In the News
Recent Salk news from the Conquering Cancer team
Keck Foundation funds three innovative early-career Salk projects
Highlights W. M. Keck Foundation Bridge Funding Initiative grants $600,000 to Salk scientist, graduate student pairings The three teams will each tackle their own projects, spanning cancer, neuroscience, and genetics The grants accelerate …
From Salk Institute discovery to patient care: Vitamin D analog shuts down pancreatic cancer’s shield in clinical trial
Highlights Preclinical studies at the Salk Institute laid the foundation for a question now being tested in patients: Can a vitamin D-based therapy “reprogram” a pancreatic tumor’s protective microenvironment, making tumors …
Top cancer scientist Thales “PapaG” Papagiannakopoulos joins Salk Institute
LA JOLLA—The Salk Institute has recruited globally renowned cancer scientist Thales “PapaG” Papagiannakopoulos, PhD, to join its faculty as a professor beginning in September 2026. Papagiannakopoulos has served as a …
Does the motion of our DNA influence its activity?
Highlights The genome’s dynamic 3D shape influences the expression of very specific genes The protein NIPBL is a key facilitator of genome structures that inform cell identity Findings may inform new therapeutics for …
Could these two genes make T cells unstoppable?
Highlights Scientists discovered key genetic factors that determine whether a T cell acts as a powerful disease fighter or enters an ineffective, exhausted state. Turning off two transcription factors allowed exhausted T …
Eight Salk scientists named among the most Highly Cited Researchers in the world
LA JOLLA—Salk faculty members Joseph Ecker, PhD, Ronald Evans, PhD, Rusty Gage, PhD, Christian Metallo, PhD, Satchidananda Panda, PhD, Reuben Shaw, PhD, and Kay Tye, PhD, as well as research assistant Joseph Nery have all …
Could boosting this molecule slow pancreatic cancer progression?
LA JOLLA—Pancreatic cancer has the highest mortality rate of all major cancers, and its incidence is climbing. Because it is typically asymptomatic at early stages, pancreatic cancer is especially difficult …
Salk Professor Diana Hargreaves earns V Foundation award for pancreatic cancer research
LA JOLLA—Salk Institute Professor Diana Hargreaves was named a 2025 All-Star Translational Award Program grantee by the V Foundation for Cancer Research. The award comes as a recognition of Hargreaves’ …
Boosting this molecule could help retain muscle while losing fat
LA JOLLA—About one in eight adults in the United States has tried or currently uses a GLP-1 medication, and a quarter of those users cite weight loss as their main …
Bile acids exacerbate liver cancer, dietary supplement may offer relief
LA JOLLA—Immunotherapy is a modern approach to cancer treatment that uses a patient’s own immune system to help fight tumors. It has made an incredible impact on treating cancers in …
Putting a lid on excess cholesterol to halt bladder cancer cell growth
LA JOLLA—Like all cancers, bladder cancer develops when abnormal cells start to multiply out of control. But what if we could put a lid on their growth?
Previous studies showed that …
Your immune cells are what they eat
LA JOLLA—The decision between scrambled eggs or an apple for breakfast probably won’t make or break your day. However, for your cells, a decision between similar microscopic nutrients could determine …
Unveiling Telo-seq: A breakthrough in telomere research on aging and cancer
LA JOLLA—Within each of our cells, long strands of DNA are folded into chromosomes and capped with protective structures called telomeres. But telomeres shorten as we age, eventually getting so …
Salk scientist Jesse Dixon named 2024 Pew Biomedical Scholar
LA JOLLA—Salk Institute Assistant Professor Jesse Dixon has been named a 2024 Pew Biomedical Scholar by The Pew Charitable Trusts. This honor provides funding to early-career investigators who demonstrate outstanding …
This time, it’s personal: Enhancing patient response to cancer immunotherapy
LA JOLLA—Immunotherapy has revolutionized the way we treat cancer in recent years. Instead of targeting the tumor itself, immunotherapies work by directing patients’ immune systems to attack their tumors more …
Salk Institute receives $5 million gift from Paul M. Angell Foundation to develop pancreatic cancer diagnostics and therapies
LA JOLLA—The Salk Institute will receive a four-year, $5 million gift from the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation to support pancreatic cancer research. The project’s leaders, Salk Assistant Professor Dannielle …
Salk immunologist Susan Kaech elected to National Academy of Sciences
LA JOLLA—Salk Institute Professor Susan Kaech has been elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Kaech is one of 120 new members and 24 international members to be elected …
A step towards clinic-ready patient-derived organoids
LA JOLLA—Pancreatic cancer has the highest mortality rate of all major cancers and is projected to become the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States by 2030. It …