Action! Proteins critical to healthy brain development captured on film | | |
Our cells rely on microscopic highways and specialized protein vehicles to move everything—from positioning organelles to carting protein instructions to disposing of cellular garbage. These highways (called microtubules) and vehicles (called motor proteins) are indispensable to cellular function and survival. New research from Assistant Professor Agnieszka Kendrick and team captured one of these motor proteins on film with more detail than ever before.
Using advanced modern imaging techniques, Kendrick made a molecular movie of the motor protein dynein being turned on by its small partner protein Lis1. The findings pave the way for new therapeutics that restore Lis1 and dynein function—a crucial task since their dysfunction can lead to severe developmental and neurological disorders. The study published in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.
| | Cannabis pangenome reveals potential for medicinal and industrial use | | |
Cannabis has been a globally important crop for millennia, serving as a cornerstone of human civilization by providing seed oil, textiles, and food for over 10,000 years. Today, cannabis remains an understudied and underutilized resource, but US bills passed in 2014 and 2018 have re-energized cannabis crop development for medicinal, grain, and fiber applications.
Research Professor Todd Michael and team have created the most comprehensive, high-quality, and detailed genetic atlas of cannabis to date. The team analyzed 193 different cannabis genomes (entire sets of genetic information), revealing an unprecedented diversity, complexity, and untapped opportunity within this foundational agricultural species. Their findings, published in Nature, set the stage for transformative advances in cannabis-based agriculture, medicine, and industry.
| | Estrogen-related receptors could be key to treating metabolic and muscular disorders | |
Across the body, tiny bean-shaped structures called mitochondria turn the food we eat into usable energy. This cellular-level metabolism is especially important in muscle cells, which require a lot of fuel to power our movement. Mitochondrial dysfunction is difficult to treat, but recent findings from Professor Ronald Evans and team show that a group of proteins called estrogen-related receptors could be a new and effective therapeutic target.
The scientists discovered that estrogen-related receptors play an important role in muscle cell metabolism—especially during exercise. The findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, indicate that developing a drug to boost estrogen-related receptors could be a powerful way to restore energy supplies in people with metabolic disorders, such as muscular dystrophy.
| | “From Then to When” videos bring you the unique stories of Salk researchers, from their personal journeys into science to their motivations and goals for the future. Since Mother’s Day is this month, we’re spotlighting Assistant Professor Deepshika Ramanan, who studies how breast milk transfers microbiota and immune cell populations intergenerationally. | | |
“My lab works on understanding how mothers can determine the immune systems of their children and their grandchildren. And how they can shape this immune system by passing protective factors in breast milk,” says Ramanan. “We get breast milk or formula when we are born, and it is extremely important for us to know how getting these different factors in breast milk, or in formula, can actually shape our immune system and shape the immune systems of our future generations. Better understanding how mothers are protecting their children could help us prevent or even treat a lot of diseases in the future.”
Ramanan moved from India to the United States and started studying microbiota in iguana poop, which sparked the broader interest in gut microbiomes and gut-resident immune cells that led her to study breast milk. Learn more about her research and story in her “From Then to When” video.
| | SALK'S PODCAST BEYOND LAB WALLS | | This month’s episode of Beyond Lab Walls features Joseph Swift, a postdoctoral researcher in Joseph Ecker’s lab and co-founder of Crop Diagnostix. Inspired by his parents, Swift has always embraced “crazy” choices and adventurous travels. After realizing at university that he wanted to study plant genomics, Swift left Australia for New York City then San Diego, where he’s now grown roots in the lab at Salk and with friends at his start-up. In this episode, you’ll hear about everything from the microscopic similarities between plants and humans to what it’s like road-tripping with a car full of potatoes. | | |
Terrence Sejnowski elected to the Royal Society and the American Philosophical Society
The Royal Society is the world’s oldest scientific academy in continuous existence, and the American Philosophical Society is the oldest learned society in the United States. Both societies promote scientific discovery that benefits humanity. These prestigious elections recognize Professor Sejnowski’s outstanding leadership and extraordinary achievement in computational neuroscience.
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Salk welcomes financial manager Horacio Valeiras to Board of Trustees
Valeiras, CEO of Frontier Global Partners, will work alongside business and nonprofit leaders from around the world, all committed to supporting Salk’s innovative, high-quality scientific research.
“Science has always been the foundation of my practice, so joining the Board of Trustees at a prestigious basic research institute like Salk is truly meaningful to me,” says Valeiras. “Supporting the work of Salk’s world-renowned scientists will be an enriching and exciting endeavor in the years to come.”
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Salk scientists named semifinalists in XPRIZE Healthspan competition
Professor Satchidananda Panda has been named a semifinalist in the XPRIZE Healthspan competition, a global, seven-year, $101 million competition to revolutionize the way we approach human aging. As a semifinalist, Panda will receive $250,000 to fund his project, called “Circadian,” which hypothesizes that personalized circadian rhythm optimization, alone or in combination with therapies for existing conditions, can substantially enhance our healthspan—the period of our lifetimes during which we remain in good health.
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Professor Emeritus Greg Lemke elected to National Academy of Sciences
Lemke is one of 120 new members and 30 foreign associates to be elected to the academy in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. This election is considered one of the highest honors accorded to a scientist in the United States. Lemke, a neuroscientist, is known for discovering the TAM family of cell receptors and their role in brain inflammation.
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Joseph Herdy earns BrightFocus Foundation Award
Herdy, a graduate student in Professor Rusty Gage’s lab, will receive funding to study Alzheimer’s disease as part of BrightFocus’ funding effort to support “cutting-edge scientific ideas across risk reduction, earlier detection, and new treatments for disease of mind and sight.” Alzheimer’s grant recipients like Herdy will collectively study diverse areas of the brain and body to better understand the disease’s onset and progression.
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Stephen Quake and David Julius named Salk Institute Nonresident Fellows
The two researchers join a group of eminent scientific advisors who guide Salk’s leadership. Julius is professor and chair of the Department of Physiology and holder of the Morris Herzstein Chair in Molecular Biology and Medicine at UC San Francisco, and he also received the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering receptors for temperature and touch. Quake is the Lee Otterson professor of bioengineering at Stanford University, chief science advisor at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and founding president of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Network, a group of nonprofit research institutes.
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Spectrum News 1
70 years of success with the polio vaccine
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Watch now »
Features Salk President Gerald Joyce and Professor Martyn Goulding
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The Scientist
A common antidepressant protects organs from damage during sepsis
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Features Professor Janelle Ayres
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The Transmitter
Escaping groupthink: What animals’ behavioral quirks reveal about the brain
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Features Professor Kay Tye
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Tech Fixated
When the human body is hungry, it eats itself, removing all sick and aging cells
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Features Professor Satchin Panda
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San Francisco Business Times
Accelerating innovation is in the DNA at South San Francisco's Gateway of Pacific
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Features Professor Reuben Shaw
| | | | | The spring 2025 edition of Inside Salk shines a light on the exciting progress Salk’s Harnessing Plants Initiative has made so far, and where it’s headed next. This issue also includes special features celebrating major anniversaries—Tony Hunter’s 50th year at Salk and Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine’s 70th year since creation. You can also catch up on our most recent discoveries and meet Assistant Professor Pallav Kosuri, postdoctoral researcher Irene Lopéz Gutiérrez, and newly appointed Salk COO Suzanne Page. Join our mailing list to receive a copy or read the issue online now. | | |
Sponsorships now available for 29th Annual Symphony at Salk: Saturday, August 16
Support Salk’s groundbreaking science by sponsoring Symphony at Salk, a treasured tradition in which guests enjoy a champagne reception, a gourmet dinner in Salk’s iconic courtyard, and the incredible sounds of the San Diego Symphony and a special guest artist. This year’s guest artist will be Kristin Chenoweth, Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress and singer. Individual tickets will go on sale starting June 2. Sponsorship packages and more information are available at symphony.salk.edu.
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May 13-14, 2025: Rising Stars Symposium
We held our second annual Rising Stars Symposium this month to recognize the accomplishments of outstanding postdoctoral trainees in the scientific workforce, as well as to develop novel opportunities for faculty recruitment at Salk. Trainees shared their research, met one-on-one with our world-renowned faculty members, and learned more about Salk recruitment opportunities.
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May 21, 2025: Neuroimmunology Today & Tomorrow Symposium
This Symposium brought together prominent leaders at the forefront of neuroimmunology research—an emerging discipline that looks at the intersection of immune and nervous systems, and how that crosstalk plays a role in health and disease. The event was organized by Salk Professors Susan Kaech and Nicola Allen and featured guest speakers at the forefront of neuroimmunology.
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This month, Professor Ronald Evans and team investigated how we power our muscles and how we maintain that power during exercise.
Below is a cross-section of mouse muscle tissue showing individual muscle fibers and their power-supplying mitochondria (blue).
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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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