Salk President Rusty Gage named to new five-year term to lead Institute
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Salk’s Board of Trustees, in consultation with the faculty and a search committee comprised of Board members, voted to offer Salk President
Rusty Gage
an extension on his term following numerous achievements made under his leadership since being named to the role roughly one year ago.
Under Gage’s leadership, the Institute launched bold, new research efforts; recruited dynamic new faculty members; and established an Office of Equity and Inclusion. In addition, Gage, a world-renowned neuroscientist, led the Institute in the successful application for a
$19.2 million award
from the American Heart Association-Allen Initiative in Brain Health and Cognitive Impairment to undertake a comprehensive eight-year investigation of the mechanisms underlying Alzheimer’s disease and aging-related cognitive decline in an effort to uncover new therapies.
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Age is more than just a number: machine learning may be able to predict if you're in for a healthy old age
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The labs of Assistant Professor
Saket Navlakha
and Vice President, Chief Science Officer
Martin Hetzer
analyzed skin cells ranging from the very young to the very old and found molecular signatures that can be predictive of age. By better understanding the biological processes of aging, this work could eventually help to address health conditions that are more common in old age, such as heart disease and dementia. The paper was published in
Genome Biology
.
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Salk scientists uncover the health effects of metabolic "magic bullet" protein
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The metabolic protein AMPK has been described as a kind of magic bullet for health, as it can improve cardiovascular health, treat mitochondrial disease—even extend life span. Now, the lab of Professor
Reuben Shaw
has developed a new system, published in
Cell Reports
, that lets them study in more detail than ever exactly how, where and when AMPK carries out its molecular and therapeutic functions.
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Thriving on teamwork: new research shows how brain cells filter information in groups
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From left: Thomas Albright, Ambarish Pawar and Sergei Gepshtein
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For decades, scientists studying the visual system thought that neurons operate as filters. Some neurons would prefer coarse details of the visual scene and ignore fine details, while others would do the opposite. The lab of Professor
Thomas Albright
has found that the same neurons that prefer coarse details could change to prefer finer details under different conditions. The work, published in
Neuron
, could help to better understand neural mechanisms that shape our perceptions of the world.
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Research highlight nerve cells made from skin cells are a valid lab model for studying disease
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The lab of Professor
Joseph Ecker
has shown that cells from mice that have been induced to grow into nerve cells have molecular signatures matching neurons that developed naturally in the brain. The study, published in
eLife
, opens the door for better ways to model an individual patient’s disease, and could also help to advance research into gene therapies that are derived from a patient’s own cells.
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Scientists reveal clues into early development of autism spectrum disorder
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The lab of President and Professor
Rusty Gage
compared stem cells created from individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) against stem cells created from those without ASD to uncover, for the first time, measurable differences in the patterns and speed of development in the ASD-derived cells. The findings, published in
Nature Neuroscience
, could lead to diagnostic methods to detect ASD at an early stage.
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The lab of Assistant Professor
Julie Law
showed which genes are turned on or off, and in which order, to protect and repair the genome in response to DNA damage. The research, published in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
, has broad implications for understanding how plants in particular, and organisms in general, cope with DNA damage to ensure long-term health and fitness.
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Salk researchers
used the latest DNA sequencing technologies to study exactly what happens at a molecular level when new genes are inserted into plants
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The lab of Professor
Joseph Ecker
mapped the genomes and epigenomes of genetically modified plant lines with the highest resolution ever to reveal exactly what happens at a molecular level when a piece of foreign DNA is inserted. Their findings, published in the journal
PLOS Genetics
,
elucidate the routine methods used to modify plants, and offer new ways to more effectively minimize potential off-target effects.
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Latest Salk Innovation Grants announced
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Salk’s Innovation Grants program embodies the vision and spirit of the Institute, funding out-of-the-box ideas that hold significant promise but may not yet have the track record to attract traditional funding sources.
Congratulations to the Joan and Irwin Jacobs December 2018 Innovation Grant awardees!
- Professor Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, Gene Expression Laboratory
- Associate Professor Sreekanth Chalasani, Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory; Research Associate Chen-Min Yeh; and Staff Scientist Gerald Pao
- Professor and Laboratory Head David Schubert, Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory; and Staff Scientist Antonio Currais
- Joseph Ecker, Professor in the Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory and Director of the Genomic Analysis Laboratory
- Professor Edward Callaway, Systems Neurobiology Laboratory
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Salk's Xin Jin receives McKnight Memory and Cognitive Disorders Award
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Xin Jin
, associate professor, has been selected as one of four scientists to receive a $300,000 McKnight Memory and Cognitive Disorders award from the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience. It will support his study of how the brain learns, remembers and executes actions.
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Salk Scientist Saket Navlakha Receives CAREER Award from NSF
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Saket Navlakha
, assistant professor, has received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The award will provide more than $1 million over the next five years for Navlakha’s investigations into naturally occurring algorithms in biological systems and how they compare to neurological systems.
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Salk President
Rusty Gage
named to new five-year term to lead Institute:
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Professor
Rusty Gage's
lab finds
new insight into how neurons associated with autism spectrum disorder develop:
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Associate Professor
Xin Jin
talks to the Dana Foundation about Parkinson's disease:
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Salk Science & Music Series
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The Salk Science & Music Series continues at
4:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 24, 2019
, with performances by Grammy-nominated cellist
Amit Peled
and pianist
Karen Joy Davis
along with a short scientific talk by Salk Professor
Jan Karlseder
. Enjoy a musical program from Brahms and Rachmaninoff. Be amazed and inspired!
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SAVE THE DATE
2019 Salk Women & Science Special Awards Presentation
Billions and billions of neurons—how a physicist makes sense of it all
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
4:30-7:00 p.m.
Conrad T. Prebys Auditorium
Join us for a scientific presentation by accomplished women in the field of computational biology. Learn about how the field
integrates experimental and theoretical approaches to understand the organization of signaling systems and the functional neuroanatomy of the brain, as well as how behavior arises from the interactions between the brain’s many components. This event is free, but you must RSVP to attend. Please note the new start time of 4:30 p.m.
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Interested in a complimentary
print
version of our award-winning magazine?
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The issue is available to read online here:
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Salk science wallpaper images
Looking for a unique background image for your computer, iPad or phone?
This month's image comes from a recent
press release
from Salk scientists in
Rusty Gage's
lab who found measurable differences in the patterns and speed of development in ASD-derived cells.
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