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Preserving Neuronal Plasticity During Stress The prefrontal cortex (PFC) of the brain plays a key role in higher order mental processes such as cognition, motivation, attention, and memory. Stress can alter synaptic transmission in the PFC, and these changes may exacerbate symptoms of many psychiatric disorders. Glutamate is the… Read More

Evidence Against a Role for Eosinophils in Adipose Tissue Health Eosinophils are white blood cells distinguished by a multi-lobed nucleus and cytoplasm filled with granules that stain pink with hematoxylin and eosin stain. Known for their role in combatting parasitic infections and modulating allergic responses, eosinophils also regulate a… Read More

The laboratory of Roger Colbran, PhD, has long studied a key calcium ion sensor, called calmodulin, and its target protein CaMKII in learning and memory. Now, in work recently published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry, graduate student Xiaohan Wang identified a novel direct interaction between activated CaMKII and an intracellular domain of… Read More

Microtubules are the “railroad tracks” essential for moving intracellular “freight” around in the cell. They’re also part of the spindle that pulls the two centrosomes apart during cell division. Now researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have made a fundamental advance in understanding how microtubules are assembled. Their finding, published as… Read More

Research achievement was recognized recently during Diabetes Day at the Student Life Center. Among those honored were (beginning second from left) Bryan Gitschlag, Danielle Dean, PhD, Ian Williams, Caroline Presley, MD, and Suzanne Starr. Award winners are flanked by Tom Elasy, MD, MPH, (left) and Alvin Powers, MD. Diabetes Day… Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) biochemist Billy Hudson, PhD, has been awarded the 2018 Distinguished Investigator Prize by the International Society for Matrix Biology for his contributions to the field of matrix biology. The prize will be presented in October 2018 during the American Society for Matrix Biology Biennial Meeting in Las… Read More

Eleven Vanderbilt University faculty members named to endowed chairs were recognized for their outstanding scholarship and research during a celebration at the Student Life Center Nov. 29: Alissa M. Weaver, Lorraine M. Lopez, Alyssa H. Hasty, David Zald, Mariann R. Piano, Richard B. Simerly, Vsevolod V. Gurevich, Matthew J. Tyska, Daniel J. Read More

The first line of defense against skin cancer is the ability to repair DNA damage caused by UV light. The XPA protein plays an important role in the repair of certain DNA damage, and mutations in this protein have been implicated in xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) disorders, characterized by increased UV… Read More

Craig Lindsley, PhD, the William K. Warren Jr. Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt, is the 2018 recipient of the Sato Memorial International Award of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan. Lindsley, co-director of the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery (VCNDD), is the 41st recipient of the award, which is administered jointly by the society… Read More

Drivers of Intestinal Tumorigenesis ​A hallmark of all epithelia is the presence of adherens junctions that connect adjacent cells to each other. The junctions are formed through the interaction of the extracellular domains of E-cadherin on the neighboring cells. In turn, the intracellular domain of E-cadherin forms a complex… Read More