Science Can’t Wait: A Discovery Series with the Salk Institute

The Salk Institute and the Del Mar Foundation invite you to join us for “Turning the Immune System Against Breast Cancer,” the final installment of the Science Can’t Wait three-part webinar series, a live conversation exploring how the immune system can be harnessed to find and disable breast cancer cells, with the goal of developing treatments that provide long-lasting protection against the disease.

The Del Mar Foundation is partnering with the Salk Institute to produce a 3-part state of the art webinar series surrounding the message of “Science Can’t Wait”.  Dr. Emily Manoogian will present the first webcast on January 28, 2026 at 10 AM on long-term cognitive resilience. She will explore the roles that circadian rhythm, healthy sleep, and metabolic health contribute to a healthy brain.

The origin of the “Science Can’t Wait” program evolved over the last year as once stable National Institute of Health (NIH) budgets were dramatically cut with many grant funds suspended or placed on hold.  This created chaos and uncertainty with many basic science and healthcare labs halting or severely curtailing current investigations.  If prolonged, the funding cuts could result in loss of not only key personnel, but a brain drain of principal investigators out of San Diego (and even the US), resulting in delay or loss of important scientific and health achievements.  Expectations for the 2026 Federal budget are for possibly 40% reductions in these once stable NIH allocations.

The Del Mar Foundation has issued a challenge grant and will match online donations to the Salk Institute, up to $50,000, during the “Science Can’t Wait” webinar series.  These donations will be used to support the Salk Institute’s laboratory costs.  Equally important, the Salk Institute and the Del Mar Foundation want to raise public awareness regarding this issue.  The importance of the scientific community to our local economy and to our collective health cannot be overstated.

Daniel Hollern, PhD – Assistant Professor

Dr. Hollern merges two disciplines—computational biology and cancer immunology—to identify where tumors are vulnerable and how they can be therapeutically controlled by the immune system.

His goal is to uncover how part of the immune system (called B cells) operates. He wants to translate these findings into strategies that use B cells to disarm tumor cells and provide long-term protection against cancer.