News
The role of integrins in kidney “integrity”
Jan. 13, 2022—Jan. 13, 2022, 10:40 AM by Bill Snyder Transmembrane receptors called integrins and proteins called laminins play important roles in the formation and function of tissues, including the ducts that collect urine from the filtering units of the kidneys. To better understand their role, Roy Zent, MBBCh, PhD, and colleagues deleted the alpha-3 and alpha-6...
Vanderbilt scientist’s team project wins $55,000 to research fundamental cell behavior
Jan. 7, 2022—Lars Plate, assistant professor of chemistry and biological sciences, is on a team that won $55,000 from Scialog’s initiative, Chemical Machinery of the Cell. The award—one of 24 granted to 21 researchers in the U.S. and Canada—will enable Plate to pursue collaborative research to advance fundamental understanding of chemical machinery and reactions in intact cells. Scialog’s name is a mélange of...
Study explores how bacteria become drug resistant
Jan. 6, 2022—Researchers at Vanderbilt University and the University of Arizona have revealed more of the inner-workings of a two-stage “molecular motor” in the cell membrane that enables bacteria to become resistant to drugs. Their findings, which were reported recently in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, will aid the search for inhibitors that can “turn off” the...
Vanderbilt extends its longest ongoing drug discovery agreement with pharmaceutical company through 2023
Dec. 22, 2021—Vanderbilt has extended its longest ongoing drug discovery agreement with Osaka, Japan-based Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., a research and development-oriented pharmaceutical company that is committed to creating innovative medicines in specific areas, through November 2023. The initial agreement was signed in November 2015, and this was its fourth extension. Vanderbilt’s participation will continue to be...
Study sets framework for precision surveillance of colorectal cancer
Dec. 17, 2021—by Tom Wilemon A team of Vanderbilt researchers has revealed some of the mechanisms by which polyps develop into colorectal cancer, setting the framework for improved surveillance for the cancer utilizing precision medicine. Their study, published Dec. 14 in Cell, describes findings from a single-cell transcriptomic and imaging atlas of the two most common colorectal...
Neutrons take a deep dive into water networks surrounding DNA
Dec. 17, 2021—By Olivia Trani This article was originally published on the Oak Ridge National Laboratory website and was adapted with permission for publication at Vanderbilt University. Water plays several important roles within the human body, even affecting the DNA in our cells. The entire surface of a DNA double helix is coated in layers of water...
Producing green fuel, and more rapid determination of the biological consequences of gene editing
Dec. 15, 2021—A team of Vanderbilt researchers led by Jamey Young, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Engineering, John McLean, department chair and Stevenson Professor of Chemistry, and Carl Johnson, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Biological Sciences, has described a novel method for rapidly characterizing the biological impact of genetic editing on bacteria. The new approach enables researchers to take the consequences...
Antibodies discovered at Vanderbilt for prevention of COVID-19 granted FDA emergency use authorization
Dec. 9, 2021—On Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization (EUA) to the global biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for a long-acting antibody combination which protects against COVID-19, discovered last year at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). A number of medical conditions result in immune compromise, from treatments for many cancers to organ transplantation. The combination of two...
McLean elected as 2021 National Academy of Inventors Fellow
Dec. 8, 2021—John McLean, Stevenson Professor of Chemistry, Stevenson Chair and the director of the Center for Innovative Technologies, has been elected a 2021 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. The National Academy of Inventors Fellows Program highlights academic inventors who have demonstrated a spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a...
A potential new approach for the treatment of schizophrenia
Dec. 8, 2021—THE IDEA Jeffrey Conn (John Russell/Vanderbilt University) James Maksymetz A new study led by Jeff Conn, Lee E. Limbird Chair in Pharmacology, James Maksymetz, a former graduate student in the Conn laboratory, and other collaborators at the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery has identified a protein in the central nervous system, known as mGlu1, as a potential...