Discoveries

Prothena and the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery have entered into a collaborative research agreement to develop new small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease in individuals with Down syndrome. Down syndrome is a condition in which a person’s having… Read More

By Aran Sullivan Felysha Jenkins, Ph.D. During February—Black History Month—Basic Sciences community members participated in a 21-day Racial Equity Challenge. Felysha Jenkins, the Basic Sciences diversity, equity, and inclusion program manager, organized the challenge for the Basic Sciences community, using resources from the… Read More

By Emily Overway Marija Žanić, Ph.D. The lab of Marija Žanić, professor of cell and developmental biology, is investigating the regulation of microtubules. Work led by former postdoctoral fellow Elizabeth Lawrence, recently published in eLife, details the role of microtubule-associated protein SSNA1 in… Read More

By Chuck Sanders Marie Maynard Daly (Photo courtesy of the archives of Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Ted Burrows, photographer). As part of my responsibilities as president of The Protein Society I recently had the pleasure of announcing a new society award: the Marie Maynard Daly Award. Daly was a… Read More

Ethan Zohn, winner of the CBS reality show Survivor, two-time cancer survivor, humanitarian and former professional soccer player, will discuss his journey with reality television, cancer, mental health and humanitarian work as part of the School of Medicine Basic Sciences’ monthly Lab-to-Table Conversations on Tuesday, April… Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have identified a critical regulatory factor in Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes the disease anthrax and has been used as a biological weapon. The findings, reported in the journal Nature Communications, provide new insights into bacterial gene regulation and may guide novel antibacterial therapeutic… Read More

Treatment resistance is especially pronounced in gastric cancer and contributes to patient mortality, highlighting the need for resensitization strategies. Robert Coffey, MD, Xiaodi Zhao, PhD, and colleagues compared the secretome, or secreted proteins, of chemoresistant and chemosensitive human gastric cancer cell lines to identify biomarkers of resistance. Read More

Scholars at Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center achieved a significant milestone in 2021: more than $1 billion in research funding awarded from external organizations. Vanderbilt’s global leadership in research—from biomedical and biotechnology discoveries to vaccine development to groundbreaking advances in computer science, education and psychology—contributed to this landmark… Read More

A drug aimed at improving the lives of patients living with Parkinson’s disease will go to the next phase of clinical trials, thanks to a $13.5 million investment raised by Nashville’s Appello Pharmaceuticals. The clinical-stage pharmaceutical company that focuses on nervous system disorders announced Tuesday that its lead drug,… Read More

Kathleen DelGiorno, assistant professor of cell and developmental biology, her lab and collaborators at the Salk Institute have discovered some of the specific signaling molecules involved in tumor progression in pancreatic cancer. These molecules, called eicosanoids, play a role in inflammation and… Read More