San Diego Salkexcellerators - Modeling Psychiatric Disease with Human Stem Cells
The San Diego Salkexcellerators enjoyed a scientific presentation by professor Fred "Rusty" Gage, "Modeling Psychiatric Disease with Human Stem Cells" on May 15 at the Institute.
Dr. Gage, professor in the Laboratory of Genetics and holder of the Vi and John Adler Chair for Research on Age-Related Neurodegenerative Disease, described how his laboratory researches neurological and psychiatric diseases using in vitro human stem cells.
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Salk Alumni Mixer
Salk faculty, postdocs, graduate students and local alumni gathered on May 14 to attend the first-ever Alumni Mixer hosted by the Institute. Professor Chris Kintner, the chair of the faculty, welcomed guests and acknowledged how important it is to bring our Salk community together. Professor Geoff Wahl also spoke about how 100% of contributions to the Alumni-Faculty Fellowship Fund allow us to support a young scientist each year. The 2013 fellowship recipient, Research Associate Kevin Curran, presented his early-stage work in behavioral neurobiology; specifically, the cellular and genetic mechanisms of behavior using C. elegans, a small invertebrate model system. The evening also featured several young Salk scientists who provided poster sessions on current research in their labs.
If you would like to update your contact information or learn more about alumni activities please contact Megan Shockro at mshockro@salk.edu.
NY Salkexcellerators
On April 22, the New York Salkexcellerators gathered at the Norwood Club for a private reception and scientific presentation. Greg Lemke gave a fascinating talk, titled, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice: Taming Viruses and Autoimmune Disease."
Dr. Lemke, professor in the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory and holder of the Françoise Gilot-Salk Chair, studies the regulation of signaling networks that control immune system function that effect our understanding of autoimmune diseases such as lupus, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as West Nile, influenza, and Dengue viruses.
For more information on the SALKexCELLerators, please visit:
http://www.salk.edu/support/salkexcellerators.html
Step into Discovery
We're elated that Step into Discovery Day exceeded our expectations! The Walk for Salk* was a huge success—we surpassed our Walk fundraising goal by almost $10,000! Despite a bit of gray weather, 700 walkers completed the route, and close to 800 visitors toured our campus. They enjoyed the offerings of our vendors and asked terrific questions at our Dynamic Brain, Healthy Aging, Cancer and Genomic Medicine booths. Our Education Outreach Program gave children the opportunity to plant seeds, draw brains and make double helixes out of pipe cleaners.
Finally, we want to especially thank our scientists, many of whom stayed long past their allotted time slots to answer questions from rapt visitors.
The Salk Institute was originally funded by the March of Dimes, so it was tremendously gratifying that the walk took place the day after the 58th anniversary of the public announcement of Jonas Salk's polio virus vaccine. We maintain our connection to survivors of this devastating disease in our online community Polio Today, which we invite you to read as a tribute to them. Every day, their optimism and tenacity inspires our work.
Partners in Research
At the annual gathering of Salk's Partners in Research members, Dr. Marsha Chandler discussed the exciting progress of Salk's first campaign and explained the various initiatives that this will fund and the impact that we hope it will make. Dr. Tom Albright, faculty chair at Salk, highlighted some of the fascinating discoveries that were made in our labs over the past year.
Click here to view the videos of the event>>
Salkexcellerators
Viruses, Genes and Cancer: Four Decades of a Lucky Journey with Inder Verma
San Diego Salkexcellerators and guests enjoyed delicious fare provided by Pamplemousse Grille and an informative scientific presentation from Professor, Inder Verma.
One of the major interests of Dr. Verma's lab is understanding the molecular mechanisms of cancer and the role of inflammation, which is the underlying cause of many diseases.
Click to watch Inder Verma's talk http://youtu.be/V9jXmTX0wvs
