Research, News & Discoveries

We need zinc: one-tenth of the proteins in our cells require this metal for their normal functions in all aspects of cell metabolism. We acquire zinc by eating it — in foods or multivitamin supplements — but up to 30% of people in some parts of the world are at… Read More

An international team that included researchers from Vanderbilt University Medical Center has discovered a molecular switch that induces rapid proliferation of zymogen granule-secreting chief cells in the stomach to regenerate damaged tissue. The finding, which was reported earlier this month in the journal Cell Stem Cell, may be crucial… Read More

Obesity is an inflammatory condition that can damage tissues throughout the body, resulting in increased risk for cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and possibly kidney disease. The agents of inflammation are immune cells called macrophages, which accumulate in fatty tissue, and which produce inflammatory chemicals called cytokines. But… Read More

Structure of a caveolin-1 complex obtained using cryo-electron microscopy. A protomer, or a structural unit, is highlighted in magenta. The image was cropped to focus on panel A of Figure 1 of the paper, modified and published here in accordance to a CC BY-NC 4.0 license. Read More

Vanderbilt University has honored 35 retiring faculty members for their years of service by bestowing upon them the title of emerita or emeritus faculty. They were recognized during Vanderbilt’s Commencement ceremony on May 13. A faculty member who has served the university with distinction over a period of years and… Read More

The virus that causes COVID-19 can develop partial resistance to the antiviral drug remdesivir during infection of cultured cells in the laboratory by more than one mechanism. The results of the laboratory study led by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and published April 28 in the journal Science… Read More

The virus that causes COVID-19 can develop partial resistance to the antiviral drug remdesivir during infection of cultured cells in the laboratory by more than one mechanism. The results of the laboratory study led by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and published April 28 in the journal Science… Read More

Research led by co-first authors Emily Schmitz, a graduate student in the Chemical and Physical Biology program, and Hirohide Takahashi, a research instructor in molecular physiology and biophysics, identified the structure of the human type-3 inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate, or IP3, receptor in several conformations using cryo-electron microscopy. Schmitz and Takahasi, who… Read More

he lab of Kathy Gould, Louise B. McGavock Professor and professor of cell and developmental biology, used a multi-disciplinary approach that included structural biology, biochemistry, and molecular biology to investigate the regulation of the CK1 enzyme family. The research, led by Sierra Cullati, a postdoc in the Gould lab, and… Read More

Jacob Steenwyk, a graduate student in biological sciences, and collaborators at Vanderbilt, Tel Aviv University and University of Wisconsin-Madison measured the coevolution of pairs of genes shared across budding yeasts to identify the genes that participate in the same cellular or molecular functions.  The results of this work… Read More