Discoveries

  • Vanderbilt University

    Vanderbilt ranks 12th in annual survey of NIH funding; 2021 awards topped $445M

    Vanderbilt University again ranked among the nation’s top research institutions receiving funding from the National Institutes of Health, according to the latest data compiled by the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research. The total amount Vanderbilt scholars received across the School of… Read More

    Apr. 1, 2022

  • Vanderbilt University

    Crowe receives national award for COVID antibody research

    James Crowe Jr., MD, director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center, and Michel Nussenzweig, MD, PhD, of The Rockefeller University, have been jointly awarded the 2022 Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine for “groundbreaking work” that enabled the use of human antibodies to treat COVID-19. The announcement was made… Read More

    Apr. 1, 2022

  • Vanderbilt University

    Biochemical technique for finding small molecules discovered by Vanderbilt and University of Virginia researchers

    Lipid rafts, a component of the plasma membranes that surround all cells in the human body, are essential in regulating the membranes’ structure, among other functions. But they are hard to study because traditional biochemical methods tend to destroy them. Chuck Sanders, associate dean for research,… Read More

    Mar. 28, 2022

  • Vanderbilt University

    Hunger signals, including those from cannabinoids, mapped in the brain

    Cannabis is well-known for having an effect on eating behaviors. However, how the natural cannabinoid molecules found in the body regulate feeding and eating is not well researched. Masoud Ghamari-Langroudi, research assistant professor of molecular physiology and biophysics, research assistant professor of pharmacology and faculty affiliate… Read More

    Mar. 25, 2022

  • Vanderbilt University

    Pietenpol named AACR Fellow

    The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has inducted Jennifer Pietenpol, PhD, and Yu Shyr, PhD, into the 2022 class of Fellows of the AACR Academy. The mission of the AACR Academy is to recognize and honor distinguished scientists whose scientific contributions have propelled significant innovation and progress against cancer. Read More

    Mar. 24, 2022

  • Vanderbilt University

    Improving insulin sensitivity

    By Wendy Bindeman Ambra Pozzi Ambra Pozzi, professor of medicine and of molecular physiology and biophysics, first author Kakali Ghoshal (a postdoc in the Pozzi lab), and colleagues recently published a study showing that supplementation with an analog of a lipid metabolite called epoxyeicosatrienoic acid, which is involved in insulin… Read More

    Mar. 15, 2022

  • Vanderbilt University

    Mass spectrometry analysis reveals massive insight into neuronal signaling

    Heidi Hamm, Yun Young Yim By Emily Overway Researchers in the lab of Heidi Hamm, a professor of pharmacology who also holds the Aileen M. Lange and Annie Mary Lyle Chair in Cardiovascular Research, recently published a paper exploring the G protein subunits that interact with the SNARE complex. The… Read More

    Mar. 3, 2022

  • Vanderbilt University

    CD40 expression correlates with response to immunotherapy in melanoma patients

    L-R: Ann Richmond, Chi Yan By Wendy Bindeman Ann Richmond, professor of pharmacology, and Chi Yan, a research assistant professor in the Richmond lab, recently published a study showing that expression of a protein called CD40 can be used to predict response to immunotherapy in malignant melanoma. Read More

    Mar. 1, 2022

  • Golden graphic showing a black and white image of Stanley Cohen gesticulating next to a microscope. Text saying

    Cohen Innovation Fund Awards Announced Supporting Two High-Risk, High-Reward Projects

    By Aaron Conley Stanley Cohen and Vanderbilt Chancellor Joe Wyatt (1986). Houra Merrikh, professor of biochemistry, and Teru Nakagawa, associate professor of molecular physiology and biophysics, have both been selected to receive one-year research awards from the Stanley Cohen Innovation Fund. The awards will support groundbreaking and… Read More

    Sep. 28, 2021

  • Photo taken from slightly above and behind a person wearing a green turtleneck with long sleeves. They are holding a lancing device to their finger. The table in front of them has several additional tools diabetics use, including a glucometer, and an open carrying case.

    Sin3a regulates pancreatic β-cells fitness and function

    By Sohini Roy People with type 1 diabetes generate little to no insulin, which promotes the absorption of glucose from the blood. The transcriptional coregulator Swi-independent 3 — or Sin3 — switches on and off the genes that drive crucial biological processes during prenatal development, including cellular differentiation, maturation, survival, metabolism,… Read More

    Sep. 14, 2020