Polio News and Research

RSS

Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that invades the nervous system and can cause severe paralysis. The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck, and pain in the limbs. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs). Among those paralyzed, 5-10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized. Polio mainly affects children under five years of age. Naturally occurring polio was eliminated in the U.S. in 1979 and in the Western Hemisphere by 1991; however, worldwide efforts are continuing towards eradication of this contagious and devastating disease.

Reengineering Glial Cell Signaling Pathways to Slow Down ALS Symptoms

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease that, according to the CDC, currently impacts around 35,000 Americans-with 5,000 more diagnosed each year.

21 Aug 2026

ORBIT Technology Leverages DNA Origami for Next-Generation Biological Discovery

Scientists often describe life as a series of chemical reactions. Pallav Kosuri, PhD, describes life as movement. Chemical reactions are how you drive the movement of atoms, proteins, cells, and bodies-without movement, there is no life.

14 Aug 2026

Elevated Levels of Acid Ceramidase Make Zombie Cells Susceptible to Ferroptosis

Our population is aging. The United Nations reports that by 2050, the number of people over the age of 85 on our planet is set to triple.

24 Jul 2026

Salk Neuroscientists Discover Computational Power of Traveling Brain Waves

Your brain has something surprising in common with the ocean: waves! Electrical activity washes over the brain's surface, creating what are called traveling brain waves or neural traveling waves.

22 Jul 2026

Salk Study Identifies Brain Signaling Target to Prevent Cancer Cachexia

According to the Cleveland Clinic, a quarter of cancer deaths can be attributed to one source: cachexia. Cachexia is a syndrome that accompanies underlying chronic illness and causes unwanted muscle and fat loss, reducing quality of life and sometimes even limiting treatment options.

3 Jul 2026

Salk Institute Decodes Molecular Timeline of Age-Related Neurodegeneration

Neurodegenerative diseases affect tens of millions of people worldwide.

26 Jun 2026

Salk Researchers Uncover Specialized Plant Protein for DNA Repair

Similar to the way DNA damage can contribute to human diseases like cancer, it can also disrupt growth, development, and survival in plants.

9 Jun 2026

Comprehensive Wastewater Genomics Detects All Oncogenic Viruses Concurrently

A study published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology is the first comprehensive approach to detect all known cancer-causing or oncogenic viruses concurrently by analyzing viral genomes in wastewater.

15 May 2026

New VIS-Fbs Technology Offers Sharper Images of Living Cellular Processes

Fluorescent proteins have revolutionized science, enabling researchers to tag and visualize individual molecules in living cells, tissues, and animals.

23 Apr 2026

Breakthrough Platform Could Accelerate Therapeutic Development for Mitochondrial Disorders

Some of your most important life partners are the mitochondria that power all your cells. You and these little cellular powerhouses are in a 1.5-billion-year-old evolutionary relationship-but mitochondria brought some baggage.

7 Apr 2026

Comprehensive Brain Atlas Maps Epigenetic Changes During Aging

Neurodegenerative diseases affect more than 57 million people globally. The incidence of these diseases, from Alzheimer's to Parkinson's to ALS and beyond, is expected to double every 20 years.

13 Mar 2026

New Epigenetic Catalog Helps Explain Individual Differences in Immune Responses

The COVID-19 pandemic gave us tremendous perspective on how wildly symptoms and outcomes can vary between patients experiencing the same infection.

28 Jan 2026

Genetic Discovery Reveals How Plants Respond to Blue Light and Cold

Plants may be stuck in one place, but the world around them is constantly changing. In order to grow and flower at the right time, plants must constantly collect information about their surroundings, measuring things like temperature, brightness, and length of day.

3 Sep 2025

Plants Activate Immunity Instead of Growth During Drought Recovery

A plant's number one priority is to grow-a feat that demands sunlight, nutrients, and water. If just one of these three inputs is missing, like water in a drought, growth halts.

2 Sep 2025

Salk Researchers Create First Genetic Atlas to Span the Entire Arabidopsis Life Cycle

Nearly everything you know about plants was first discovered in a plant you've likely never heard of. Arabidopsis thaliana, also known as thale cress, is a small, flowering weed that has shaped much of plant biology as we know it.

20 Aug 2025

Minimal Plant Genomes Made Possible by New Genetic Strategy

Ancient events in plant evolution have left behind large, duplicated regions in their genomes.

14 Aug 2025

Salk Scientists Use CRISPR to Uncover Microproteins Linked to Obesity

The obesity rate has more than doubled in the last 30 years, affecting more than one billion people worldwide.

8 Aug 2025

AI Tool Accelerates Hunt for Elusive Genome‐Encoded Microproteins

Proteins sustain life as we know it, serving many important structural and functional roles throughout the body.

1 Aug 2025

Estrogen Related Receptors Identified as Key to Muscle Energy Restoration

A new Salk Institute study suggests estrogen-related receptors could be a key to repairing energy metabolism and muscle fatigue.

13 May 2025

New Tool START Enables Precision Mapping of Neuronal Connectivity

Scientists at the Salk Institute are unveiling a new brain-mapping neurotechnology called Single Transcriptome Assisted Rabies Tracing (START). The cutting-edge tool combines two advanced technologies-;monosynaptic rabies virus tracing and single-cell transcriptomics-;to map the brain's intricate neuronal connections with unparalleled precision.

1 Oct 2024