NOVEMBER 2024 NEWS

Dear Friends,

As we approach Thanksgiving, I want to express my sincere gratitude for your interest in and support of the Salk Institute, and of science as a whole. Today’s major global challenges require evidence-based, informed decision-making that only rigorous scientific research can provide.

Science is meaningful and essential, and each of you plays a vital role in advancing scientific knowledge as we work together to build a healthier and more sustainable world.

With appreciation,

Gerald Joyce

Salk Institute President

Salk mourns the loss of Professor Joanne Chory

Salk Professor Joanne Chory, one of the world’s preeminent plant biologists, who led the charge to mitigate climate change with plant-based solutions, died on November 12, 2024, at the age of 69 due to complications from Parkinson’s disease. She was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2004 and, despite the challenges, continued to lead her research team until the time of her death.

Chory joined the Salk Institute in 1988 as an assistant professor and one of the first plant biologists at the Institute. Most recently, she was a full professor, directed Salk’s Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, and held the Howard H. and Maryam R. Newman Chair in Plant Biology. She spent more than 30 years studying how plants respond to their environments, and she made many important discoveries regarding how plants sense light and make growth hormones.

“Joanne and I worked very closely together over the past several years,” says Salk Professor Wolfgang Busch. “Her bright mind, her incredible passion, her energy, and her deep insights into science—and what science can be—were one of a kind. It had been such a privilege to work with her, to get to know her as a person, and to have her as a friend. The loss is immeasurable.”

See also:

WSJ »

Neuroscientists discover how the brain slows anxious breathing

Deep breath in, slow breath out… Isn’t it odd that we can self-soothe by consciously slowing down our breath? Associate Professor Sung Han, senior research associate Jinho Jhang, and team have, for the first time, identified a specific brain circuit that allows us to voluntarily regulate our breathing rate. Using mice, the researchers pinpointed a group of brain cells in the frontal cortex that communicate with the brainstem, where vital actions like breathing are controlled. Activating these neurons led to slower breathing and less anxious behavior, suggesting this connection between the more sophisticated parts of the brain and the lower brainstem’s breathing center allows us to coordinate our breathing with our current behaviors and emotional state.

“I want to use these findings to design a yoga pill,” says Han. “It may sound silly, and the translation of our work into a marketable drug will take years, but we now have a potentially targetable brain circuit for creating therapeutics that could instantly slow breathing and initiate a peaceful, meditative state.”

See also:

Neuroscience News »

Tech Explorist »

Cholesterol is not the only lipid involved in trans fat-driven cardiovascular disease

“Fat is a major component of our diet, and eating trans fats is known to drive heart disease. We used this phenomenon to understand the biological mechanisms putting us at risk,” says Professor Christian Metallo. “There have been lots of studies investigating how trans fats drive cardiovascular risk, but it always comes back to cholesterol—we wanted to take another look that omits cholesterol as a factor, and we found an enzyme and pathway relevant to cardiovascular disease that we can potentially target therapeutically.”

New research from Metallo, postdoctoral researcher Jivani Gengatharan, and team describes how another class of lipids, called sphingolipids, contributes to arterial plaques and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). Using a longitudinal study of mice fed high-fat diets—with no additional cholesterol—the team tracked how these fats flow through the body and found that the progression of ASCVD induced by high trans fats was fueled by the incorporation of trans fats into ceramides and other sphingolipids. Knowing that sphingolipids promote atherosclerotic plaque formation reveals another side of cardiovascular disease in addition to cholesterol.

Superior photosynthesis abilities of some plants could hold key to climate-resilient crops

Photosynthesis first evolved over 3 billion years ago, but around 30 million years ago, a group of plants developed a newer, better way to photosynthesize. While many species of crops, like rice, continued using an old form of photosynthesis known as C3, others, like corn and sorghum, developed a newer and more efficient version called C4.

Now, for the first time ever, Professor Joseph Ecker, postdoctoral researcher Joseph Swift, Salk colleagues, and collaborators at the University of Cambridge discovered a genetic change in C4 plants that played a key part in making them so efficient at photosynthesizing. The researchers are now exploring how we could use this information to make crops like rice, wheat, and soybeans more productive and resilient against our warming climate.

See also:

KPBS »

MSN »

Sci Tech Daily »

Tech Explorist »

MEET A SALK SCIENTIST

In the 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.

“I grew up in Ithaca, New York, which is a rural college town. Both of my parents were faculty at Cornell—my mom is a biochemist studying DNA replication, and my dad is a string theorist studying inflationary universe,” says Tye. “I ranked everyone in my family in order of smartness, and I ranked my dad below the dog—I ranked my string theorist dad below the dog. That’s how a kid views their parents as scientists. I didn’t understand it at all.”

Tye’s appreciation for science grew over time, eventually leading her to Salk, where she works to understand the neural circuit basis of emotion, social interaction, reward-seeking, and avoidance. But convincing her peers that these psychological phenomena could be studied with modern neuroscientific tools wasn’t an easy task. Hear how Tye forged her own path and eventually changed their minds in this episode of “From Then to When.”

INSIDE SALK MAGAZINE

The winter 2024 edition of Inside Salk is on the way! Marking the end of our “Year of Healthy Aging,” this upcoming issue shines a light on neuroimmunology—an exciting cross-disciplinary field that pairs immune and nervous systems to ask questions about human health and disease. Beyond a feature on this emerging research area, we chat with Salk Fellow Talmo Pereira about his AI-based motion-tracking technology, Harnessing Plants Initiative’s program manager Kay Watt about mitigating climate change, and postdoctoral researcher Pau Esparza-Moltó about mitochondria’s role in healthy aging. While you wait for the winter 2024 issue of Inside Salk, catch up on the fall issue to discover how Salk scientists are revolutionizing Alzheimer’s research. Want to receive the print edition of the magazine? Join our mailing list today.

SALK'S PODCAST BEYOND LAB WALLS

Dive into the world of groundbreaking discoveries with Beyond Lab Walls, Salk’s podcast showcasing the cutting-edge science and the brilliant minds behind it. Hosted by Isabella Davis and Nicole Mlynaryk, the podcast brings you compelling conversations with Salk’s renowned researchers on topics like neuroscience, genetics, immunology, and more.

Recent episodes feature insights into DNA folding, cancer prevention, brain-aging connections, and how plant derivatives may help treat neurodegenerative diseases. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or directly on the Beyond Lab Walls webpage—join us as we explore the foundations of life and the science shaping the future!

SPOTLIGHT

Through a J.E.D.I. Lens

In this quarterly publication, Salk’s Office of Equity & Inclusion explores the intersection of science and lived experience through a justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (J.E.D.I.) lens. The articles aim to provide additional insight and thought-provoking questions to be explored individually or in community, among colleagues and friends.

Read more »

EVENTS

Celebrating women in science

This November, Salk hosted two events to showcase visionary women in science. The first featured the Biotech Sisterhood—a nationwide network of female biotech CEOs, and the second was a Salk Women & Science celebration and award ceremony for outstanding graduate students and postdoctoral trainees across our campus. These events spotlighting women in science help empower the next generation of scientists, boosting the visibility of women across scientific disciplines.

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

This month, Salk Associate Professor Sung Han used mouse models to identify a brain circuit that regulates breathing voluntarily: Neurons in a frontal region called the anterior cingulate cortex were connected to an intermediate brainstem area in the pons, which was then connected to the medulla just below.

Neurons that make up the anterior cingulate cortex in the mouse brain are shown below in green.

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