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Dear Salk community,
March has been robust in its news from the bench and around the Institute.
From the lab of Xin Jin came the compelling finding of how fluctuating dopamine levels in the brain dictate ongoing actions, and Rusty Gage's team has developed a method to predict, with over 90 percent accuracy, whether an individual with bipolar disorder will respond to lithium treatment.
On a personal note, I was excited to share scientific research on telomeres in a recent interview with PBS' Tavis Smiley and to also help promote women in the field through a social media app sporting emoji of women scientists.
Please read on for more information.
Yours in Discovery,
Elizabeth Blackburn
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New method predicts who will respond to lithium therapy
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Carol Marchetto, Rusty Gage, Shani Stern
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For roughly one-third of people with bipolar disorder, lithium is a miracle drug, effectively treating both mania and depression. But it can take up to a year to find out whether a newly diagnosed patient responds to lithium or not. The lab of
Rusty Gage reports a way to predict, with 92 percent accuracy, which group an individual falls into. The work, which appeared online in
Molecular Psychiatry
in February 2017, validates the lab's 2015 discovery of a cellular basis for the disorder and could help design better targeted therapies for those with bipolar.
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Hard choices? Ask your brain's dopamine
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Claire Geddes, Xin Jin and Hao Li |
Xin Jin's lab has found that the concentration of the brain chemical dopamine governs decisions about actions so precisely that measuring the level right before a decision allows researchers to accurately predict the outcome. The work may open new avenues for treating diseases like Parkinson's, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or drug addiction.
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President Blackburn digitally immortalized with a sticker app
Salk President Elizabeth Blackburn has been selected by GE as one of several top women in science and engineering whose accomplishments are being celebrated in an iMessage sticker app called
SciMoji: Women of Science
. The app, currently only for iPhones, can be downloaded via iTunes or the App Store. The app features Ada Lovelace, Beatrice Shilling, Chien-Shiung Wu, and Edith Clarke, in addition to Elizabeth Blackburn and others.
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Elizabeth Blackburn and Tavis Smiley
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Salk President
Elizabeth Blackburn sat down with PBS' Tavis Smiley to discuss the scientific research in
The New York Times bestselling book she co-wrote with health psychologist Elissa Epel, The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer.
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Step into spring with
Inside Salk
The spring edition of
Inside Salk will be rolling off the presses soon, featuring a Q&A with new Salk Board of Trustees Chair Ted Waitt, research of the microbiome and other discoveries and news from the Institute.
Interested in getting on our mailing list to receive the print version of
Inside Salk?
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A panel of accomplished women in the fields of l
ife sciences, research and technology will share their experiences and challenges during Salk Women & Science's spring forum, "Inspiring Women to Lead: Why it Matters to Science, Technology and Business," on March 29 in the Conrad T. Prebys Auditorium at the Institute. Salk President Elizabeth Blackburn will host the afternoon and Rebecca Newman, Salk's vice president of External Relations, will moderate the conversation.
Recipients of the 2017 Salk Women & Science Awards will also be announced at the forum. The awards provide selected graduate students and postdoctoral trainees funding for one year from $10,000 to $25,000 to pursue high-risk, high-reward research.
For more information and/or to RSVP to attend the event, contact Betsy Collins at (858) 500-4883 or via email at becollins@salk.edu.
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The Salk Science & Music Series concludes its fourth season with a jazz concert by the
Helen Sung Quartet at 4:00 p.m. Sunday, April 30, in the Conrad T. Prebys Auditorium. Comprising the science component of the afternoon, Salk Assistant Professor
Nicola Allen of the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory will discuss her research.
- April 30, 2017 - Helen Sung Quartet with Nicola Allen
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Thank you to everyone who helped the Salk Institute's
Twitter
account and
Facebook
page reach over 10,000 fans. You can join Salk's social media fan base by choosing either or both!
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Your support makes it possible for Salk to recruit and retain top-tier scientists, acquire the latest cutting-edge technology, and fuel innovative research initiatives, all of which provide extraordinary opportunities for scientific discovery.
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Salk Institute architecture
Download this amazing Salk architecture image for your smartphone, tablet or desktop.
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