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7 Reasons to Tour the the Salk Institute in La Jolla

The Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla California is a world-famous research institute that opened its doors in 1963 under the watchful eye of Jonas Salk, who is credited with developing the first safe and effective polio vaccine. He envisioned it as a collaborative environment where researchers could explore the basic principles of life and contemplate the wider implications of their discoveries.

Visit the Salk Institute

To design the facility, Salk joined forces with famous architect Louis Kahn and directed him to “create a facility worthy of a visit by Picasso.”

But can you visit Salk Institute?

Absolutely, and there are many reasons to do so! The Salk Institute remains one of the world’s leading architectural marvels ; its spacious, unobstructed laboratory rooms and sharp lines continue to stun architects and tourists alike. World-famous for both architecture and biology, here are seven reasons you need to a book a Salk Institute tour.

Reasons to Tour the Salk Institute for Biological Studies

1. It’s one of the top biology research facilities in the world.

Nestled in the hills and rocky bluffs of La Jolla California, the Salk Institute has been making impactful discoveries since its completion in 1963. The institute’s major areas of study are aging and regenerative medicine, cancer biology, immune system biology, metabolism and diabetes, neuroscience and neurological disorders, molecular biology, and plant biology. Its cancer center is one of the best in the world.

Salk research provides new understanding and potential treatments for a range of diseases, from AIDS, Parkinson’s Disease, and Alzheimer’s Disease to cancer and cardiovascular disorders. Discoveries by plant biologists are paving the way to improving the quality and quantity of the world’s food supply and to addressing critical environmental problems, including global warming.

2. It has been deemed one of the boldest architectural feats of all time.

Pioneering architect Louis Kahn truly created an architectural marvel. His masterpiece consists of two mirror-image structures – each six stories tall – that flank a grand travertine courtyard. Three floors house laboratories and the three levels above them provide access to utilities. Towers jutting into the courtyard provide study space for senior faculty members. Towers at the east end contain heating, ventilating and other support systems. At the west end are six floors of offices overlooking the Pacific Ocean. In total, the Institute is comprised of 29 different structures.

In July 2017, Salk Institute announced with the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) that conservation efforts were complete for one of the key architectural elements at the Salk Institute – its gorgeous teak window walls. Now, the teak wood window walls will be protected and maintained for the next 50 years.

3. Research here has already impacted YOU directly.

The Salk Institute was started by Dr. Jonas Salk, the man who developed the first successful polio vaccine. The disease used to be a serious fear as many people, especially children, died of it. Thanks to the work of Dr. Salk, polio is now preventable.

Jonas Salk’s mission was to dare to make dreams into reality, and he’s best known for dedicating an extended portion of his career to developing a polio vaccine. Other career achievements include but are not limited to serving on the board of directors of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, receiving the Albert Lasker Award, and of course, founding the Salk Institute.

4. Walking the establishment, you’re passing by some of the world’s top minds.

As the scientists and researches come in and out of offices, you never know what groundbreaking projects they’re working on. Research here has provided new understanding and potential treatments for a range of other neurological diseases, from AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s Disease to cancer and cardiovascular disorders. Discoveries by plant biologists and scientists are paving the way to improving the quality and quantity of the world’s food supply and to addressing critical environmental problems, including global warming. Its Center of Excellence in Stem Cells Genomics was created through a $40 million award by California’s stem cells research agency, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. It continues to deliver groundbreaking research in the field.

Salk said of his institute, “The Salk Institute is a curious place, not easily understood, and the reason for it is that this is a place in the process of creation. It is being created and is engaged in studies of creation. We cannot be certain what will happen here, but we can be certain it will contribute to the welfare and understanding of man.”

5. You may meet a Nobel Prize Candidate or Nobel Laureate.

One of those very people passing could’ve won or be currently up for a Nobel Prize . To date, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies has produced six Nobel Laureates (including Elizabeth Blackburn and Francis Crick), one National Medal of Science winner, and countless others. View the full list of awards and accolades  here .

Salk scientists, such as Robert Holley, are well known the world over for their work in the field of medicine. In fact, Holley shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1968.

6. It’s a beautiful spot for lunch.

On the ocean-facing side of the venue sits a small eatery called the CulinArt café; it’s open for lunch Monday-Friday. It’s the perfect place to grab a sandwich and enjoy views of the architecture, San Diego, and Pacific Ocean.

7. The view is unbeatable

The Gliderport is just north of the Salk Institute, so, if the wind’s are right, there’s a good chance you’ll seem some hang gliders or paragliders cruising the sky over the Pacific Ocean and San Diego. During the winter, you may be lucky enough to spot some whales or even dolphins as they make their migration south.

Ready to book your tour? Guided architectural tours are offered at noon Monday through Friday. It’s important to reserve your spot ahead of time; you can do so at the  Salk Institute’s Architecture Tour home page .

If you’re interested in more than a tour, the Institute also offers  free  “Meet-A-Scientist” talks at 11:30am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. All visitors are welcome, and they’re a great way to gain a more in-depth understanding about the latest scientific discoveries at the Institute with a Salk researcher.

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What is the Salk Institute Known for?

The Salk Institute in La Jolla is known for many things in addition to the fact that it was founded by the world renowned Jonas Salk. This includes the architecture of the building, its many areas of research, and its partnership with UCSD and local San Diego biotech companies . It’s also known as one of the best things to do in La Jolla , as you could easily spend an entire day taking in the outside and touring the interior.

More About the Salk Institute Research Areas

The Salk Institute has many areas of research, including but not limited to aging, cancer, genetics, infectious disease, and neuroscience. Its use of chemical process calculations , in particular, has generated attention from researchers around the world.

What Style of Architecture is the Salk Institute?

The Salk Institute in San Diego is an architectural landmark that attracts thousands upon thousands of visitors every year. World-renowned architect Louis I. Kahn designed the research facility in the modernist style of architecture which can be seen in the use of concrete, teak, lead, glass and steel.

Although the Salk Institute was built in 1960, it remains an architectural wonder. And for that reason, you’ll still hear people refer to it as the Louis Kahn Salk Institute. In the world of La Jolla architecture , it’s the cream of the crop.

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Is Salk Institute Part of UCSD?

The Salk Institute is not a degree-granting institution of higher education (it’s an independent nonprofit organization), but it does manage a graduate program in correspondence with UCSD. Furthermore, all Salk Research Institute professors have adjunct appointments at UC San Diego.

Salk Institute Tours

If you’re interested in a Salk Institute tour, contact the organization via phone or online to learn more about your options. Hours change regularly, so it’s best to verify your plans in advance. Note: you can take a virtual tour of the Salk Institute at any time.

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There’s no right or wrong time to visit the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. You can take a closer look on your own, or sign up for one of the many Salk Institute tours or events.

10010 N Torrey Pines Rd La Jolla, CA 92037

From the Salk Institute interior to the exterior architecture, you can spend an entire day here in amazement!

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Salk Institute - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

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Salk Institute for Biological Studies

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Nina Dietzel

The Salk Institute is worth a visit for anyone intrigued by architecture–just not on the weekend! Which is of course, when I went. Which is also why you wont see any INSIDE pictures (from me, at least) in this post. No pleading, begging, or bribing got me through the gates. And I’m usually very persuasive. Regardless, it was impressive to come face to face with the magnitude of Louis Kahn’s imposing architecture, which has been described as the single most significant architectural site in San Diego. The clean lines and the use of straight forward unfinished materials, such as concrete, teak, lead, glass and steel make the Salk Institute’s architecture timeless. The outside views were certainly not a waste, but I can’t wait to return to take one of their architectural tours. When that happens, I’ll promise to serve up more inside shots! >>>A big thank you to Marriott’s recently opened SpringHill Suites San Diego Downtown/Bayfront (http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/sandh-springhill-suites-san-diego-downtown-bayfront) for accommodations.

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Salk institute – modern, monumental & monolithic, a louis kahn miracle by the ocean.

Take a break from the zoo and the beaches in San Diego and head north to La Jolla for an architectural treat. The Salk Institute is a Louis Kahn masterpiece. I still have to see another building that matches this one.

Information on this page, including website, location, and opening hours, is subject to have changed since this page was last published. If you would like to report anything that’s inaccurate, let us know at [email protected].

Salk Institute

In 1960 Jonas Salk, the polio-prevention pioneer, founded the Salk Institute for biological and biomedical research. San Diego County donated 27 acres of land, the March of Dimes provided financial support and renowned architect Louis Kahn designed the building, completed in 1965. It is regarded as a modern masterpiece, with its classically proportioned travertine-marble plaza and cubist, mirror-glass laboratory blocks framing a perfect view of the Pacific, and the fountain in the courtyard symbolizing the River of Life.

The Salk Institute attracts the best scientists to work in a research-only environment. The original buildings were expanded with new laboratories designed by Jack McAllister, a follower of Kahn’s work.

10010 N Torrey Pines Rd

Get In Touch

858-453-4100

https://www.salk.edu

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Tour Louis Kahn's Magnificent Salk Institute in La Jolla, California

By Lee F. Mindel, FAIA

Much has been written about the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Louis Kahn’s 1965 architectural masterpiece overlooking the Pacific Ocean in La Jolla, California. It is a world-renowned research center founded by Jonas Salk, who discovered and developed the first vaccine for polio in 1950s. His instructions to the architect were simple: It should be “worthy of a visit by Picasso.”

I have studied drawings and photographs of the institute and, back when I was a student, attended lectures by Kahn, but I was not prepared for the almost physical impact of the design. Standing in its iconic central plaza, with that line of water running down the center and seeming to disappear into the ocean beyond, you sense Kahn’s unique ability to integrate architecture, landscape, and purpose—in Salk’s case, science—into a seamless whole.

The intimacy of the place is astounding, which is somehow not at odds with its monumental presence. While photographing, I struck up a conversation with a few institute employees, one of whom opened his cell phone to show me pictures he had taken at sunset the night before. “Every day here is a different experience,” he said. “It never ceases to amaze me, and I’ve been here for 25 years.”

Join me on a tour of a modern classic.

By Katherine McLaughlin

By Katie Schultz

By Perri Ormont Blumberg

• Table of Contents
• Observations
• In Memorium
• Discoveries

Frontiers What’s so special about Salk? Everything.

In August 1921, a dozen years before he became President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was enjoying some much-needed family time with his wife, Eleanor, and their five children at the family’s summer home on Campobello Island, off the coast of New Brunswick, Canada. After an active day spent sailing, swimming and running races with the children, Roosevelt began to feel achy and chilled. He went to bed early, awaking the next morning with a fever and diminishing control of his legs.

Two weeks later and still quite ill, Roosevelt was diagnosed with poliomyelitis (polio), a highly contagious virus that attacks motor neurons—cells that, among other things, enable us to swallow, breathe and move our limbs. Despite his hopes for a complete recovery, he would never walk unassisted again.

In the early 20th century, before Jonas Salk developed the first polio vaccine, Roosevelt was one of tens of thousands of Americans whose lives were upended by the infection. The experience was so life-changing that Roosevelt became dedicated to finding a cure for polio as well as helping other survivors—mostly children (polio was also known as infantile paralysis)—recover.

Although Salk and Roosevelt would never meet, their shared vision of a world without polio would lead not only to the lifesaving vaccine but also to a pioneering research institution like no other: the Salk Institute.

“Jonas was well aware that the development of his institute would be an evolutionary process, and he viewed it as an experiment.”

– Suzanne Bourgeois

Unique beginnings

In 1938, during his second term, Roosevelt set up a nonpartisan organization called the Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (later called the March of Dimes), which was dedicated to finding a cure for polio as well as helping survivors. Over the next several decades, the foundation would fund the work of numerous researchers, including a young Jonas Salk, first at the University of Michigan, where he researched an influenza vaccine, and then at the University of Pittsburgh, where he would develop the polio vaccine.

When Salk’s polio vaccine was declared safe and effective in 1955, he instantly became the most famous scientist in the world. With that success, the 40-year-old researcher began to envision an institute at which basic scientific research could be conducted for other human diseases.

One of Salk’s early conversations on the topic was with Leo Szilard, a Hungarian-born physicist who had studied with Albert Einstein in Berlin and was a friend of the Nobel Prize winner. In 1933, Szilard had realized how an atomic chain reaction could be harnessed in a bomb. In 1939, he convinced Einstein, who was then at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, to write a letter to President Roosevelt warning him that the Germans were attempting to make an atomic bomb. (A one-act play about Szilard’s efforts to control the bomb, Uranium + Peaches, premiered at the Salk Institute on June 21, 2018.)

Szilard, who turned to biology after World War II, had long dreamed of an institution devoted to public health research. So when he met Salk at a biology conference in 1956, the two had a great deal to discuss. A few years later, Szilard would be among the first Nonresident Fellows at the Salk Institute—faculty members not permanently based at the Institute.

Jonas Salk also consulted another physicist, Robert Oppenheimer. Both Szilard and Oppenheimer were part of the Manhattan Project, which was a US government research project that ran from 1942 to 1945 to develop the first atomic bomb. The effort resulted in the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, leading to the end of World War II. After the war, Oppenheimer became head of the Institute for Advanced Study. That institute appealed to Salk as a model for his own. Coincidentally, Oppenheimer was invited to be on a committee to assess whether to establish Salk’s proposed institute at the University of Pittsburgh.

When those negotiations stalled, Oppenheimer, who respected what Salk was attempting, asked whether Salk had considered going to California.

Salk had, in fact, been considering a number of locations for his institute, among them Palo Alto and La Jolla, California. The location decision was a difficult one, so Salk reached out to a friend and confidant, famed journalist Edward R. Murrow, for advice. Murrow had become a household name through his coverage of World War II for CBS. His 1955 coverage of the polio vaccine made Jonas Salk a household name as well, and the two became close. In 1961, Murrow would become a member of the Salk Institute’s first Board of Trustees.

Ultimately, the offer of land from the City of San Diego and proximity to the new UC San Diego campus made La Jolla the more attractive option, and the Salk Institute was founded there—at least on paper, to begin with—in 1960.

“Jonas was well aware that the development of his institute would be an evolutionary process, and he viewed it as an experiment,” says Professor Emerita Suzanne Bourgeois in a book she wrote about the Institute (see sidebar, page 21). “The experiment continues today, and in these changing times the Salk Institute is evolving and adapting as well. It has the brains that made it a scientific success story, and the inspirational building that made it a historical landmark.”

Exceptional people

As negotiations for an institute location were underway in 1959-60, Salk was busily recruiting faculty. Salk offered something few research institutions did—an extraordinary amount of freedom. No teaching, no clinical work, no intellectual constraints—faculty would not be pigeon-holed into research “silos” but could explore ideas across disciplines, learning with and from each other.

This appealed to biophysicist Francis Crick, who had discovered the double-helix structure of DNA with James Watson in 1953 and would win the Nobel Prize for that discovery in 1962, the same year he became a Nonresident Fellow at the Salk Institute. That same year, Salk’s vision also attracted biochemist Jacques Monod, who would win the Nobel Prize in 1965 for some of the earliest work showing how genes are regulated (turned on or off). Virologist Renato Dulbecco left Caltech for the Salk Institute in 1962, also. In 1975, he would win the Nobel Prize for the discovery that viruses can cause cancer by inserting genes into the chromosomes of infected cells. Chemist Robert Holley left Cornell University for Salk in 1968, the same year he won the Nobel Prize for his role in discovering how a molecule called tRNA transports the building blocks of proteins—amino acids—based on the DNA code. And neuroscientist Roger Guillemin left Baylor College for Salk in 1970. In 1973, he discovered a brain hormone, somatostatin, which is used to treat neuroendocrine tumors and other conditions. In 1977, he won the Nobel Prize for his discovery of peptide hormones in the brain.

These pioneering scientists—several already famous—were willing to leave the safety of established universities for an entirely new type of institution and exemplified the daring approach to scientific discovery that has come to characterize the Salk Institute.

Walter Eckhart joined Salk as a postdoctoral scholar in the lab of Renato Dulbecco in 1965 and became one of the first assistant professors at the Institute in 1969, remaining until retiring as professor emeritus. Eckhart, who died unexpectedly in June 2022, was a leader in understanding cell growth and the biology of cancer and served as director of the Salk Cancer Center and Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory for more than 30 years.

“I was attracted by the world-class research being done at the Institute,” said Eckhart shortly before his death. “The collaborative, interactive environment was exceptional.”

Professor Emerita Catherine Rivier arrived as a graduate student in 1970, moving to the Institute with her mentor, Roger Guillemin. She became an assistant professor shortly thereafter. “What I liked best about the Institute was that we were left alone to do our research, and I cannot tell you how important and precious this was, particularly when compared to what my colleagues elsewhere had to deal with,” says Rivier. “No teaching unless we wanted to, very limited committee participation and an administration that supported us but stayed out of our way. This allowed us to devote all our time and energy to research, which was a unique gift.”

“The remarkable history and architecture of the Institute inspires our scientists daily to forge new scientific paths with the same bold spirit of discovery as the Institute’s founders.”

– Rusty Gage

Inspiring and collaborative environment

As the number of notable scientists and supporters of the new institute grew, Jonas Salk looked for an architect who could design a building that embodied his pioneering idea of collaborative research without intellectual boundaries.

He found such a partner in Louis Kahn, a University of Pennsylvania architecture professor who was building a laboratory for the university. Their shared interest in the interplay between art and science led Salk to ask Kahn to “create a facility worthy of Picasso.”

Kahn’s resulting structure of concrete, steel, teak and travertine marble has been called “a cathedral to science” and is considered one of the finest examples of modern architecture in the world. Every year, thousands of domestic and international visitors marvel at the majestic building high atop a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Salk wanted the scientists working within the concrete walls to be inspired by the location and the structure, whose marble courtyard forms what Mexican architect Luis Barragán termed “a façade to the sky.” Salk wanted them to interact and collaborate, and Kahn’s design encourages this with continuous expanses of laboratory spaces without permanent walls, where one lab runs into the next. Shared kitchens, lounges and meeting rooms further promote a sense of community.

Jonas Salk’s strategy was effective: Scientists at the Institute are inspired to ask big questions and make groundbreaking discoveries.

“Cross-disciplinary collaboration is one of the best ways to approach the types of complex scientific and health-related questions we ask at Salk.”

– Susan Kaech

Conversations that drive change

Biophysicist Francis Crick and chemist Leslie Orgel, who both arrived at the Institute in 1964, met regularly for lunch to discuss the origins of life and other topics. Orgel and Crick were early proponents of the idea that life on Earth was based on RNA (DNA’s cousin) before it was based on DNA, a concept known as the “RNA World” hypothesis. Their conversations led to efforts to re-create replicating, evolving RNA molecules in a test tube through a combination of chemistry and directed evolution. Salk Professor and Chief Science Officer Gerald Joyce , who was a student with Orgel, continues to be a leader in this field. Re-creating plausible facsimiles in the lab may give insight into early evolutionary processes, as well as how to design synthetic RNA molecules for therapeutic uses in cancer, immune disorders and other diseases.

“Those were heady days at Salk,” Joyce says. “Both when Crick and Orgel were leaders at the dawn of molecular biology, and when I was a student here in the 1980s and the opportunity to reconstruct RNA-based life first became an experimental possibility.”

In 2007, neuroscientists Professor Edward Callaway and his graduate student Ian Wickersham came up with a technique that revolutionized brain research. A key piece of this method came from a collaboration with then-Salk Professor John Young, a virologist now at Roche. Callaway was describing to Young the problems with using viruses that naturally infect neurons, such as rabies, to trace connections between the mammalian cells used in the lab. Because rabies spreads nonstop between cells, it’s very hard to devise an accurate map of how individual neurons are connected to one another, which is essential if we want to understand how neuronal communication is disrupted in diseases such as schizophrenia, autism and Alzheimer’s.

From a lab in Germany, Callaway’s team had already received a genetically modified rabies virus that didn’t spread nonstop, but they were having difficulties targeting it to the specific neurons of interest. Young immediately had a solution: use a protein combination found in a bird virus that his lab studied. The EnvA protein on the outside of the bird virus gets into bird cells by attaching to a receptor protein on the cells called TVA. EnvA is like a key and TVA is like a lock; together they enable entry into a cell.

Wickersham worked with Young’s postdoctoral researcher to customize the German virus to carry the EnvA “key” on the outside. Then, by genetically modifying the mammalian neurons of interest with the TVA “lock,” they were able to selectively infect those cells. Fluorescent proteins expressed from the virus allowed the researchers, using microscopes, to see the path traced between connected cells. The method, now known as monosynaptic neural circuit tracing, has become one of the most useful tools in neuroscience research.

More recently, conversations between faculty on the topic of aging have led to several exciting collaborations. Professors Jan Karlseder , an expert on telomeres (the protective DNA caps at the end of chromosomes), and Gerald Shadel , an expert in mitochondria (structures that generate energy for cells), have teamed up to explore cross talk between the two. So far, they have discovered that shortening telomeres kick off a cascade of molecular signals that ultimately trigger the destruction of aging, unstable cells with critically short telomeres, preventing them from becoming cancerous. Stabilizing this pathway could offer a new approach for preventing age-related cancers.

Associate Professor Diana Hargreaves , who studies how mutations can make cells forget their identity and turn cancerous, and Professor Susan Kaech , director of the NOMIS Center for Immunobiology and Microbial Pathogenesis , are working together to study cancer immunotherapy—using the body’s immune system to recognize and destroy cancer.

“Cross-disciplinary collaboration is one of the best ways to approach the types of complex scientific and health-related questions we ask at Salk,” says Kaech. “Other places may talk about the importance of collaborating, but Salk actually encourages and supports it with institutional resources.”

Some of Salk’s more unusual collaborations involve plants. Professor Wolfgang Busch , co-director of the Harnessing Plants Initiative , has teamed up with Professor Reuben Shaw , director of the Salk Cancer Center, to study starvation signals in plants. Shaw’s cancer research lab has been studying genes altered in lung cancer whose normal function is to sense when cells are starving for nutrients. It turns out the cancer genes go so far back in evolutionary time that a common ancestor of plants and animals passed them on to both groups. Thus, these genes also control the response to starvation in plants.

Busch and Shaw wondered whether one of the genes, AMPK, might also be active in plants. Recently, Shaw’s team had some new potential activators of the AMPK pathway in human cells and were curious to see whether any of them might also trigger responses in plants and what effect that might have on roots and carbon storage, which is Busch’s area of expertise. Their preliminary work suggests some AMPK activators are active in plants and might prove helpful to the Initiative’s effort to increase the amount of carbon plants can store in their roots as a means to mitigate climate change.

“Faculty are attracted to Salk because of its intimate size and the opportunity to think really big about their field,” says Shaw. “There aren’t many other places where a cancer biologist and a plant biologist would team up, but at Salk, collaborations like Wolfgang’s and mine happen naturally. It’s early days, but it’s the kind of cross-pollination that could only happen at Salk.”

Plants use sensory proteins to detect and respond to touch signals from animals and neighboring plants. With a 2022 Salk Innovation Grant, Professor Joanne Chory , Associate Professor Sreekanth Chalasani and Staff Scientist Carl Procko will investigate these proteins to see if they are sensitive to high-frequency sound waves. The work could help scientists modify how plants behave in the presence of other plants and contribute to the growing body of research on “ sonogenetics ,” a method Chalasani developed for noninvasively controlling cells with sound waves. Their findings could also lead to new ways for treating conditions like chronic pain, epilepsy and PTSD.

A history of pioneering discoveries

In 1979, Professor Tony Hunter discovered a molecular switch called tyrosine phosphorylation, which turns cells cancerous. The discovery enabled the development of an entire class of lifesaving cancer drugs called tyrosine kinase inhibitors, which includes Gleevec, Iressa and Tarceva.

In 1985, Professor Ronald Evans discovered a large family of molecules called nuclear hormone receptors, which respond to various steroid and thyroid hormones as well as to vitamins. Because these hormones help control sugar, salt, calcium and fat metabolism, they affect our daily health as well as treatment of disease. The receptors Evans discovered are primary targets in the treatment of breast cancer, prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer and leukemia, as well as osteoporosis and asthma.

One of the receptors, PPAR delta, has led to a new class of PPAR delta drugs called exercise mimetics, which promote the benefits of fitness without the need to train. Clinical trials are underway on these drugs, which represent an important advance in addressing problems arising from excess weight and obesity, such as frailty, muscular dystrophy and type 2 diabetes.

Also in 1985, Professor Ursula Bellugi, a pioneer in the neurobiology of American Sign Language, led the way to the watershed discovery that the left hemisphere of the brain becomes specialized for languages, both spoken and signed. ( See In Memoriam feature )

In 2002, Professor Rusty Gage , now Salk’s president, discovered that—contrary to the thinking at the time—the adult brain continues producing new neurons throughout the life span in a process called neurogenesis.

“The story of the Salk Institute’s origins is the story of a number of 20th century icons, including Jonas Salk himself,” says Gage. “The remarkable history and architecture of the Institute inspire our scientists daily to forge new scientific paths with the same bold spirit of discovery as the Institute’s founders.”

—and we’re just getting started

Today, Salk faculty are making discoveries that may one day turn the tide on Alzheimer’s, aging, cancers, climate change and more. The Institute that Jonas Salk established in 1960 is unique among elite research institutions for its exceptional history, visionary collaboration-promoting design and trailblazing faculty, past and present.

“Salk truly is different than any other research organization,” says Gage. “Our brilliant faculty, inspired by Louis Kahn’s magnificent building, are committed to Jonas Salk’s vision of helping humanity through basic scientific research.

Salk’s first female faculty

Although women were not well represented in science for much of the 20th century, four of Salk’s early faculty were highly accomplished female scientists. Ursula Bellugi and Suzanne Bourgeois were recruited to the Institute in 1968 and 1969, respectively; Catherine Rivier joined in 1970. Marguerite Vogt arrived in 1963 as a research fellow in Renato Dulbecco’s group and was appointed research professor in 1973.

Professor Emerita Ursula Bellugi pioneered the study of the biological foundation of language. She is regarded as the founder of the neurobiology of American Sign Language (ASL) because her work was the first to show it as a true language as processed by the brain, revealing more about how the brain learns, interprets and forgets language. Her expertise in neurobiological, genetic and behavioral studies allowed humanity to better understand Williams syndrome and autism, two conditions that affect social behaviors in opposite ways. Together, her studies on Williams syndrome, autism and sign language helped paint a picture of the biology humans use to interact with the world around us. In 2019, the Salk Women & Science program renamed its Trailblazer Award in honor of Bellugi, who established an endowed fund to support those who have pioneered changes within the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) fields. Bellugi died on April 17, 2022, at the age of 91. ( Read more about Bellugi’s life and legacy here .)

Professor Emerita Suzanne Bourgeois conducted pioneering work on the regulation of gene expression—the process cells use to turn genes on or off—using the bacterial lactose (lac) operon as a model system. In the 1960s, when little was known about the circuit, Bourgeois demonstrated that the lac repressor was a protein. She used the system for the first characterization of the interaction of a regulatory protein with DNA. She later studied the regulation of genes in animal cells and eventually identified compounds that could be useful to reverse multidrug resistance in cancer. After Bourgeois retired from Salk, she wrote the authoritative book on the founding of the Salk Institute, Genesis of the Salk Institute: The Epic of Its Founders. Bourgeois was married to one of the Institute’s founders, Melvin Cohn, from 1963 until his death in 2018. She established the Suzanne Bourgeois Women & Science Fund to advance the work of female Salk faculty.

Professor Emerita Catherine Rivier was instrumental in explaining how specialized areas of the brain respond to stressors and communicate with the rest of the body via hormones. She studied how a variety of stressors such as fear, avoidance of unfavorable environments, infection, inflammation and drugs of abuse are conveyed to the brain, and how the hypothalamus mounts adequate responses. Rivier also investigated the role of the hypothalamic peptide GnRH on testicular function. In collaboration with her husband and colleague, Salk Professor Jean Rivier, she designed antagonists to this peptide, which are currently used clinically to treat steroid-dependent conditions such as prostate cancer, endometriosis and precocious puberty. Finally, her team identified a new pathway through which the brain controls the activity of the testes, a discovery that offered insights into puzzling cases of low testosterone secretion connected to stressors or diseases. In 2018, Catherine Rivier was honored with the inaugural Trailblazer Award from Salk Women & Science.

Research Professor Marguerite Vogt was a Salk icon until she retired in 1993. Born in 1914 to German neuroscientists, Vogt grew up studying the genetics of fruit flies. She obtained her medical degree from the University of Berlin in 1937, but her work and life were disrupted by World War II. In 1950, she immigrated to the US to take a research position at Caltech, where she met Renato Dulbecco (see more on page 16). The two collaborated on polio studies and were the first to successfully grow the polio virus in the lab. In 1963, she followed Dulbecco to the Salk Institute, where they worked on cancer. Vogt contributed to the work for which Dulbecco won the Nobel Prize in 1975. Not one to care about accolades for herself, Vogt worked 10-hour days into her 90s and educated or helped train scores of scientists, young postdoctoral fellows and graduate students. Those under her tutelage include four Nobel Prize laureates. Vogt died in 2007 at age 94.

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AD Classics: Salk Institute / Louis Kahn

• Written by Luke Fiederer

This article was originally published on August 27, 2017. To read the stories behind other celebrated architecture projects, visit our AD Classics section. In 1959, Jonas Salk , the man who had discovered the vaccine for polio, approached Louis I. Kahn with a project. The city of San Diego , California had gifted him with a picturesque site in La Jolla along the Pacific coast, where Salk intended to found and build a biological research center. Salk, whose vaccine had already had a profound impact on the prevention of the disease, was adamant that the design for this new facility should explore the implications of the sciences for humanity. He also had a broader, if no less profound, directive for his chosen architect: to “create a facility worthy of a visit by Picasso.” The result was the Salk Institute, a facility lauded for both its functionality and its striking aesthetics – and the manner in which each supports the other.[1,2]

Along with these lofty instructions, Salk laid down a series of more practical requirements. Laboratory spaces in the new facility would have to be open, spacious, and easily updated as new discoveries and technologies advanced the course of scientific research. The entire structure was to be simple and durable, requiring minimal maintenance. At the same time, it was to be bright and welcoming – an inspiring environment for the researchers who would work there.[3]

Kahn’s scheme for the Institute is spatially orchestrated in a similar way to a monastery: a secluded intellectual community. Three zones were to stand apart, all facing the ocean to the west: the Meeting House, the Village, and the laboratories. The Meeting House was to be a large community and conference venue, while the Village was to have provided living quarters; each part of the complex would then have been separated from its parallel neighbors by a water garden. Ultimately, the Meeting House and Village were cut from the project, and only the laboratories were built.[4]

The laboratories of the Salk Institute, first conceived as a pair of towers separated by a garden, evolved into two elongated blocks mirroring each other across a paved plaza. The central court is lined by a series of detached towers whose diagonal protrusions allow for windows facing westward onto the ocean. These towers are connected to the rectangular laboratory blocks by small bridges, providing passage across the rifts of the two sunken courts which allow natural light to permeate into the research spaces below. Kahn included these courts not only as light wells, but as references to the cloisters of the monastery of St. Francis of Assisi – an example for which Salk had previously expressed his admiration.[5,6]

Many of the design decisions Kahn implemented in the Salk Institute derived from lessons learned during his work on the Richards Medical Research Laboratories at the University of Pennsylvania. Issues with crowding at the Richards Laboratories led to the more open, unobstructed layout at Salk. It was also in Pennsylvania that Kahn first developed the notion of separating research spaces from utilities infrastructure on different floors, an innovation which would be applied more comprehensively in his later project. The alternation of laboratory and infrastructural levels allows for building maintenance to occur without disrupting the research taking place above or below.[7]

Per Salk’s instructions, Kahn also designed the laboratories to be easily upgraded. Support beams are restricted to the edges of each lab, allowing for greater flexibility in reconfiguring the equipment and spaces within. Mechanical systems are not sealed away behind concrete, but behind block walls which can be moved out of the way during maintenance and renovations. Laboratory windows are held in place by screws, allowing them to be temporarily removed so that large equipment can be moved in and out of the building without requiring any of the structure to be demolished.The building is able to “guess tomorrow,” Salk suggested in 1967.[8]

The laboratories are, by design, spaces of shared enterprise and spontaneous collaboration; those seeking privacy must cross the bridges into one of the ten towers which line the central square. The towers contain small studies, with their west-facing windows directing views toward the square and the Pacific Ocean beyond.[9] The western ends of both laboratory wings are also devoted to office space, the result being that both the offices and studies are afforded views of the sea.[10]

Between the rhythmically-spaced study towers is a nearly featureless expanse of off-white travertine stone. Kahn initially planned to fill the space with a garden, but was convinced by architect Luis Barragán to leave the space as a void.[11] A thin channel of water bisects the plaza, drawing one’s eye toward the blue horizon. The unfinished concrete which forms the walls of the Institute is nearly identical in color to the travertine in the square, lending the space a primitive and almost sublime monumentality that hints at ancient Roman forebears without direct stylistic reference. (The comparison is suggested, however, by Kahn’s specification of pozzolanic concrete – the same type used in Roman construction.) Inset teak paneling identifies the locations of study and office windows, providing the only material relief from the monolithic concrete and stone used throughout the Institute.[12]

In the five decades that have passed since the Salk Institute opened its doors in 1965, the external appearance of Kahn’s masterwork remains largely unaltered. The concrete and stone have withstood the seaside elements almost entirely unscathed, while a recent preservation effort by the Getty Foundation sought to repair the teak paneling while preserving 70% of the original material. Salk and Kahn’s foresight in the design of the laboratories has also allowed the Institute to remain a functioning facility for advanced research, one which has played host to half a dozen Nobel laureates since its founding. With its flexible design and masterful interplay of material and space, the Salk Institute is likely to retain its significance as both a research center and an architectural wonder far into the future.[13]

References [1] Miranda, Carolina A. "Louis Kahn's Salk Institute, the building that guesses tomorrow, is aging — very, very gracefully." Los Angeles Times. November 22, 2016. [access] . [2] Curtis, William J. R. Modern Architecture Since 1900. London: Phaidon Press, 2013. p522. [3] "About Salk Architecture." Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Accessed August 11, 2017. [access] . [4] Curtis, p522. [5] Weston, Richard. Key Buildings of the Twentieth Century: Plans, Sections and Elevations. London: Laurence King, 2004. p138. [6] Gast, Klaus-Peter, Susanne Schindler, and Louis I. Kahn. Louis I. Kahn. Basel: Birkhäuser Verlag, 1999. p64. [7] Miranda. [8] Miranda. [9] Curtis, p522. [10] “About Salk Architecture.” [11] Curtis, p522-523. [12] “About Salk Architecture.” [13] Miranda.

• Architects: Louis Kahn
• Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  1965
• Photographs Photographs: Liao Yusheng

AD Classics: Palazzo dei Congressi / Louis Kahn The city of Venice has been caught in a tug of war between progress and traditionalism for many years, and particularly since the construction of a railroad viaduct in 1846 linked the island city to the Italian mainland for the first time in its history.[1] Over a century later, the Venetian government commissioned Louis Kahn to design a new Palazzo dei Congressi for the city; his proposal, while paying respect to the histories of both the Republic of Venice and a unified Italy, could not escape similar controversy.

Light Matters: Louis Kahn and the Power of Shadow Light matters, a monthly column on light and space, is written by Thomas Schielke More Light Matters, after the break... . Based in Germany, he is fascinated by architectural lighting, has published numerous articles and co-authored the book „Light Perspectives". Does shadow have the power to give form to architecture?

The Tranquility of Louis Kahn's Salk Institute Watching the sunrise over Louis Kahn's Salk Institute for Biological Sciences is arguably one of architecture's most transformative experiences. The famous building has become an emblem of tranquility in architecture thanks to its tremendous location in San Diego, California, a quality enhanced by the carefully planned symmetrical vistas overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

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Salk Institute to expand its campus, using lessons learned from its original buildings

In the late 1950s, Jonas Salk, famous for creating a polio vaccine, wanted to build a research institute.

A site with a view of the Pacific Ocean was chosen in San Diego. An architect named Louis Kahn was chosen. It was clear that Salk envisioned a building that would, itself, be a work of art.

“One of the mandates that he gave to Kahn was he wanted a place that would be worthy of a visit by Pablo Picasso,” said Greg Lemke, an architecture enthusiast and a professor of neurobiology at the Salk Institute of Biological Studies.

The La Jolla-based institute is raising money for a new building now. It will be the second expansion of its campus since its founding in the early 1960s with two buildings that have become an icon of modern architecture.

The original structures are the standard against which all new buildings on the campus are judged.

The geometry and the sharp lines of the original buildings, made of poured, reinforced concrete, and their embrace of the Pacific Ocean have made the Salk Institute a National Historic Landmark that’s renowned for its beauty.

But Lemke said the features that visitors and admirers don't see were what make it a great building for science.

“The design of the buildings facilitate doing the science here,” Lemke said.

One example is the skeleton of trusses that bear the building’s weight.

“There is a series of trusses that span from these towers here to the exterior stairwells,” he said. “And what that means as a practical matter is that none of the interior walls of these laboratory spaces support any weight.”

That means walls are made out of drywall that can be broken down to reconfigure spaces, or made out of glass to let in natural light and create an open atmosphere. Jonas Salk and his architect wanted to create a collaborative space where scientists would encounter each other and observe colleagues' work.

Lemke stands next to a glass door that leads to a corridor of connected labs.

“So, when you walk down this corridor, you walk from one lab to the next lab to the next lab,” he said “There are no walls between them. There are no barriers. This was a unique design feature at the time. It’s been emulated and duplicated in science labs all around the world.”

Other Salk faculty members share Lemke’s views.

“The beauty of the building is that it’s now about 60 years old, and it has continued to keep pace with our changing science,” said Sreekanth Chalasani, a neurology professor at Salk who said he had seen the building change to meet his research needs.

Chalasani needed a new room to accommodate his lab’s experiments with mice. He said he talked to the institute’s facilities guys and they created a new room. Getting the room took about two weeks.

“All they had to do was stick some metal poles from the ceiling to the floor, and stick pieces of drywall in,” Chalasani said. “That was it!”

Some problems along the way

In the early 1960’s, architects couldn’t predict the future or some of the problems that would surface in later years. One of them, Chalasani said, has been the abundant use of wireless technology. The Salk buildings’ reinforced concrete walls, for instance, do a great job of blocking cell and WiFi signals.

The institute has had to install more than a thousand WiFi access points — the round plastic discs that are attached to walls — to address the problem. Descriptions of cell coverage in the original buildings, which their provider has tried to boost, range from “pretty good” to “terrible”.

And then there are the teak shutters and panels that Louis Kahn made a key visual aspect of the building. The local environment, which includes many eucalyptus trees, caused tremendous degradation.

“A lot of the spores that come off of the sap that gets suspended in the air gets out on the wood, which then, joined with the moisture of the ocean air and whatnot, creates dry rot and surface degradation,” said Tim Ball, the director of facilities and planning at Salk.

He described the eucalyptus trees as “very acidic.”

Ball said it cost nearly $10 million to restore and, in some cases, replace the teak panels. The process was all the more difficult because Salk had to meet strict historic preservation rules as a National Historic Landmark.

Salk Institute’s future and an expanded campus

The restored teak panels and shutters frame the personal study of Salk neurobiology professor Lemke, who slides open a window with a view of the Pacific Ocean that’s shrouded this morning in a heavy mist.

Lemke said building a place like the original Salk buildings would be prohibitively expensive today, especially given the creation of interstitial floors. Those are 9-foot floors that lie between each primary floor, which provide valuable storage space and contain the guts of the building — such as the electrical wiring and gas lines.

Ball said the new building planned for the Salk campus would be built in the same style, lined up with the original plaza and its symbolic stream, called the Channel of Life.

“It’ll have an open slot roof that will allow us to take the view from the sky to the sea, being transformed from a Channel of Life, from a light and air standpoint, to the water feature in the main courtyard, which is the Channel of Life that leads to the sea of discovery,” Ball said.

The original buildings for the institute’s campus were paid for by the March of Dimes, which also funded the research that led to the polio vaccine. The Salk Institute is now raising money for the new building, which is expected to cost $250 million. Salk representatives hope to break ground on it by the end of the year.

Salk Institute Cancer Center

Reuben Shaw, Ph.D., Director

La Jolla, California

Main: (858) 453-4100

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The Salk Cancer Center at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies was established in 1970 and received its NCI designation in 1973. Today, the center includes 31 faculty members, and more than 500 students, postdoctoral fellows, and technical staff work in Salk Cancer Center labs. The center’s mission is to understand fundamental aspects of biology related to cancer; accelerate translation of groundbreaking discoveries into clinical opportunities for diagnostics and therapeutics; develop innovative tools and technologies to better treat, diagnose, and prevent cancer; and train the next generation of cancer scientific leadership. The organization and membership of the Salk Cancer Center promotes interdisciplinary research and offers a unique training environment for cancer researchers due to the diverse backgrounds and interests of the faculty and trainees.

Discoveries at the Salk Cancer Center have spurred collaborative partnerships with other NCI-Designated Cancer Centers (Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center and University of California San Diego’s Moores Cancer Center), nonprofit institutes (Translational Genomics Research Institute, or TGen), philanthropic foundations (Lustgarten Foundation and Stand Up To Cancer), and pharmacology firms (Merck) to translate promising laboratory discoveries into lifesaving treatments for patients with cancer.

In addition to research, the center has an active program of graduate and postdoctoral education and training. The Salk Institute and the University of California San Diego’s Division of Biology conduct a joint graduate program.

Research at Salk Cancer Center

Research at the Salk Cancer Center is aimed at understanding fundamental aspects of biology related to cancer with the ultimate goal of reducing cancer incidence, morbidity, and mortality. The center’s work is based on the philosophy that basic research in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology has the power to illuminate underlying causes of cancer, often in unexpected ways. The interactive research at Salk frequently produces significant insights into basic mechanisms of cell growth regulation underlying cancer. Salk’s collaborative research is organized under two major programs.

Genetic, Epigenetic, and Immune Circuits in Cancer Program focuses on the genetic contribution to cancer and how it is further altered by epigenetic controls as well as the surrounding tumor microenvironment­ — particularly the immune system. This program uses a multifaceted approach that includes physical studies of gene function, dissection of genetic and epigenetic networks, technological development that leads to novel diagnostic markers, and new therapeutic approaches.

The Animal Models of Cancer and Therapeutics Program study autochthonous mice (mice who are local to the Salk Cancer Center’s region) to understand distinct facets of tumor biology in the native environment and to combine the development and application of novel therapeutic approaches to different model systems. This program pursues three avenues of research:

• exploring complex tumor biology using mouse models, like roles of tissue context, stem cell populations, and differentiation
• developing novel therapeutic approaches using small molecule and biological- and viral-based methodologies
• understanding metabolic rewiring in distinct tumor types and driver mutations and developing novel metabolism-based diagnostics and therapeutics

Salk has a long legacy in cancer research and has made many landmark discoveries:

• understanding the structure of alanine-tRNA’s role in connecting DNA and protein synthesis
• pioneering the connection between viruses and cancer
• discovering tyrosine phosphorylation as a driver of cancer
• researching early oncogenes and developing lentiviral tools for gene therapy
• uncovering nuclear receptor superfamily and discovering how modulation of androgen receptors, estrogen receptors, and retinoids serve as cancer therapeutics
• identifying P53 as a guardian against genomic damage and other stresses

Select Scientific Initiatives at the Salk Cancer Center

• In January 2013, the Salk Cancer Center joined the University of California San Diego’s Moores and the Sanford Burnham Prebys NCI-Designated Cancer Centers in launching the San Diego NCI Cancer Centers Council (C3) . C3 was created to leverage the distinct resources and talents of the three centers and to build a new structure and process. This has increased interaction and collaboration between the cancer centers’ faculties, leading to a deeper understanding of cancer and, ultimately, the development of new and better treatments.
• “A SU2C Catalyst® Trial of a PD1 Inhibitor With or Without a Vitamin D Analog for the Maintenance of Pancreatic Cancer”: Salk investigators have uncovered the role of the vitamin D receptor as being the master of the pancreatic tumor microenvironment and discovered that a chemically modified form of vitamin D reprograms the cancer environment in a way that may allow pembrolizumab (Keytruda) to invade and destroy the tumor — offering a new approach to treating pancreatic cancer.
• Salk and Indivumed GmbH have established a multiyear strategic alliance to secure, preserve, and analyze human cancer tissue and annotated clinical data from consenting patients around the world to advance research in precision oncology and personalized medicine using the highest-quality molecular and clinical data in cancer.

* This profile was provided by the Salk Cancer Center.

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Tvel completes development of new fuel for Paks nuclear plant

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The full package of documents is handed over to the Hungarian customer, MVM Paks Ltd, for further licensing of the new fuel by the national nuclear power regulator, Tvel said.

The first fuel assemblies have also passed acceptance testing at Tvel's Elemash Machine-building plant in Elektrostal, Moscow region.

The new modification of VVER-440 second generation fuel increases the efficiency of fuel usage and advances the economic performance of the power plant operation, Tvel said.  

The engineering contract for development of the new VVER-440 fuel was signed in late 2017. The development and validation work involved a number of Russian enterprises, including OKB Gidropress (a part of Rosatom machine-building division Atomenergomash), Bochvar Institute (material science research facility of TVEL Fuel Company), Elemash Machine-building plant and Kurchatov Institute national research center. At the site of OKB Gidropress research and experiment facility, the new fuel passed a range of hydraulic, longevity and vibration tests .

The first consignment of the modified fuel will be delivered to Paks nuclear power plant later this year. The four-unit Paks nuclear plant, which entered operation between 1982 and 1987 currently operate on a 15-month fuel cycle and supply around 50% of Hungary's electricity.

Photo: Fabrication of new VVER-440 fuel for Paks nuclear plant (Credit: Tvel)

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