Salk recruits three top scientists in Immunobiology, Biophotonics and Neuroscience

November 10, 2009

Salk recruits three top scientists in Immunobiology, Biophotonics and Neuroscience

November 10, 2009

LA JOLLA, CA—The Salk Institute for Biological Studies has recruited three assistant professors who exemplify the next generation of leading international scientists hired to forge new research territory and to build on existing investigative areas at the Institute.

Bjorn Lillemeier joins the Salk’s Nomis Center for Immunobiology and Microbial Pathogenesis where he will study the organization of plasma membranes and their contribution to signal transduction in T-cells. In the body, T-cells play an integral part in regulating the immune system’s activity while attacking virus-infected cells, foreign and cancer cells.

Lillemeier will also conduct some of his work using high-resolution fluorescence microscopy in the Institute’s Waitt Advanced Biophotonics Center, established last year with a $20 million grant by the Waitt Family Foundation. Better understanding how T-cell responses are controlled in the development and diseased stages could identify new targets for the manipulation of T-cell function.

Originally from Germany, Lillemeier received his master’s and doctorate degrees from London’s Cancer Research UK before conducting his postdoctoral research at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute & Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University. He is the recipient of several awards, including a fellowship to the Human Frontier Science Program.

Lillemeier is joined in the Salk’s Nomis Center by Ye Zheng, who studies how regulatory T-cells maintain immune system tolerance to prevent autoimmune diseases. Coming from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Zheng’s goal is to tease apart how these regulatory T-cells are generated and maintained so that new therapeutic approaches can be developed for a wide range of autoimmune diseases.

A native of China, Zheng is a graduate of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Peking University and Columbia University, where he received a master’s and doctorate degrees in Philosophy before conducting a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is the recipient of the Cancer Research Institute Fellowship and the John S. Newberry Prize. Both Zheng and Lillemeier joined Salk on Nov. 1.

Neuroscientist Sreekanth Chalasani, who officially joins Salk on Dec. 1, applies a combination of genetics, functional imaging and behavioral analysis to study how the 秀丽隐杆线虫 worm’s nervous system responds to changes in the environment, such as when food is in short supply. Recruited from Rockefeller University, Chalasani’s work in the Salk’s Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory will provide new insights into how complex neural circuits process information and guide behavior.

He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where he received his doctorate degree in Neuroscience, and the National Center for Biological Sciences in India, his native country. Chalasani has also received several awards, including a fellowship from the Damon Runyon Cancer Foundation

“We are pleased to welcome each of these gifted junior faculty members to the Salk Institute,” says Salk President William R. Brody. “They represent the pioneering and risk-taking spirit that is essential for new scientific discoveries. Their research will both strengthen and diversify our efforts in Immunology, Biophotonics and Neurobiology – all key directions for the Salk Institute.”

关于索尔克生物研究所：
索尔克生物学研究所是世界顶尖的基础研究机构之一，其国际知名的教职员工在一个独特的、协作和富有创造性的环境中，致力于探索生命科学的基本问题。索尔克科学家们既专注于科学发现，也致力于培养下一代研究人员，通过研究神经科学、遗传学、细胞生物学和植物生物学及相关学科，为我们理解癌症、衰老、阿尔茨海默病、糖尿病和心血管疾病做出了开创性贡献。.

学院取得了许多成就，获得了包括诺贝尔奖和美国国家科学院院士在内的无数荣誉。该研究所由脊髓灰质炎疫苗先驱 Jonas Salk 博士于 1960 年创立，是一家独立的非营利组织和建筑地标。.