Research, News & Discoveries

Atrial fibrillation (A-fib) — the most common cardiac arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) — is associated with increased risk of stroke, heart failure, dementia and death. Antiarrhythmic drug therapy to prevent A-fib has remained elusive. The strongest genetic risk factors for A-fib in humans are variants in a chromosomal region including the gene… Read More

When Waddell Walker Hancock founded the A.B. Hancock Jr. Memorial Laboratory for Cancer Research 40 years ago at Vanderbilt, she was determined that the right combination of imagination, perseverance and scientific talent could win the fight against cancer. Hancock Lab researchers have earned many national honors and 13 patents for… Read More

Antentor Hinton Jr., assistant professor of molecular physiology and biophysics, has co-authored the cover story of the June issue of Cellalong with 51 Black scientists. The article, “Juneteenth in STEMM and the barriers to equitable science,” establishes the context of Juneteenth in… Read More

By Marissa Shapiro Antentor Hinton Jr., assistant professor of molecular physiology and biophysics, played a seminal role in creating the June issue of the journal Cell, including the orchestration on a seven-part series within the issue that addresses the ways that the teachings of Juneteenth can… Read More

Thirteen outstanding faculty members from across the university have been selected for the 2023 cohort of Chancellor Faculty Fellows. This group is composed of highly accomplished, recently tenured faculty from a wide variety of disciplines and areas of expertise.   “As we reflect on the 150th anniversary of our founding, we’re… Read More

Jackson Roberts II, MD, an internationally known clinical pharmacologist in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine who helped define the role of lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress in human disease, died May 31 in Nashville. He was 79. Dr. Roberts, professor of Pharmacology and Medicine, emeritus, was perhaps best known… Read More

Marie-Claire Harrison, a graduate student in the Department of Biological Sciences, has been named the 2023 recipient of the Brighter Ventures Student Award. The Brighter Ventures Student Award supports Ph.D. students interested in the application of artificial intelligence in the biomedical research field. This award was established by Laurent Audoly, a graduate… Read More

By Leah Mann The labs of Lauren Jackson, associate professor of biological sciences and biochemistry, and Todd Graham, Stevenson Professor of Biological Sciences at the College of Arts and Science and professor of cell and developmental biology, recently published a study in the Journal of Cell Biology… Read More

Source material and recommended further reading related to “Fluorine in Protein Chemistry: Going Where Mother Nature Deigned to Go” by Chuck Sanders. CF2H, a Hydrogen Bond Donor J Am Chem Soc. 2017 139:9325-9332. doi: 10.1021/jacs.7b04457. Epub 2017 Jun 27. Chanan D Sessler,… Read More

By Alexandra Scammell There are major inflection points in biomedical discovery that create new fields, new ideas, and new opportunities to impact human health. To recognize scientists at the pinnacle of their fields who have contributed to these inflection points, the Vanderbilt School of Medicine Basic Sciences is… Read More