Stephen Doster

  • Fluorescence image of two human epithelial cells (bright purple) with their apical ends pointing in opposite directions. You can see the highest concentration of orange (actin) in rods on their apical sides (very vivid), and some orange rods along the outside border of the cells (less vivid).

    When G-actin is set free

    By Cayetana Arnaiz Yépez Super-resolution images of two human epithelial cells. Fluorescence intensities are heatmapped to facilitate visualization; warmer colors correspond to higher levels of the cytoskeletal protein, actin. Image courtesy of Matt Tyska. Cells along our intestinal tract are responsible for absorbing nutrients and acting as a barrier to… Read More

    Nov. 7, 2019

  • The discovery of worms’ many spines

    The discovery of worms’ many spines

    By Natalya Ortolano Confocal laser scanning microscopy image of the dorsal cord of a young adult showing a VD motor neuron with spine-like protrusions, and a close-up of the spines. Figure reproduced and modified under a CC BY 4.0 license from eLife 2019;8:e47918. When Nobel laureate Santiago… Read More

    Nov. 7, 2019

  • Vanderbilt University Basic Sciences investigators Eric Skaar, PhD, MPH, Richard Caprioli, PhD, and colleagues have now used multi-modal imaging mass spectrometry to map two iron-binding siderophores of Staphylococcus aureus (“staph”) during infection in mice.

    Imaging host-pathogen battle for metal

    Oct. 31, 2019, 11:00 AM by Leigh MacMillan Bacterial pathogens require nutrient metals to survive and cause disease, and hosts try to protect themselves by hiding metals away — a process called “nutritional immunity.” Bacteria have evolved multiple strategies for getting the metals they need, including the secretion of small… Read More

    Nov. 1, 2019

  • Vanderbilt investigators lead effort to create map of the human kidney

    Vanderbilt investigators lead effort to create map of the human kidney

    Oct. 31, 2019, 9:42 AM   by Bill Snyder Diabetes is the leading cause of end-stage renal disease, one of the nation’s most debilitating and expensive medical conditions. In 2016 Medicare spent $35 billion caring for more than 725,000 Americans whose kidneys had failed. Short of mandating universal diabetes treatment,… Read More

    Nov. 1, 2019

  • Vanderbilt University Basic Sciences Jeffrey Rathmell, PhD, has been named to receive a distinguished innovator award from the Lupus Research Alliance.

    Rathmell lands award from Lupus Research Alliance

    Oct. 31, 2019, 9:25 AM Jeffrey Rathmell, PhD, has been named to receive a distinguished innovator award from the Lupus Research Alliance. (photo by Susan Urmy) by Tom Wilemon Jeffrey Rathmell, PhD, director of the Vanderbilt Center for Immunobiology and Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Immunobiology, is a 2019 recipient of… Read More

    Nov. 1, 2019

  • Pencil drawing of two diseased and a healthy enterocyte. Different cellular structures are shaded in different colors. Most important are the microvilli. The healthy enterocyte shows tall, brush border microvilli (green) pointing up and tipped with orange. There are a few speckles of orange throughout the cell (“secretory granules”). The diseased enterocytes show very few microvilli on the apical surface of the cells, and, where present, are shorter than in the healthy cell. There is a lot more orange in the diseased cells. The MVID cells also have clumps of microvilli on the inside.

    Help! Microvilli trapped inside cells!

    By Colbie Chinowsky Drawing of two enterocytes representing Microvillus Inclusion Disease (left and center) and a healthy enterocyte with its microvilli on its apical side. Adapted with permission from Vogel, GF, Janecke, AR, Krainer, IM, Gutleben, K, Witting, B, Mitton, SG, Mansour, S, Ballauff, A, Roland, JT, Engevik, AC, Cutz,… Read More

    Oct. 28, 2019

  • Justin Marinko receives Karpay Award

    Justin Marinko receives Karpay Award

    Congratulations to Justin Marinko for being named the 2020 recipient of The Karpay Award in Structural Biology. “I am deeply honored to win the Karpay award,” Justin said. Justin joined the Sanders Lab in 2016 focusing his research on structural biology and protein folding… Read More

    Oct. 28, 2019

  • Vanderbilt University

    Pietenpol, Wilson land Komen cancer research support

    Oct. 24, 2019, 8:55 AM by Tom Wilemon Two Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) investigators have received financial support from Susan G. Komen for breast cancer research. Their projects were among 60 grants totaling $26 million awarded to researchers nationwide. Those initiatives are focused on improving outcomes for metastatic breast cancer,… Read More

    Oct. 25, 2019

  • Vanderbilt University

    Team set to study undiagnosed congenital diarrhea in infants

    Oct. 24, 2019, 9:18 AM The research team studying undiagnosed congenital diarrheas includes, from left, Matt Tyska, PhD, James Goldenring, MD, PhD, Joseph Roland, PhD, Sari Acra, MD, MPH, and Hernan Correa, MD. (photo by Susan Urmy) by Christina Echegaray Researchers and pediatric gastroenterologists at four institutions, including Vanderbilt University… Read More

    Oct. 25, 2019

  • Scanning electron micrograph of S. aureus bacteria escaping destruction by human white blood cells. The image is artificially colored and shows the bacteria in yellow and the white blood cells in light blue.

    Ironing out our understanding of staph infections

    By Coleman Harris Caption: “Scanning electron micrograph of S. aureus bacteria escaping destruction by human white blood cells” by NIAID licensed under CC BY 2.0. Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a pathogen that often causes the typical “staph infections” that form abscesses or boils.  The pathogen maximizes its ability to… Read More

    Oct. 24, 2019