LA JOLLA — The Salk Institute for Biological studies officially opened its new Waitt Advanced Biophotonics Center on Feb. 9, after quietly hiring two faculty members specializing in biophotonics — —the science of using and manipulating light to investigate biological function. This move, made possible by a landmark $20 million gift from the Waitt Foundation, boosts the institute’s imaging capacity to rival most — if not all — academic research institutions of its size in the nation. “By putting these incredible tools in the hands of Salk investigators in an interdisciplinary teamwork environment, breakthroughs are bound to happen,” said Ted Waitt, vice-chair of the Salk Institute board of trustees and chairman of the Waitt Foundation, in a statement. The faculty research labs housed within the Waitt Advanced Biophotonics Center are engaged in both imaging technology development and answering fundamental problems in the life sciences. “Biophotonics is one of those transforming technologies that will impact nearly all the science being done at the Salk Institute,” said Inder Verma, Ph.D., an American Cancer Society professor in the Laboratory of Genetics and holder of the Irwin and Joan Jacobs Chair in Exemplary Life Science.