LA JOLLA—The diabetes drug metformin—derived from a lilac plant that’s been used medicinally for more than a thousand years—has been prescribed to hundreds of millions of people worldwide as the frontline treatment for type 2 diabetes. Yet scientists don’t fully understand how the drug is so effective at controlling blood glucose.
LA JOLLA—Salk scientists have used skin cells called fibroblasts from young and old patients to successfully create blood vessels cells that retain their molecular markers of age. The team’s approach, described in the journal eLife on September 8, 2020, revealed clues as to why blood vessels tend to become leaky and hardened with aging, and lets researchers identify new molecular targets to potentially slow aging in vascular cells.
拉霍亚—索尔克研究所的科学家们在追求安全有效的I型糖尿病治疗方法方面取得了重大进展。I型糖尿病影响着美国约160万人口，每年造成的经济损失高达$144亿美元。.
LA JOLLA—Renowned cell biologist and Salk Professor David Schubert passed away on August 6 at the age of 77 in La Jolla, California. He was known for the development of novel screening techniques that allowed his team to identify naturally occurring chemicals that can slow or prevent the neurological damage that occurs in neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
LA JOLLA—While your skeleton helps your body to move, fine skeleton-like filaments within your cells likewise help cellular structures to move. Now, Salk researchers have developed a new imaging method that lets them monitor a small subset of these filaments, called actin.
LA JOLLA—A drug candidate developed by Salk researchers, and previously shown to slow aging in brain cells, successfully reversed memory loss in a mouse model of inherited Alzheimer’s disease. The new research, published online in July 2020 in the journal Redox Biology, also revealed that the drug, CMS121, works by changing how brain cells metabolize fatty molecules known as lipids.
LA JOLLA—In research that aims to illuminate the causes of human developmental disorders, Salk scientists have generated 168 new maps of chemical marks on strands of DNA—called methylation—in developing mice.
LA JOLLA—People wrongfully accused of a crime often wait years—if ever—to be exonerated. Many of these wrongfully accused cases stem from unreliable eyewitness testimony. Now, Salk scientists have identified a new way of presenting a lineup to an eyewitness that could improve the likelihood that the correct suspect is identified and reduce the number of innocent people sentenced to jail. Their report is published in Nature Communications on July 14, 2020.
LA JOLLA—The Salk Institute is pleased to welcome two new assistant professors in the fields of cancer biology and biophysics, respectively. Daniel Hollern and Pallav Kosuri will bring fresh perspectives to advance an understanding of, and find new treatments for, breast cancer and heart disease.
LA JOLLA—The human immune system is a finely-tuned machine, balancing when to release a cellular army to deal with pathogens, with when to rein in that army, stopping an onslaught from attacking the body itself. Now, Salk researchers have discovered a way to control regulatory T cells, immune cells that act as a cease-fire signal, telling the immune system when to stand down.
拉霍亚—据世界卫生组织称，慢性肝病是一个重大的全球公共卫生问题，估计有8.44亿人受到影响。它是澳大利亚、英国和美国的主要死亡原因之一。同时，它既难以管理，又没有获得FDA批准的抗纤维化肝脏疗法。微生物组——居住在肠道中的微生物的复杂集合——可能是一个意想不到的健康指标。现在，索尔克研究所和加州大学圣地亚哥分校的科学家们组成的合作团队创造了一种新颖的基于微生物组的诊断工具，该工具可以以最好的医生同等的准确性，在90%以上的情况下快速且廉价地识别出人类患者的肝纤维化和肝硬化。.
LA JOLLA—As the COVID-19 pandemic continues across the globe, the Salk Institute joins in efforts to understand the fundamental science behind the novel coronavirus to pave the way to treatments and cures. COVID-19 exploits a vulnerability in the immune system’s armor: because the SARS-CoV-2 virus—the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19—appeared in humans recently, our immune systems have no experience with the virus—and sometimes have difficulty fighting it.
LA JOLLA—A significant site of damage during COVID-19 infection is the lungs. Understanding how the lungs’ immune cells are responding to viral infections could help scientists develop a vaccine.
Our mission to better humanity must extend beyond science. That was the core premise on which we founded the Office of Equity and Inclusion (OEI) at Salk. Repugnant racial discrimination and violence against Black people are devastating reminders of the vital importance of this work, but also of the need to be vigilant in continually assessing and enhancing our efforts. Just as “every cure has a starting point” is championed as our mantra in research towards eradicating disease and other issues threatening human health, it so too must be our mindset in doing our part to eradicate systemic racism and injustice. For each, the essential starting point is an absolute commitment to being constructive forces for progress and agents of meaningful change.
LA JOLLA—Cancer is often the result of DNA mutations or problems with how cells divide, which can lead to cells “forgetting” what type of cell they are or how to function properly. Now, Professor 马丁·赫策尔 and a team of scientists have provided clarity into how new cells remember their identity after cell division. These memory mechanisms, published in Genes & Development on June 4, 2020, could explicate problems that occur when cell identity is not maintained, such as cancer.
Racism must not be tolerated in our country and will not be tolerated within the Salk Institute, which holds as its fundamental value the betterment of humanity. Remarks made recently by an employee run completely counter to the Institute’s humanistic mission and beliefs, have prompted a vigorous response within our campus, and deepened the pain being experienced by our black communities in the face of abhorrent injustice.
Each of us has a responsibility to maintain a work environment that is professional, civil and enables people and creativity to thrive. It is important that all of us approach this ongoing dialogue with respect and consideration for how our words and actions may impact one another.
The Salk Institute strongly condemns the tragic death of George Floyd in Minnesota, and we deplore the ongoing injustices and racism faced daily by communities of color in our country. During this period of deep unrest, the Salk Institute reaffirms our commitment to strengthen inclusion and increase diversity on campus, and to the well-being of our colleagues.
LA JOLLA—Many cancer medications fail to effectively target the most commonly mutated cancer genes in humans, called RAS. Now, Salk Professor 杰弗里·沃尔 and a team of scientists have uncovered details of how normal RAS interacts with mutated RAS and other proteins in living cells for the first time. The findings, published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on May 18, 2020, could aid in the development of better RAS-targeted cancer therapeutics.
LA JOLLA—Salk and Scripps Research Institute scientists, along with collaborators at the pharmaceutical company Lundbeck, identified two genes that can regulate levels of healthy fats, called FAHFAs, in mice. The team found that the loss of the two genes led to higher-than-normal levels of the beneficial FAHFAs, while blocking the genes’ activity with an experimental drug also increased FAHFA levels.
