The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is an independent nonprofit institution conducting basic science research dedicated to the improvement of human health. Founded in 1960 by Jonas Salk, M.D., the 26-acre campus is adjacent to UCSD. Three research buildings contain 537,000 square feet. The 57 faculty members (principal investigators) directing the Institute's 22 laboratories are supported by a staff of more than 750, including visiting scientists, some 240 postdoctoral trainees, and approximately 135 graduate and rotation students.
Three of the Institute's current resident Faculty members and five Non-Resident Fellows are Nobel laureates. Twelve Faculty members have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and four are Fellows of the Royal Society of London. Five hold Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigatorships. Other distinctions are regularly received by Salk Institute researchers, including Presidential Young Investigator Awards, National Institutes of Health MERIT Awards and Outstanding Investigator Awards, Jacob Javits Neuroscience Awards, and Pew Scholarships.
Among the many human diseases and conditions whose origins Salk Institute scientists are striving to discover are cancer (including leukemia), AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, cardiovascular disorders, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, function of the brain and central nervous system, and birth defects. The Salk Institute's two major areas of focus are molecular biology and genetics, and the neurosciences; the Institute was recently ranked number one worldwide in both of these areas by the Philadelphia-based Institute for Scientific Information.
Approximately two-thirds of the $66 million Institute budget is in the form of federal grants to individual investigators, principally from the National Institutes of Health. The remaining third of Institute support is from private sources, including major foundations such as the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation. Other private sources include corporations, individual donors, the American Cancer Society and other voluntary health agencies.
Salk Institute for Biological Studies website
