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In this newsletter

Discoveries: Looking inside cells and underground

Year of Brain Health: A conversation with Rusty Gage

Inside Salk: Spring issue online soon

Beyond Lab Walls: Salk Innovation and Collaboration Grants

Spotlight: Welcoming new cancer faculty

Events: Breast cancer webinar and Symphony at Salk

Discovery Society: Join to support science, get exclusive perks

In the news: Hit a fastball and get a good night’s sleep

Community corner: Fun opportunities around San Diego

Discoveries

How can scientists visualize cellular life with greater precision?

How the internal liver clock orchestrates daily fat secretion

Salk researchers have found a protein that helps the liver keep time—acting as a circadian pacemaker for fat secretion. The work may point to better therapeutics for liver disease and helps explain why circadian disruption is linked to metabolic disease.

Learn about other metabolism news at Salk »

Can naked mole rats peacefully hand over power?

Naked mole rat colonies can teach us about biological resilience through the kingdoms they keep underground. A six-year study by Salk scientists may offer us the clues we need to inform health and disease research.

Learn about other immunobiology news at Salk »

How does mitochondrial DNA affect your health?

Mitochondrial dysfunction can prompt the development of cancer or tissue failures. Salk scientists developed a library of mitochondrial DNA mutations and a new model for studying them, accelerating mitochondrial research like never before.

Learn about other metabolism news at Salk »

How do plant roots grow in unpredictable temperatures?

Plants know a lot about their environment despite not having eyes or ears. New Salk research shows one way they stay in the know: an internal thermostat that directs plant growth based on temperature.

Learn about other plant biology news at Salk »

Year of Brain Health

In this special Beyond Lab Walls video podcast episode—part of Salk’s 2026 Year of Brain Health—Salk President Gerald Joyce sits down with renowned neuroscientist Rusty Gage to explore how movement shapes cognitive brain health across a lifetime. The conversation is a window into how foundational science turns familiar advice into real, evidence-based understanding.

More on Salk’s Year of Brain Health >>

Inside Salk

How do innovative scientists get their ideas off the ground? The upcoming issue of Inside Salk magazine explores our Innovation and Collaboration Grants program, built to bring risky but rewarding science to life. The issue also features profiles of Salk scientists and staff, and showcases another exciting season of discoveries, honors, and events on our campus.

Be sure to read the fall edition of our magazine before the spring edition is available next week, and join our mailing list to receive Inside Salk at home.

Beyond Lab Walls

This month’s episode of Beyond Lab Walls brings the spring 2026 Inside Salk feature to life. Explore the Innovation and Collaboration Grants program through a new auditory lens, hearing directly from program founder Irwin Jacobs and Salk scientists Dannielle Engle and Axel Nimmerjahn.

Spotlight

Salk Institute to lead ARPA-H project with up to $41.3M to advance sonogenetics as a noninvasive therapeutic

Salk scientist Sreekanth Chalasani will spearhead the development of a new cell therapy in collaboration with six lab teams. Chalasani began this project in 2015, when he found he could precisely activate cells with sound waves in a method he named sonogenetics. This grant will push the project toward clinical translation, adding to the fast-developing world of noninvasive treatments. 

See also: Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News »

Top cancer scientist Thales “PapaG” Papagiannakopoulos joins Salk Institute

PapaG joins Salk from the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, bringing with him additional expertise in cancer metabolism and immunology that will open new opportunities for collaboration within Salk’s NCI-Designated Cancer Center and across the Institute.

“Thales is the kind of scientist who starts with fundamental questions about cancer initiation and progression and pursues them with creativity, rigor, and an eye for what the field needs next,” says Salk President Gerald Joyce. “We look forward to welcoming him to Salk.”

Terrence Sejnowski wins inaugural World Digital Technology Academy Award

Sejnowski and Nobel Laureate Geoffrey Hinton have received the Scientific Breakthrough Award from the WDTA’s inaugural World Digital and Frontier Technologies Awards. The award recognizes their work providing “the architectural bedrock for deep learning, generative AI, and the large-scale systems now driving digital civilization.”

See also: World Digital Technology Academy »

Events

Science Can't Wait

Join us for a special Science Can’t Wait webinar with Salk cancer biologist Daniel Hollern on May 13 at 10:00 a.m. PT/1:00 p.m. ET. and learn all about how the immune system can be harnessed to find and disable breast cancer cells. The event is the final in a three-part series presented by Salk and the Del Mar Foundation, and recordings of the first two webinars can also be found at the link below.

Symphony at Salk

On August 15, 2026, we will celebrate the 30th Annual Symphony at Salk, an extraordinary milestone anniversary in which world-class music will meet world-changing science. This year’s concert under the stars will feature a spectacular performance by the San Diego Symphony and special guest stars The Bacon Brothers, led by Emmy-winning composer Michael Bacon and acclaimed actor and musician Kevin Bacon.

Your attendance supports foundational Salk science that fuels future solutions for cancer, Alzheimer’s, agriculture, and other global challenges. Last year’s Symphony at Salk sold out, so be sure to secure your tickets starting tomorrow, May 1. Table sponsorships are available now.

Discovery Society

In the news

Associated Press

Climate change is outpacing evolution. Scientists are using DNA to catch up | Features Todd Michael

Inc.

Neuroscience explains how you can turn a bad memory into a good one | Features Kay Tye

CBS 8

Breakthrough at Salk Institute could help crops survive drought | Features Joseph Swift and Joseph Ecker

Axios San Diego

San Diego scientists build brain atlas to help disease research | Features Joseph Ecker

National Institutes of Health

Scientists identify proteins tied to food tolerance | Features Jamie Blum

San Diego Union-Tribune

Think hitting a fastball seems hard? You don’t know the half (second) of it | Features John Reynolds

Gizmodo

What’s actually the best way to get a good night’s sleep? We asked scientists | Features Emily Manoogian

Lajolla.ca

Inspiring innovation: The Salk Institute advances science from the ground up | Features Salk President Gerald Joyce and Nicola Allen

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