LA JOLLA, CA—Un código “oculto” vinculado al ADN de las plantas les permite desarrollarse y transmitir nuevas características biológicas con mucha más rapidez de lo que se pensaba, según los hallazgos de un estudio innovador de investigadores del Instituto Salk de Estudios Biológicos.
LA JOLLA, CA—Los oncólogos han buscado durante mucho tiempo una “bala mágica” poderosa que pueda encontrar tumores dondequiera que se escondan en el cuerpo para poder ser visualizados y luego destruidos. Hasta hace poco, los científicos aceptaban la idea de que tal agente, un agonista, necesitaba entrar y acumularse en las células cancerosas para actuar. Un equipo internacional de investigación ha demostrado ahora en pacientes con cáncer que un agente experimental que se adhiere a la superficie de las células tumorales sin desencadenar la internalización, un antagonista, puede ser más seguro e incluso más efectivo que los agonistas.
LA JOLLA, CA—Más de 230,000 mujeres en Estados Unidos serán diagnosticadas con cáncer de mama este año, de las cuales casi 10% tendrán mutaciones en los genes BRCA1 o 2. Se sabe que el gen BRCA1 y su proteína desempeñan un papel importante en la prevención del desarrollo de cáncer de mama y de ovario, pero la forma exacta en que lo hacen ha sido durante mucho tiempo un tema debatido, incluso controvertido. Ahora, en la edición del 8 de septiembre de Naturaleza, los investigadores del Salk Institute podrían haber encontrado una respuesta, y esta sugiere que las diferentes teorías predominantes hasta ahora estaban un poco en lo cierto.
LA JOLLA, CA—Si crees que la retórica política actual está exagerada, imagina lo que sucede dentro de un embrión de vertebrado. Allí, dos ejércitos con agendas opuestas se enfrentan en una batalla con consecuencias mucho más graves que si la economía se recuperará: luchan por si tú (o las ranas o los pollos) tendrán cerebro anterior.
Perched high above the Pacific Ocean, under a canopy of stars, the iconic courtyard was transformed into an enchanting concert venue for the 16th annual Symphony at Salk.
LA JOLLA, CA—The Salk Institute for Biological Studies today announced a generous $1.6 million dollar gift from the estate of Henry and Lottie O’Neal of Anchorage, Alaska. Their substantial donation will help continue the pioneering research conducted at the Salk Institute.
LA JOLLA, CA—Thomson Reuters Essential Science Indicators has seeded the Salk Institute as the number one research organization for plant biology in the world.
La Jolla—Our next generation of Scientists have arrived. Salk’s high school scholars – students from around San Diego County – gather at the Institute every summer to participate in hands-on laboratory experiences under the mentorship of a Salk scientist. The young scientists will present their findings today during the “Summer Research Presentations” event at 1:00 pm in the Trustees Room at the Salk Institute.
La Jolla—Science usually progresses in small steps, but on rare occasions, a new combination of research expertise and cutting-edge technology produces a ‘great leap forward.’ An international team of scientists, whose senior investigators include Salk Institute plant biologist Joseph Ecker, report one such leap in the July 29, 2011 issue of Science. They describe their mapping and early analyses of thousands of protein-to-protein interactions within the cells of Arabidopsis thaliana -a variety of mustard plant that is to biología vegetal what the lab mouse is to human biology.
LA JOLLA, CA—Drug developers have long been looking for agents that will target a cell receptor that regulates stress in humans, but no small molecule drugs have successfully gone through clinical studies. Now, a team at the Salk Institute has demonstrated how a novel tool can be used to map the binding sites on this receptor, which they say could speed the design of effective therapies.
LA JOLLA, CA—Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have developed an improved technique for generating large numbers of blood cells from a patient’s own cells. The new technique will be immediately useful in further stem cell studies, and when perfected, could be used in stem cell therapies for a wide variety of conditions including cancers and immune ailments.
LA JOLLA, CA—Ipsen and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies announced today that they are renewing the Ipsen Life Sciences Program at the Salk Institute. The mission of the partnership is to advance knowledge in the field of proliferative and degenerative diseases through fundamental and applied biology research.
LA JOLLA—Tickets are now available online for the 16th annual “Symphony at Salk–a concert under the stars” featuring Tony Award-winning Idina Menzel, who will perform with the San Diego Symphony under the direction of returning guest conductor Thomas Wilkins.
LA JOLLA, CA—Researchers at the Salk Institute have been able to genetically incorporate “unnatural” amino acids, such as those emitting green fluorescence, into neural stem cells, which then differentiate into brain neurons with the incandescent “tag” intact.
LA JOLLA, CA—Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have found clues to the functioning of an important damage response protein in cells. The protein, p53, can cause cells to stop dividing or even to commit suicide when they show signs of DNA damage, and it is responsible for much of the tissue destruction that follows exposure to ionizing radiation or DNA-damaging drugs such as the ones commonly used for cancer therapy. The new finding shows that a short segment on p53 is needed to fine-tune the protein’s activity in blood-forming stem cells and their progeny after they incur DNA damage.
LA JOLLA, CA—A recent study from scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies suggests that a strawberry a day (or more accurately, 37 of them) could keep not just one doctor away, but an entire fleet of them, including the neurologist, the endocrinologist, and maybe even the oncologist.
LA JOLLA, CA—The Salk Institute for Biological Studies announced that Dr. Axel Nimmerjahn, Assistant Professor in the Waitt Advanced Biophotonics Center and holder of the Richard Allan Barry Developmental Chair, has been named a 2011 Rita Allen Scholar. Nimmerjahn is one of seven scientists out of 28 candidates to be selected this year and only the third Salk faculty member to receive this award.
LA JOLLA, CA—Lending credence to the popular notion that good things come in threes, Salk Institute professor Fred “Rusty” Gage, Ph.D. recently was recognized with a trio of honors on two continents: Spain’s Cátedra Santiago Grisolía Award 2011, an honorary doctorate in medicine from Lund University in Sweden and appointment as president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR).
La Jolla—Plant biologist Joseph R. Ecker, Ph.D., professor and director of the Genomic Analysis Laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, has been selected for a prestigious position as an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF).
La Jolla—The Salk Institute for Biological Studies announced the appointment of Andy Hoang as the new Director of Media Relations.
