Salk Institute, Scripps Research, and UCSD form a solid 3 legged stool of world renowned life science research institutions for high tech zone of Torrey Pines, UTC and Sorrento Valley.
One quick glance on their respective wikipedia pages will tell you:
Salk – … consistently ranks among the top institutions in the US in terms of research output and quality in the life sciences…In 2004, the Times Higher Education Supplement ranked Salk as the world’s top biomedicine research institute, and in 2009 it was ranked number one globally by ScienceWatch in the neuroscience and behavior areas.
Scripps – …The institute holds nearly 1,000 patents, and has generated over 50 spin-off companies. According to the 2017 Nature Innovation Index, Scripps Research is the #1 most influential research institution in the world. The Scripps Research graduate program is ranked 10th nationally in the biological sciences, 5th for organic chemistry, and 2nd for biochemistry.
UCSD – … According to the National Science Foundation, UC San Diego spent $1.354 billion on research and development in fiscal year 2019, ranking it 6th in the nation… As of February 2021, UC San Diego faculty, researchers and alumni have won 28 Nobel Prizes, the second most of any UC campus
People may not know or realize UCSD life sciences is one of the best in the world. I would guess it’s the nicest place to live and work among all the schools in this top 10 list — it’s only in La Jolla / Torrey Pines.
Top 10 schools in research spending
Johns Hopkins University: $3,110,494,000
University of Michigan: $1,673,862,000
UC San Francisco: $1,651,073,000
University of Pennsylvania: $1,579,364,000
University of Washington: $1,456,902,000 UC San Diego: $1,403,735,000
UCLA: $1,392,941,000
University of Wisconsin: $1,363,931,000
Harvard: $1,239,983,000
Stanford: $1,203,950,000
Source: NSF
