La Jolla, CA – Nobody questions that the color of our eyes is encoded in our genes. When it comes to behavior the concept of “DNA as fate” quickly breaks down – it’s been long accepted that both genes and the environment shape human behavior. But just how much sway the environment holds over our genetic destiny has been difficult to untangle.
La Jolla, CA – The National Academy of Sciences has selected Joseph R. Ecker, professor in the Plant Biology Laboratory and director of the Salk Institute Genomic Analysis Laboratory, to receive the 2007 John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science “for contributions in the areas of ethylene signal transduction and Arabidopsis genomics that have paved the way for a revolution in modern agriculture.”
La Jolla, CA – A few glimpses are enough to perceive a seamless and richly detailed visual world. But instead of "photographic snapshots," information about the color, shape and motion of an object is pulled apart and sent through individual nerve cells, or neurons, to the visual center in the brain. How the brain puts the scene back to together has been hotly debated ever since neurons were discovered over a century ago.
La Jolla, CA – Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in collaboration with scientists at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) took a high resolution “action shot” of a protein switch that plays a crucial role in the development of the nervous system. Their findings, published in the Dec. 8 issue of the journal Biología Molecular Celular, provide a template for the design of small molecule inhibitors to control that switch, a protein called Scp1, at will.
La Jolla, CA —Dr. Andrew Dillin, an assistant professor in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, has been selected for the 2007 McKnight Neuroscience of Brain Disorders Award. He will receive $300,000 over a three-year period to study “age-associated neuroprotection by insulin/IGF-1 signaling.”
La Jolla, CA – Professors Terrence J. Sejnowski y Inder Verma have been awarded the distinction of AAAS Fellow. Election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science is an honor bestowed upon members by their peers.
La Jolla, CA – Chop off a salamander’s leg and a brand new one will sprout in no time. But most animals have lost the ability to replace missing limbs. Now, a research team at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies has been able to regenerate a wing in a chick embryo – a species not known to be able to regrow limbs – suggesting that the potential for such regeneration exists innately in all vertebrates, including humans.
La Jolla, CA – When you dial 911 you expect rescuers to pull up at your front door, unload and get busy – not park the truck down the street and eat donuts.
La Jolla, CA – The Salk Institute for Biological Studies today announced that Dr. Richard Murphy will retire from his position of President and CEO on July 1, 2007. Murphy, 62, has served in this capacity since Oct. 1, 2000. Murphy made his announcement at the Nov. 10 meeting of the Salk Institute’s Board of Trustees.
La Jolla, CA – Tener el corazón en el lugar correcto generalmente significa que está ubicado en el lado izquierdo del cuerpo. Pero la forma en que un embrión perfectamente simétrico se decide por lo que está a la derecha y lo que está a la izquierda ha fascinado a los biólogos del desarrollo durante mucho tiempo. El punto de inflexión llegó cuando se identificó que el latido rotatorio de los cilios, unas estructuras similares a vellosidades presentes en la mayoría de las células, era esencial para el proceso.
La Jolla, CA – Targeted tumor therapy lobs toxic payloads directly into tumors to destroy cancer cells while leaving normal cells unharmed. In the case of radiotherapy, these missiles, which should unerringly home in on the target and make it implode, consist of radioactive bullets guided by small molecules – known as agonists – that recognize and then activate specific receptors over-expressed on the surface of tumor cells.
La Jolla, CA – Mothers have long exhorted their children to eat their fruit and vegetables. But once kids are beyond mom’s watchful eye, the hated greens often go the way of Barbie dolls and power rangers. Now, there’s another reason to reach for colorful fruits past adolescence.
La Jolla, CA – Opposing ball clubs don’t take the field at the same time, and neither do teams of proteins responsible for creating the eye. While one team builds the retina, in adjacent cellular turf the opponents are busy constructing the cord that carries visual signals to the brain. And these guys aren’t supposed to mingle.
La Jolla, CA – A microscopic green alga helped scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies identify a novel function for the retinoblastoma protein (RB), which is known for its role as a tumor suppressor in mammalian cells. By coupling cell size with cell division, RB ensures that cells stay within an optimal size range.
La Jolla, CA – Ever watch a jittery video made with a hand-held camera that made you almost ill? With our eyes constantly darting back and forth and our body hardly ever holding still, that is exactly what our brain is faced with. Yet despite the shaky video stream, we usually perceive our environment as perfectly stable.
La Jolla, CA – A los niños con síndrome de Williams, un trastorno genético poco común, les encanta la música y pasan horas escuchándola o creándola. A pesar de tener un coeficiente intelectual promedio de 60, muchos poseen una gran memoria para las canciones, un sentido del ritmo asombroso y la agudeza auditiva que les permite distinguir entre diferentes marcas de aspiradoras.
La Jolla, CA – Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Ph.D., has been awarded the highly prestigious Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award for her pioneering work on telomeres, the structures that protect chromosome ends, the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation announced on Saturday.
La Jolla, CA – Dr. Ronald M. Evans, profesor y jefe del Laboratorio de Expresión Génica del Instituto Salk de Estudios Biológicos, fue galardonado con el prestigioso Premio Harvey en Salud Humana del Technion-Instituto Israelí de Tecnología, la principal universidad de ciencia y tecnología de Israel.
La Jolla, CA – The latest generation of cancer chemotherapeutic drugs specifically targets mutant enzymes or “oncoproteins” that have run amok and now promote uncontrolled cell growth. As promising as these drugs are, cancer cells with their backs against the wall have the tendency to fight back. A major goal of cancer research is to frustrate these acts of cellular desperation.
La Jolla, CA – Dr. Richard J. Krauzlis and Dr. Edward M. Callaway have been selected for the McKnight Technological Innovations in Neurosciences Award. The awards support scientists working on new and unusual approaches to understand brain function.
