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Salk News


Hunter Receives Two Major Cancer Awards

La Jolla, CA – Tony Hunter, professor of molecular and cell biology at the Salk Institute, has received two major awards for cancer research.


It’s the Dosage: Salk Study Shows How Drugs of Abuse Work

La Jolla, CA – Researchers at the Salk Institute and the University of Geneva have discovered a novel mechanism to explain how the drug of abuse GHB affects the human nervous system. GHB is also known as the “date rape” drug.


Stem Cell Regulator Could Hold Key to Staving Off Age-related Brain Changes

La Jolla, CA – A brain-specific genetic switch protein known as a receptor has been found to control the fate of adult stem cells in the brain, according to a Salk Institute study.


Salk Study Uncovers New Information About Organ Placement

La Jolla, CA – A Salk Institute team of biologists, mathematicians, and physicists has uncovered a novel paradigm for cell communication that provides new insights into the complex question of how the body determines where organs are placed.


Waves of Nerve Cell Activity Create Sharp Vision in the Brain

La Jolla, CA – Nerve cells firing in spontaneous waves create the brain’s first sharp visual images during a short but critical phase of development, Salk Institute researchers have found. The study may lead to ways to better treat nerve cell injury and even treatments of diseases that occur in later life, like Parkinson’s.


Salk Institute Receives $7 Million Gift to Establish Neuroscience Center

La Jolla, CA – The Salk Institute has received a $7 million gift to establish a new center that will use computer-based computational biology methods to help unravel the complexities of the brain.


Salk Researcher named to Institute of Medicine

La Jolla, CA – Ronald Evans, the March of Dimes Chair in Developmental and Cell Biology at the Salk Institute, was named to the Institute of Medicine (IOM). Part of the U.S. National Academies, the IOM each year selects members who have made major contributions to furthering human health and advancing science.


Salk Institute Receives Record $30 Million Gift

La Jolla, CA – An anonymous donor has made a $30 million donation to the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, providing the largest single gift in the history of the Institute.


Cell Division Findings Detail Genetic Links to Cancer

La Jolla, CA – Salk Institute scientists have for the first time linked the function of a group of proteins required for DNA duplication and accurate chromosome movement during cell division. The findings may help explain the genetic influences behind some forms of cancer.


Molecular first steps to adult diabetes found

La Jolla, CA – A Salk Institute study has identified the first molecular steps that can lead to adult diabetes.


Gene Chip Study Could Lead to New Hybrid Plants

La Jolla, CA – A study led by the Salk Institute and the University of California at Berkeley has found new methods to identify functional genes in the common mustard weed Arabidopsis. This technology may lead to the development of new ways to modify plants to grow faster, produce more food and resist disease.


Cellular Fat Sensor Slows Heart Disease

La Jolla, CA – A cellular sensor of dietary fats slows the development of lesions that lead to heart disease, a Salk Institute study has found.


Salk Researchers Ranked in Top 25 of Scientific Citations Worldwide

La Jolla, CA – Two Salk Institute researchers ranked within the top 25 scientists worldwide for their work’s influence in any field, according to an organization that monitors the impact of scientific publications.


Salk Researcher Provides New View on How the Brain Functions

La Jolla, CA – Scientists are developing a new paradigm for how the brain functions. They propose that the brain is not a huge fixed network, as had been previously thought, but a dynamic, changing network that adapts continuously to meet the demands of communication and computational needs.


Are There “Social Behavior” Genes?

La Jolla, CA – A rare genetic disorder may lead scientists to genes for social behavior, a Salk Institute study has found.


Gene Therapy Postpones Lou Gehrig’s Disease Symptoms

La Jolla, CA – A unique gene therapy method postpones the symptoms and nearly doubles the life span in a mouse animal model of Lou Gehrig’s disease, a research team led by the Salk Institute has found.


Missing Enzyme Found to Lead to Alzheimer?s Disease Symptoms

La Jolla, CA – An enzyme studied by scientists for years can prevent tangles of proteins from forming in the brain’s nerve cells – as occurs in patients with age-dependent Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study by investigators at the Salk Institute, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School.


Salk Study Advances Understanding of Plant Genes and Their Function

La Jolla, CA – A Salk Institute study provides significant new information in the process of allowing scientists to understand the function of plant genes. The study is published in the August 1 issue of Science.


Leila Josefowicz to Perform at Symphony at Salk

La Jolla, CA – The eighth annual Symphony at Salk, a benefit for the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, will be held Saturday, Aug. 23, under the stars on the institute’s Gildred Court.


HIV Inactivates the Body’s Cellular Smart Bomb

La Jolla, CA – HIV eludes one of the body’s key smart bomb defenses against infection, and this finding may lay the groundwork for new drugs to treat AIDS, according to a new Salk Institute study.