Salk Institute for Biological Studies

An Anti‐Amyloidogenic Approach to Specifically Block Memory Consolidation in Mice for Therapeutic Intervention

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health disorder triggered by exposure to a traumatic event, which manifests with anguish, intrusive memories, and negative mood changes. So far, there is no efficient treatment for PTSD other than symptomatic palliative care. Howe...

Fungal frontiers for sustainability: unlocking the hidden kingdom

Fungi have repeatedly delivered transformative advances across industries, from medicine to food to materials, yet these breakthroughs have emerged from a narrow base of organisms and well-studied systems. Although mycology has taken a big leap forward in the past decades because...

SUMO2 deletion changes chromatin accessibility and enhances cytotoxic T cell activation and tumor infiltration

Cytotoxic T cells [cytotoxic lymphocytes (CTLs)] are crucial for adaptive immunity leading to prolonged survival and potential cures for cancer. Recent clinical data have shown that pharmacological inhibition modifies the tumor microenvironment (TME) and activates CTLs, although...

TBK1 eliminates aggregation-prone monomeric TDP-43 through an IFNβ-immunoproteasome pathway in ALS models

Abstract Loss-of-function mutations in TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1) cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), characterized by cytoplasmic aggregation of TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43), known as TDP-43 pathology, but the mechanisms beyond i...

AI Empathy as a Human Disposition in Generative AI Interaction: Development and Preliminary Psychometric Evaluation of a Cognitive–Affective–Motivational Scale

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is increasingly embedded in human reasoning and problem solving, yet individuals differ in how they interpret AI behavior, respond affectively to its limitations, and regulate subsequent interaction. This study developed and preliminaril...

Maternal immune activation disrupts epigenomic and functional maturation of cortical excitatory neurons

Elevated levels of maternal pro-inflammatory cytokines following severe infection during gestation can disrupt offspring neural development and increase the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders. The viral mimetic Poly(I:C) reproduces the effects of gestational influenza exposure,...

The epidermal growth factor receptor—the prototypic RTK—turns 40

The seminal discovery that the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) possesses intrinsic EGF-stimulated tyrosine kinase activity that serves as a mitogenic signalling mechanism was dependent on two separate lines of research that intersected in the late 1970s and early 1980s, n...

Pericyte KATP channel hyperactivity redistributes cortical blood flow in a CADASIL mouse model

Abstract Cerebral hemodynamic dysfunction is a key driver of unhealthy brain aging. Impaired microcirculatory reactivity leads to uneven perfusion, rendering deeper brain regions more vulnerable and thereby contributing to cognitive decline. Yet how capillaries contribute to thes...