Discoveries

By Lorena Infante Lara James O’Connor, Ph.D. The Genetics Society of America has presented James O’Connor, a Ph.D. graduate from the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, the 2023 Larry Sandler Award. This international award recognizes the best Ph.D. dissertation on Drosophila—a fly genus that includes the… Read More

In the final step of cell division, cytokinesis, one cell becomes two. Without complete separation, abnormal cells can accumulate and set the stage for tumor formation. One of the main controllers of cytokinesis is the protein Cdc15, which localizes to the dividing cell membrane — linking it to the cytokinetic… Read More

James Goldenring, MD, PhD, the Paul W. Sanger Professor of Experimental Surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has been honored by the American Gastroenterological Association for making significant contributions to understanding gastrointestinal disease. Goldenring, vice chair of Surgical Research for the Section of Surgical Sciences and professor of Surgery… Read More

E. coli bacteria are the main cause of urinary tract infections. It is thought that we acquire many of the E. coli strains through ingestion, which means that these bacteria must survive the harsh conditions in the stomach, which is acidic enough to dissolve skin. How do these bacteria survive… Read More

Dr. Conrad Wagner passed away on March 13, 2023. Connie joined the Department of Biochemistry as an Assistant Professor in 1961 and maintained an active laboratory studying one-carbon metabolism and folic acid until becoming emeritus Professor of Biochemistry in 2015. His research was part of an internationally recognized division of… Read More

Tadashi Inagami, PhD, DSc, Vanderbilt University Professor of Biochemistry, emeritus, who helped characterize the biochemical basis for hypertension, heart failure and vascular disease, died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 13 after a brief illness. He was 92. “Tad was an exceptional scientist in the hypertension research field and brought international recognition… Read More

Scientists from Vanderbilt University, the Universidad de la República in Uruguay, and other research centers have achieved a scientific tour de force — resurrecting a “dead antibody” to reveal the mysteries of cytochrome c, a versatile protein that is an essential part of the cell’s energy-generating capacity, and of life… Read More

By Leah Mann Wenbiao Chen, Ph.D. The lab of Wenbiao Chen, associate professor of molecular physiology and biophysics, identified a signaling pathway for hyperaminoacidemia-induced alpha cell proliferation. Hyperaminoacidemia, or an excess of amino acids in the bloodstream, occurs when the function of glucagon, a pancreatic hormone that raises glucose levels… Read More

A chemical biology research lab fit for an academic medical center is being installed at Wynne High School (WHS) in Wynne, Arkansas, as part of a pilot project of Aspirnaut STEM pipeline at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Aspirnaut, a K-20 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Pipeline for Diversity and… Read More

Photoperiod, or length of day, influences seasonal changes in disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder, with these changes being more prevalent in females. Not incidentally, there are known sex differences in the brain’s reward pathway, where release of dopamine into the nucleus accumbens (NAc) has been implicated in mood… Read More