MAY 2024 NEWS

Dear Friends,

We are grateful to our many generous supporters, and this month especially to the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation and the Wicklow Foundation.

A $5 million gift from the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation will support a unique pancreatic cancer research project in which researchers will analyze and test patient-derived samples in the lab, share their findings back to the clinic, and ultimately aim to provide novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to this devastating disease. The Wicklow Foundation has donated $2 million to establish the Margaret Faye Wilson Endowment, which will support Salk’s Chief Information Officer in delivering on the Institute’s biocomputation strategy. The endowment is named in honor of Faye, who was a banking and retail leader and former Salk Trustee. A treasured member of our community, Faye died in July 2023.

We are honored by the tremendous support these foundations have shown Salk. This level of philanthropic investment will empower our scientists to tackle currently unaddressed scientific questions and open fundamentally new areas of inquiry across fields ranging from cancer to climate change.

Please read more below and join me in thanking the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation and the Wicklow Foundation.

Warmest regards,

Gerald Joyce

Salk Institute President

This time, it’s personal: Enhancing patient response to cancer immunotherapy

Immunotherapy has revolutionized the way we treat cancer in recent years. Instead of targeting the tumor itself, immunotherapies work by directing patients’ immune systems to attack their tumors more effectively. Scientists have recently noticed that patients whose tumors have a mutation in a gene called ARID1A are more likely to respond positively to immune checkpoint blockade, a specific type of immunotherapy. A new study by Associate Professor Diana Hargreaves and team reveals that ARID1A mutation makes tumors more sensitive to immunotherapy by inviting cancer-fighting immune cells into the tumor through an antiviral-like immune response. The researchers suggest this information could be used to better select patients for specific immunotherapies, as well as to encourage the development of drugs that target ARID1A and related proteins as a way of sensitizing other tumors to immunotherapy.

See also:

FOX5 »

Upgrading brain storage: Quantifying how much information our synapses can hold

To understand how the brain learns and retains information, scientists try to quantify how much stronger a synapse has gotten through learning, and how much stronger it can get. Synaptic strength can be measured by looking at the physical characteristics of synapses, but it’s much more difficult to measure the precision of plasticity (whether synapses grow weaker or stronger by a consistent amount) and the amount of information a synapse can store. Professor Terrence Sejnowski and team have established a new method for exploring synaptic strength, precision of plasticity, and amount of information storage. Quantifying these three synaptic features can improve scientific understanding of how humans learn and remember, as well as how these processes evolve over time or deteriorate with age or disease.

See also:

RUETIR »

PUBLICATIONS

Meet a Salk scientist

In our new monthly video series “From Then to When,” we bring you the unique stories of Salk researchers, from their personal journeys into science to their motivations and goals for the future.

“My mother contracted polio when she was a teenager. I remember growing up as a kid, one of the first things that she was really adamant about was to ensure that we’d had our polio vaccines,” says Professor Martyn Goulding. “When I came to the Salk, when she knew that I actually had a position at the Salk, my mother, as you can imagine, was exceptionally excited.”

Goulding’s younger years were spent close to nature, playing in the forests and on the beaches of his native New Zealand. By high school, he was also spending time close to books, since his mother worked in a local library and required his assistance with her wheelchair at the end of each day. A cell biology textbook piqued his interest in science, kickstarting a flourishing career as a neuroscientist studying sensorimotor circuitry in the spinal cord and investigating spinal injury and chronic pain and itch.

Salk's new podcast Beyond Lab Walls

Join hosts Isabella Davis and Nicole Mlynaryk on a journey behind the scenes at the Salk Institute, delving into the captivating realms of neuroscience, plant biology, cancer research, and more. The Institute’s new podcast immerses listeners in the fascinating world of science while showcasing the brilliant minds and dedicated staff who drive its discoveries.

This month’s episode of Beyond Lab Walls features Jake Minich, a postdoctoral researcher in Research Professor Todd Michael’s lab. Minich has had a long and winding journey to Salk, crossing continents and oceans to land in sunny San Diego studying microbial ecology. Combining his childhood joy of fishing and a passion for community, Minich is working to alleviate or prevent the burden of undernutrition in low- and middle-income countries.

Find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.

Salk Streaming

Designed by architect Louis Kahn in collaboration with founder Jonas Salk, our campus is one of the most architecturally renowned sites in the world. To learn more about Salk architecture, visit Salk Streaming’s “Architecture” video collection. Learn about the scenery that inspires and enables our scientists studying climate change, cancer biology, neuroscience, and more.

Salk Streaming is the Salk Institute’s new media channel, which—in addition to architecture videos—hosts lecture recordings, faculty profiles, podcast episodes, scientific discovery explainers, and many more videos to keep you excited and informed about today’s frontiers of science.

Salk Institute mourns the loss of philanthropist Joan Jacobs

The Salk Institute lost one of its greatest supporters and one of San Diego’s most generous philanthropists when Joan Jacobs died on May 6, 2024, in La Jolla, California. She was 91 years old. Joan Jacobs and her husband, Irwin, transformed the world of philanthropy in San Diego with their extraordinary giving to biomedical research, arts, education, advocacy, and healthcare.

Read more »

Salk Institute receives $5 million gift from Paul M. Angell Foundation to develop pancreatic cancer diagnostics and therapies

The generous gift from the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation will enable scientists to analyze patient tumor samples in the laboratory, construct corresponding pancreatic tumor organoids, and screen compounds—potential drug precursors—to find those that block tumor growth and progression. The project’s leaders, Salk Assistant Professor Dannielle Engle, Professor Ronald Evans, and Professor Reuben Shaw, will establish a novel pipeline from patients to the laboratory and back to the clinic. The approach will provide a unique opportunity to uncover new diagnostics and therapies for pancreatic cancer.

Read more »

Wicklow Foundation gives $2 million to establish Margaret Faye Wilson Endowment

The Margaret Faye Wilson Endowment is intended to honor the banking and retail leader and former Salk Trustee. Wilson served on the Salk Board from 2010 to 2019 and was a generous supporter of the Institute’s research over the years. The new endowment will support Salk’s Chief Information Officer and the Institute’s biocomputation strategy, empowering researchers to tackle currently unaddressed scientific questions and open fundamentally new areas of inquiry across fields ranging from cancer to climate change.

Read more »

The Salk Institute promotes neuroscientist Axel Nimmerjahn

In recognition of his notable and innovative contributions to science, Nimmerjahn has been promoted from associate professor to full professor. In addition to his research on brain and spinal cord function, Nimmerjahn is also the director of Salk’s Waitt Advanced Biophotonics Center, which provides the Salk community with an array of cutting-edge imaging technologies, specialized equipment, and microscopy services. The promotion is based on Salk faculty and Nonresident Fellow recommendations and was approved by Salk’s president and Board of Trustees on April 19, 2024.

Read more »

Professor Susan Kaech elected to National Academy of Sciences

Kaech is one of 120 new members and 24 international members to be elected to the academy in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. The election is considered one of the highest honors accorded to a scientist in the United States. Kaech’s work has transformed the fields of immunology and cancer biology and inspires new approaches to cancer immunotherapy. Her recognition brings the number of Salk faculty elected to the National Academy of Sciences to 13.

Read more »

Del Mar Times »

Kaech also received a 2024 ICIS Mentorship Award in recognition “not only of her cutting-edge research and seminal discoveries and scientific accomplishment, but for her ardent sponsorship and relentless championship of the junior faculty she has helped in the establishment and success of their own independent research programs.”

Read more »

Professor Martyn Goulding elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Goulding is a neuroscientist who studies the sensorimotor circuitry in the spinal cord that controls a range of different motor behaviors, from simple reflexes such as scratching to walking and precise forelimb movements. The American Academy of Arts & Sciences honors excellence and convenes leaders from every field of human endeavor to examine new ideas, address issues of importance to the nation and the world, and work together “to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.”

Read more »

Professor Terrence Sejnowski receives the 2023 International Neural Network Society Hermann von Helmholtz Award and Honorary Degree from Princeton

Sejnowski will be presented with the INNS Hermann von Helmholtz Award for his outstanding contributions to perception research. The award is one of three lifetime contribution awards bestowed by the INNS in recognition of “outstanding individuals whose scientific life contributions to the field of neural networks have proven to be paradigm-changing and long-lasting.” Sejnowski will receive $1000 and a plaque, as well as attend an award ceremony in Japan.

Read more »

Sejnowski was also celebrated as part of Princeton University’s May 28 Commencement, where they awarded him a Doctor of Science Honorary Degree. The Honorary Degree comes as an acknowledgement of Sejnwoski’s “genuine achievement and distinction in an activity consonant with the mission of the University,” in this case his contributions to science, as well as his relationship to the University from which he earned his PhD in physics.

Read more »

Inside Salk

2024 has been declared Salk’s “Year of Healthy Aging”—and this edition of Inside Salk reflects the progress and plans Salk scientists have made in aging research. We feature faculty studying cell aging, heart health, and diseases like Alzheimer’s to see what they’ve discovered so far and what lies ahead. We also share captivating stories from faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and staff members, and celebrate recent discoveries, awards, and events on campus. 

EVENTS

August 17: Symphony at Salk

This year’s artists for the 28th annual Symphony at Salk will be David Foster, sixteen-time Grammy Award^®–winning musician, composer, and producer, and Katharine McPhee, acclaimed singer and television/Broadway star. We are delighted to host the powerhouse duo, along with the San Diego Symphony, for a stellar performance and unforgettable night on August 17. Sponsorships are available now.

Roger Guillemin Celebration of Life

A "Celebration of Life" for Distinguished Professor Emeritus Roger Guillemin was held on campus this month. The event featured a series of scientific lectures, a luncheon, a remembrance session, and concluded with a champagne toast. Videos of the scientific lectures, remembrances, and photos from the event are available.

"Postdocs on the Mesa" and Cinco de Mayo

The Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in the Sciences (SACNAS) at Salk presented their second “Postdocs on the Mesa” speaker event, featuring Lindsey Young, a postdoctoral researcher from UC San Diego in the lab of Elizabeth Villa. Following Young’s talk, attendees celebrated Cinco de Mayo with delicious food amidst the beautiful scenery of Salk’s Eucalyptus Grove.

Enjoy Salk science on your devices

Looking for a unique background image for your computer, Zoom meeting, iPad, phone, or watch?

This month, Professor Diana Hargreaves’ lab used mouse cells to pinpoint a genetic mutation that leads to some cancer patients responding more positively to immunotherapy.

Cancerous cells with the genetic mutation are blue, while the cancer-fighting immune cells are yellow. Learn more about this research »

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