Latest news with #SalkInstituteforBiologicalStudies
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Scientists tout potential weight loss advance using gene technology
There could be new hope for people aiming to fight obesity following a research breakthrough identifying certain microproteins that store fat. In findings published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in the US, the team from the California-based Salk Institute for Biological Studies said that the microproteins "could potentially serve as drug targets to treat obesity and other metabolic disorders." The findings could prove particularly useful for people who struggle with other treatments such as lifestyle changes, bariatric surgery or courses of drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy. "The obesity rate has more than doubled in the last 30 years, affecting more than one billion people worldwide," the Salk Institute warned, reminding that being overweight is linked to "other metabolic disorders" such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease, and cancers. Microproteins, according to the team, are "an understudied class of molecules found throughout the body that play roles in both health and disease." The team believes the findings are noteworthy because they entailed the use of CRISPR gene editing to screen thousands of fat cell genes to try to find genes "that likely code for microproteins that regulate either fat cell proliferation or lipid accumulation." "We wanted to know if there was anything we had been missing in all these years of research into the body's metabolic processes," says Salk's Victor Pai. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Deseret News archives: Salk and brave ‘pioneers' beat polio with vaccine in 1955
A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives. On April 12, 1955, the polio vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk was declared safe and effective following nearly a year of field trials undertaken by about 1.8 million American child volunteers dubbed 'polio pioneers.' The front page of the Deseret News heralded the triumph, and noted Utah's participation in the pioneering effort. Knocking down polio was the biggest medical experiment ever, the national field test of the vaccine that defeated polio. In the early 1950s, polio would strike more than 50,000 people during a single peak epidemic year. Thousands of children were paralyzed. Many died. Many more were unable to breathe without an iron lung. In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, himself a polio victim, established the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, with a goal to care for polio victims and help overcome the disease. Children participated in the annual March of Dimes to collect money for polio research. In April 1954, the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis began vaccinating the 1.8 million schoolchildren with a polio vaccine developed by Dr. Salk. Delivered by syringe, the Salk vaccine — plus an oral compound later concocted by Dr. Albert B. Sabin — eventually all but eliminated polio. Field trials were carried out early in 1954. Altogether, 1.8 million children in first, second and third grade were given a series of three shots. Typically, the vaccinations were spaced a month apart. In 1960, Salk established the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, a San Diego suburb. The institute became a leading biomedical research center. Salk conducted research on multiple sclerosis and cancer before retiring from his own laboratory in 1984. He continued to maintain offices at the institute and, in 1987, co-founded Immune Response Corp. in Carlsbad to search for an AIDS vaccine. He died in 1995. Here are some stories from Deseret News archives about eradicating polio, what it took from the American public and how we have dealt with disease and vaccinations since: 'Utahns recall polio's impact' '`Polio pioneers' began quest to conquer illness 40 years ago' 'Vaccine years away for AIDS, but efforts are showing promise' 'A miracle, or a scientific feat? Vaccines can be both' 'One step at a time: Salt Lake City researcher records post-polio syndrome' 'Support group validates polio survivors' 'Salk honored 40 years after banishing fear' 'Jonas Salk, eradicator of polio, dies' 'Here's why Utah is looking at monitoring wastewater for polio' ''Polio' is important history of disease'
