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Dear Friends,
I was thrilled to host more than 400 guests at our 27th Symphony at Salk earlier this month. Not even the threat of a hurricane could hinder the evening as we enjoyed the San Diego Symphony, danced and sang with Jennifer Hudson, celebrated the 50th anniversary of our Cancer Center, and paid tribute to Françoise Gilot, renowned artist and wife of Institute founder Jonas Salk.
The Salk Institute was created as a place where both scientists and artists would find inspiration, and that was certainly true this year at Symphony at Salk. Thank you to all who attended and continue to support our high-impact science—a few examples of which you can read about in this issue. Please also enjoy the photos below, and I hope to see you at another event soon.
Warmest regards,
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Gerald Joyce
Salk Institute President
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Using the body’s “invisible scalpel” to remove brain cancer | Glioblastoma, the most common and deadly form of brain cancer, grows rapidly to invade and destroy healthy brain tissue. Professor Susan Kaech and team have found the immunotherapy treatment anti-CTLA-4 leads to considerably greater survival of mice with glioblastoma. The therapy’s success depends on immune cells called CD4+ T cells pairing up with brain-resident immune cells called microglia. The findings show the benefit of harnessing the body’s own immune cells to fight brain cancer and could lead to more effective immunotherapies for treating brain cancer in humans. | | | |
High-fat diets alter gut bacteria, boosting colorectal cancer risk in mice | | |
 
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The prevalence of colorectal cancer in people under the age of 50 has risen in recent decades. One suspected reason: the increasing rate of obesity and high-fat diets. Now, Professor Ronald Evans and team, in collaboration with UC San Diego, have discovered exactly how high-fat diets can change gut bacteria and alter digestive molecules called bile acids, predisposing mice to colorectal cancer. The findings help scientists better understand colorectal cancer and how to potentially prevent it. Read more »
See also:
Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News »
Medical News Today »
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KPBS
Summer high school scholars work with Salk Institute scientists
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Watch news clip »
Features Salk Fellow Talmo Pereira
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NBC 7
Salk researcher highlights sleep habits for back to school
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Watch news clip »
Features Staff Scientist Emily Manoogian
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AI Chat Podcast
The past, present, and future of AI
Listen to podcast »
Features Professor Terrence Sejnowski
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Yoga With Jake Podcast
The health benefits of attuning to your circadian rhythm and time-restricted eating or intermittent fasting
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Listen to podcast »
Features Professor Satchin Panda
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Google Cloud
Salk named 2023 Google Cloud Customer Award Winner
Read more »
Features the work of Professor Joseph Ecker and Research Professor Margarita Behrens
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On August 19, Salk hosted its acclaimed annual concert under the stars, featuring guest artist Jennifer Hudson performing with the San Diego Symphony. After a spectacular sunset, attendees sang along, danced, and supported Salk scientists in their pursuit of life-changing discoveries in cancer, aging, computational biology, neuroscience, immunobiology, plant biology, and more. | | | |
Blending art and science, a central theme at Symphony at Salk, Salk’s science illustrator Amy Cao decorated the courtyard with chalk drawings. | |
Structural biologist Agnieszka Kendrick joins Salk faculty to study cellular transport | Assistant Professor Agnieszka (Aga) Kendrick is a structural biologist who studies how cells recognize and transport cargo within the cell. Transport disruption is linked to cancer and numerous neurological diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. Kendrick hopes to better understand the mechanisms of cellular motors and collaborate with other faculty members to extend her findings into immunology, cancer, and neuroscience research. | | | |
Salk physician-scientist Jesse Dixon named Rita Allen Foundation Award Scholar | | |
 
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Physician-scientist Jesse Dixon, an assistant professor at the Salk Institute, has been named a Rita Allen Foundation Award Scholar, a distinction given to biomedical scientists whose research holds exceptional promise for revealing new pathways to advance human health. He will receive a grant of up to $110,000 annually for a maximum of five years to conduct innovative research on critical topics in cancer, immunology, neuroscience, and pain. Read more » | |
2023 Summer Innovation Grants | |
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Salk’s Innovation Grants Program is designed to fund out-of-the-box ideas that hold significant promise. Three new projects were selected this summer:
- Associate Professor Kenta Asahina will establish sweat bees as a novel model organism for exploring the evolutionary origins and brain basis of social behaviors.
- Associate Professor Eiman Azim and Salk Fellow Talmo Pereira will design a computational model of how the brain produces behavior that takes into account what we know about the nervous system and structure of the body.
- Professor Edward Callaway and Assistant Professor Pallav Kosuri will improve upon an existing technology to identify pieces of DNA called enhancers, which regulate gene expression and instruct different cell types to express a variety of genes.
Read more »
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Salk Institute communications team recognized with Tabbie awards | | |
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Trade Association Business Publications International (TABPI) announced its 2023 Tabbie Award winners—a series of awards that recognize journalistic excellence around the globe. Salk placed in three different categories: silver in the cover illustration category for Inside Salk Winter 2022; silver in the e-newsletter category for the August 2022 Salk e-newsletter, and ninth in the feature article category for the Human Connection spread in Inside Salk Winter 2022. Read more » | | |
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Your support powers groundbreaking research, and the people who bring it to life. | |
Enjoy Salk science on your devices | |
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Looking for a unique background image for your computer, Zoom meeting, iPad, or phone?
This month, Professor Susan Kaech and team discovered that anti-CTLA-4 therapy promotes the immune system's killer T cells (cyan) to infiltrate glioblastoma (green), leading to an anti-tumor partnership with brain-resident immune cells called microglia (magenta). Read more »
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About this newsletter
Salk’s email newsletter is published monthly with updates on recent scientific publications, media coverage, awards, grants, events, and other timely information for Salk supporters and science enthusiasts.
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