@salkinstitute
We explore the very foundations of life for the benefit of all. Our team of world-class, award-winning scientists pushes the boundaries of knowledge in research areas including aging, cancer and immunology to diabetes, and brain science.
Should younger and older people receive different treatments for the same infection?
New Salk research reveals that younger and older mice with sepsis follow distinct paths through sickness, suggesting that age-specific treatments may improve outcomes.
www.salk.edu/news-release...
Donors who give $1,000 or more to an area of greatest need will also join the Discovery Society, with special access to Salk news and events.
www.salk.edu/science-cant...
For the first time, the Del Mar Foundation is offering a 1:1 Challenge Match through June. Gifts made during the webinar series will be matched dollar for dollar, doubling your impact on critical research.
This webinar is the first of a three-part webinar series with the Del Mar Foundation, highlighting Salk's foundational research in brain health, cancer, and agriculture.
Join us on Wednesday, January 28, at 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET to learn directly from Salk scientist Emily Manoogian about how biological rhythms and daily habits influence health and lifestyle interventions that improve age-related diseases and cognitive decline.
www.salk.edu/science-cant...
San Diego Magazine has named Salk scientist Diana Hargreaves as one of San Diego’s Biggest Movers & Shakers of 2026. She has secured two awards and grants, the most recent being for her work on one of the most promising breakthroughs in pancreatic cancer.
sandiegomagazine.com/features/50-...
This year, we’re expanding our groundbreaking work from Alzheimer’s research to a bold, interconnected initiative dedicated to brain health for all.
Join us as we accelerate foundational discoveries that will transform our understanding—and protection—of the human brain.
salk.edu/brain-health
Introducing 2026: Salk’s Year of Brain Health
We’re entering a new era—one where the goal is not only to treat Alzheimer’s disease, but to prevent it.
At the Salk Institute, our scientists are uncovering how exercise, metabolism, sleep, immunity, and daily habits shape lifelong brain resilience.
The CCN1 pathway could now be a prime target for new therapeutics designed to support learning and plasticity in conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, depression, or PTSD, or to promote neural repair after injury or stroke.
Read more: www.salk.edu/news-release...
Scientists at the Salk Institute have now discovered a molecule that is critical for stabilizing brain circuits in adulthood: a protein called CCN1 secreted by star-shaped cells called astrocytes.
www.salk.edu/news-release...
This flexibility is called neuroplasticity, and our ability to learn, make new memories, and recover from injury all depend on it.
These wiring patterns become more stable with age, but biology has left some wiggle room to ensure that adult brains can still adapt and refine their circuitry as needed.
Young minds are easily molded. Each new experience rewires a child’s brain circuitry, adding and removing synaptic connections between neurons.
A thread🧵
Apply today to Salk Edge, a 2-week, technique-intensive summer program offering hands-on training, soft skills workshops, and direct engagement with Salk faculty.
The students will also receive $1,500 to help implement these new technologies in their own PhD lab.
www.salk.edu/about/our-co...
Sejnowski discusses neuro-AI, what he believes is the core difference between artificial and human intelligence, which pop-culture references to AI are the most realistic, and what our relationship with AI might look like in the years to come.
Watch here ⏯️ watch.salk.edu/media/t/1_vi...
“We are at the very beginning [of artificial intelligence]. This is the Wright brothers' stage of the field, and it’s going to change radically over the next few decades.”
- Salk Scientist Terrence Sejnowski
Curious about the future of AI? FOX 5 San Diego spoke with Salk's Terrence Sejnowski, a scientist who fundamentally connected the fields of neuroscience and artificial intelligence.
“ChatGPT was an overnight success that took 40 years of research to create,” he says.
watch.salk.edu/media/t/1_vi...
Their message is clear: philanthropic support is essential to keep scientific innovation moving.
Read the whole article here: www.the-scientist.com/science-can-...
These impact staffing, training, and long-term scientific advances in cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, infectious disease, and agricultural resilience.
With nearly half of Salk’s budget supported by federal grants, these uncertainties hit hard.
Federal funding uncertainty didn't end with the government shutdown.
In their new The Scientist op-ed, Salk scientists Jesse Dixon and Dmitry Lyumkis describe how delays and shifting priorities ripple through research labs.
www.the-scientist.com/science-can-...
"These therapies have transformed outcomes for patients with leukemia, lung cancer, gastrointestinal tumors, and many other malignancies."
"His work provided the molecular blueprint for targeted cancer therapies, enabling the development of more than 50 FDA-approved tyrosine kinase inhibitors that precisely block cancer-driving signals."
"In 1979, while studying how certain cancer-causing viruses alter cells, Dr. Hunter uncovered a previously unknown cellular process: tyrosine phosphorylation."
Congratulations to Salk scientist Tony Hunter, recipient of the National Foundation for Cancer Research 2025 Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research.
His pioneering discovery redefined our understanding of cancer and opened new paths for treatment.
Check out the Beyond Lab Walls podcast and meet Joe Herdy.
His work dives into how our neurons can carry different sets of DNA—and what that means for aging and Alzheimer’s disease.
From “zombie cells” to HIV drug inspiration, this episode covers it all. www.salk.edu/blw-podcast/...
In the waters of San Diego’s Mission Bay, a new hybrid seagrass has begun to grow. It is a cross between shallow-water Zostera marina and deeper-water Zostera pacifica, whose tolerance for low-light conditions is favorable as coastal waters become increasingly murky.
www.salk.edu/news-release....
Salk researchers are using a little flowering plant to answer the question: How do cells generate new epigenetic change? The answer marks a major shift in plant biology and may inform future epigenetic engineering strategies with medical and agricultural applications.
www.salk.edu/news-release...
🦠Reuben Shaw, cancer biologist who studies the connections between cancer and metabolism
🌿Joseph Nery, research assistant in Ecker's lab where he lends his expertise in single-cell genetic and epigenetic sequencing techniques and computational analyses
🧠Rusty Gage, neuroscientist who studies the plasticity, adaptability, and diversity of the brain
🧠Kay Tye, neuroscientist who studies the neural circuit basis of emotion and how it shapes social interaction, reward-seeking, and avoidance behaviors
🍎Christian Metallo, bioengineer who studies how our body metabolizes molecules like glucose, fats, and amino acids to generate the building blocks and energy we need to perform life-sustaining tasks
💤Satchin Panda, biologist and expert on the cellular and molecular basis of circadian rhythms
