Chimeric tool advanced for wide range of regenerative medicine, biomedical research applications

The ability to grow the cells of one species within an organism of a different species offers scientists a powerful tool for research and medicine. It’s an approach that could advance our understanding of early human development, disease onset and progression and aging; provide innovative platforms for drug evaluation; and address the critical need for transplantable organs. Researchers led by Salk Professor Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte have now come one step closer toward accessing this tool by demonstrating a new integration of human cells into animal tissue in a new study published in the journal Cell.
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SCIENTIFIC UPDATES
Fast, portable test can diagnose COVID-19 and track variants
Photo credit: Mo Li/KAUST
Clinicians using a new viral screening test can not only diagnose COVID-19 in a matter of minutes with a portable, pocket-sized machine, but can also simultaneously test for other viruses—like influenza—that might be mistaken for the coronavirus. The new test, dubbed NIRVANA and created by a multi-institution team of scientists led by Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, was detailed in the journal Med.
The novel coronavirus’ spike protein plays additional key role in illness
Scientists have known for a while that SARS-CoV-2's distinctive “spike” proteins help the virus infect its host by latching on to healthy cells. Now, a study in Circulation Research co-led by Salk Assistant Research Professor Uri Manor shows that they also play a key role in the disease itself. The findings, which show that SARS-CoV-2 is a vascular disease, damaging and attacking the vascular system, help explain COVID-19’s wide variety of seemingly unconnected complications and could open the door for more effective therapies.
Researchers trace spinal neuron family tree
Spinal cord nerve cells branching through the body resemble trees with limbs fanning out in every direction, an image that can be used to tell the story of how these neurons arose through developmental and evolutionary history. As detailed in Science, Salk Professor Samuel Pfaff and his team have, for the first time, traced the development of spinal cord neurons using genetic signatures and revealed how different subtypes of the cells may have evolved and ultimately function to regulate our body movements.
To learn about the numerous aging-related discoveries made in April, click here.
IN THE NEWS
Salk scientists Eiman Azim and Sharona Ben-Haim discuss the neuroscience of motor control with Alan Alda
Professor Wolfgang Busch - Getting to the Root of Roots
Researchers find how Venus flytrap plants can react to touch
Salk scientist Ronald Evans wins $250,000 Asan Award in basic medicine
What the coronavirus variants mean for testing
Local resident honored with endowed chair at Salk Institute
70 & Sunny: Ron and King
Joanne Chory is using
plants to save the planet
San Diego arts, health, science and youth groups to share $71M from Prebys Foundation
Reap the rewards of intermittent fasting, and avoid the downsides
FACULTY FOCUS
Salk appoints biophysicist Uri Manor as assistant research professor
The Salk Institute has appointed Uri Manor to the position of assistant research professor, a non-tenure faculty position. Manor has been a Salk staff scientist and director of the Waitt Advanced Biophotonics Core Facility since 2016. He will lead an independent research group and continue his work developing cutting-edge imaging techniques to illuminate biologically relevant targets.
Dannielle Engle awarded prestigious pancreatic cancer research grant honoring Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Salk Assistant Professor Dannielle Engle was selected as the first recipient of the Lustgarten Foundation-AACR Career Development Award for Pancreatic Cancer Research in Honor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late Supreme Court Justice and women’s rights pioneer.
Salk’s Sreekanth Chalasani wins 2021 NPA Gallagher Mentor Award
Salk Associate Professor Sreekanth Chalasani has won the 2021 National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) Gallagher Mentor Award. The announcement was made at the 2021 NPA Annual Conference, which took place April 15 and 16. Chalasani was one of eight finalists for the prestigious award.
Padres Pedal the Cause Virtual Event on May 8
This year’s Padres Pedal the Cause event will be a virtual experience where participants give 100% of themselves by taking the 100% challenge—whether it is 100 reps, 100 minutes, or 100 miles of a favorite activity to fundraise in honor of survivors, fighters or loved ones lost to cancer. A record $3.1 million was raised by last year’s Padres Pedal the Cause event, funding cancer research at five San Diego facilities, including the Salk Institute. 100% of money received will go to fund local cancer research efforts.
Spring 2021 Inside Salk coming soon
To read more about the Salk Institute’s collaborative and innovative aging research, keep an eye out for the Spring 2021 Inside Salk, available in May!

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This month’s image comes from a recent press release from the lab of Samuel Pfaff. This image shows spinal cord neurons that only had short connections (green) and those that had more long-range connections (purple).
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