Salk Institute - Definition and Overview

The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is a research organization in La Jolla, California. It was founded by Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vaccine, in 1960. The institute focuses its research in three areas: Molecular Biology and Genetics; Neurosciences; and Plant Biology. The March of Dimes provided the initial funding and continues to support the institute to this day. The campus was designed by the architect Louis Kahn. Salk had sought to make a beautiful campus in order to draw the best researchers in the world.

History

Salk and Kahn approached the city of San Diego in March of 1960 about a gift of land on the Torrey Pines Mesa and were granted their reguest after a referendum passed in June 1960. Construction began in 1962 and a handful of researchers moved into the first labratory in 1963.

Notable faculty

Four of the institute's resident faculty members are Nobel laureates.

• Renato Dulbecco
• Sydney Brenner
• Roger Guillemin

External link

• Salk Institute for Biological Studies (http://www.salk.edu)