Discoveries

Karen Davis, the program coordinator for the Center for Structural Biology, enjoys feeling like she is "a part of something bigger” than herself, both in and out of the office. She is a huge soccer fan and coaches two co-ed recreational soccer teams at the Nashville Youth Soccer Association. Read More

Congratulations to our School of Medicine Basic Sciences community members who were promoted or received new appointments from January to March 2024! These individuals significantly enrich our pursuit of pathbreaking research and contribute to the growth and success of our school. Read More

Brandt Eichman and Walter Chazin, professors of biochemistry, worked together to provide a better understanding of how exactly DNA replication is initiated. Their work will influence novel small molecule modifier designs that may serve as tools for detailed studies of DNA replication in cells and eventual therapies. Read More

The World Health Organization ranks antimicrobial resistance as one of the top ten global health risks. Vanderbilt researchers led by Houra Merrikh identified the first anti-evolution compound that targets AMR during treatment of infections with antibiotics. Read More

Led by Terunaga Nakagawa, an international collaboration describes for the first time the fundamental mechanism underpinning cellular processes that lead to learning and memory. Read More

A Vanderbilt graduate student and two members of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance joined the Endocrine Society’s leadership program, which provides scientists with leadership development, expanded skills in hands-on training, and networking opportunities with endocrinology leaders. Read More

A multidisciplinary research team at Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center has discovered a new way to kill a tumor by disrupting its acidic “microenvironment” without harming normal tissue. The target of this unorthodox approach is hydroxyapatite (HAP), a naturally occurring mineral that is a major component of bone and teeth, but which also is produced by some tumors. Read More

Combining deep mutagenesis and cryo-EM reveals new conformational state of a protein responsible for high-speed DNA replication. The research builds on growing theories of molecular evolution. Read More

Stachowiak is recognized for a paradigm-shifting discovery in the field of membrane biophysics, demonstrating that proteins can induce membrane curvature solely through a surface-crowding mechanism. Her lab investigates the biophysical mechanisms that underlie the function of lipid membranes in cells and explores the opportunity of creating bio-inspired materials and systems that borrow these mechanisms. Read More

High school student Benjamin Gordon, former Marnett lab intern, has been named a top scholar in the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2024, the oldest science and math competition for high school seniors in the U.S. Read More