Discoveries

By Natalya Ortolano Myosin motors and long actin filaments accumulate at the center of dividing cells to constrict the membrane. When a bouncy ball deforms under the weight of your body, its rubber membrane stretches and contracts. Likewise, the membrane of a cell doubling itself prior to division must accommodate… Read More

By Brad Davidson VIR-CLASP has the potential to find new therapeutic targets during infection by a wide variety of RNA viruses. RNA viruses invade cells and co-opt cellular machinery to replicate and translate their genomic material. To stave off infection until immune cells arrive, host cells rely on “intrinsic immunity… Read More

By Mary Alice Keller Triple-negative breast cancer is a type of breast cancer that tests negative for the three receptors that are commonly found in breast cancer: estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) receptors. The oncogene MYCN regulates cancer cell growth, proliferation, metabolism, and… Read More

By Francisco Rodriguez Cells detect the nutrients that are in their environment and can adapt depending on what they sense. The class of signaling molecules known as inositol diphosphates or PP-IPs affects cellular shape, nutrient sensing and many other biological processes among organisms as simple as yeast and… Read More

By Sohini Roy The WHO reports that the Marburg virus has an average fatality rate of 50 percent, but fatality rate can be of up to 88 percent depending on the strain and the outbreak. Marburg viruses cause a hemorrhagic fever in humans, with a fatality rate of up to… Read More

By Wendy Bindeman https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-web/medschool-wpcontent/sites/64/2020/08/25160212/Discovery_Richmond-SMWeb.mp4   Melanoma is the most common of all cancers. The American Cancer Society estimates that over 100,000 new melanomas will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2020. While 60 percent of people with metastatic melanoma, an aggressive type of skin cancer, have multiple treatment options… Read More

By Sohini Roy Neuro-2a cells after treatment with STING-NP. (Wang-Bishop et al. Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, through a CC BY-NC 4.0 license) Neuroblastoma, an aggressive pediatric brain cancer with a high mortality rate, boasts a unique microenvironment that puts the brakes on infiltrating… Read More

https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-web/medschool-wpcontent/sites/64/2020/07/13153639/Discovery_Weaver-SM-Web.mp4   By Sarah Glass Cells use exosomes as pathfinding tools during migration-related processes, such as embryonic development, wound healing, and cancer metastasis. © Christoph Burgstedt, stock.adobe.com Scientists once dismissed the small, membrane-bound particles packed with proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids that are expelled by cells as mere cellular… Read More

By Heather Caslin Approximately 30 million Americans have type 2 diabetes. The majority are over 45 years old. © Vitalii Vodolazskyi, stock.adobe.com Within the pancreas, β-cells produce insulin that delivers energy to tissues through glucose. People with type 2 diabetes have smaller, less functional β-cells; however, the mechanisms that drive… Read More

https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-web/medschool-wpcontent/sites/64/2020/05/07095027/Tansey_website.mp4   By Suneethi Sivakumaran WDR5 has different moonlighting roles in the body, including in chromatin regulation and in chromatin-independent processes such as cell division. © Ian Dyball, stock.adobe.com The human body is a complicated network of interdependent cellular processes regulated by gene-encoded proteins. Proteins… Read More