Research, News & Discoveries

Explaining Cardiac Arrhythmia The KCNQ1 potassium channel, in complex with the KCNE1 regulatory protein, is responsible for a delayed outward flow of potassium ions during the repolarization phase of the cardiac myocyte action potential. Mutations that result in loss of function (LOF) of KCNQ1 are associated with type 1… Read More

Christine Lovly, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine, has received a $200,000 grant to support promising new research on lung cancer. The Lung Cancer Foundation of America (LCFA) and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC)have partnered to fund the Lori Monroe Scholarship for Lung Cancer Research. “I am honored to… Read More

Investigators at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) and the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute (VTCRI) have revealed a gene mutation’s role in Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome, a genetically inherited disease which causes tumor growth in several organs. The study led by corresponding authors W. Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD, director of the Division of… Read More

Iron and sulfur are essential minerals critically required for biological functions. The body maintains iron levels through iron homeostasis. Deficiency in iron uptake can cause anemia and excess iron accumulation can lead to organ failure. Similarly, sulfur is incorporated into biological compounds through an ancient pathway called sulfur assimilation. Now… Read More

Cholesterol’s Role in the Response to Graphene Due to its interesting array of physical and chemical properties, graphene is the focus of exciting new applications in biomedical research, drug delivery, neuroprosthetics, and tissue engineering. However, little is known about how graphene interacts with cells or its potential toxicity. Prior… Read More

Modulating Somatostatin in the Islet As the major hormone-producing cells of the pancreatic Islets of Langerhans, the insulin-secreting β-cells and glucagon-secreting α-cells are the primary modulators of glucose homeostasis. However, through the production of somatostatin, which suppresses the secretion of both insulin and glucagon, the δ-cells play an equally… Read More

Nine Vanderbilt University faculty members named to endowed chairs were honored during a celebration at the Student Life Center on Feb. 28. Among them were Basic Sciences faculty Dai H. Chung (Carolyn Perot Rathjen Chair), Björn C. Knollmann (William Stokes Chair in Experimental Therapeutics), and Dan M. Roden, Sam L. Clark, M.D., Ph.D. Chair. Susan… Read More

Targeting Topoisomerase II Inhibitors Topoisomerases are critical enzymes during DNA replication and transcription, as they are responsible for untangling the knots and twists that can form as DNA is unwound and rewound during these processes. Type II topoisomerases accomplish this task by making a temporary double stranded break… Read More

Targeting Topoisomerase II Inhibitors Topoisomerases are critical enzymes during DNA replication and transcription, as they are responsible for untangling the knots and twists that can form as DNA is unwound and rewound during these processes. Type II topoisomerases accomplish this task by making a temporary double stranded break… Read More

Flavin-containing cofactors play an important role in many enzymatic biochemical reactions that involve electron and/or group transfer. In some, but not all flavin-containing enzymes, the cofactor is covalently bound. This is not a trivial distinction, because covalent binding alters the redox potential of the flavin, a change frequently required… Read More