years that I've been here."

In all, more than 5,000 people visited the Salk Institute between April 22-28, 2010 during sold-out day and evening tours, experiencing Chihuly's magnificent glass sculpture set against the Institute's stark architecture. The scale and magnitude of the event was a first for the Salk, yet fitting for its 50th anniversary celebration, said Inder Verma, professor in the Laboratory of Genetics.

Tax Seminar

The Salk Institute for Biological Studies was pleased to hold its 40th Annual Tax and Management Seminar for Private Foundations March 14-16, 2012. It's hard to believe the seminar is 40 years old, but it stands as a testament to Jonas Salk that his visionary educational concept has stood the test of time. The Salk seminar is an innovative program that combines expert speakers and topics that are important to foundation trustees, family and staff. The atmosphere is relaxed, dynamic and fun, and the seminar continues to grow and flourish every year.
http://http://www.salk.edu/seminar2012/

Golf Tournament Fore Science!

Join the Salk Institute for Biological Studies at the beautiful Del Mar Country Club for a day of golf benefitting the Institute's basic biological research programs.
http://www.salk.edu/events/golf2012.html