Research, News & Discoveries

Vanderbilt University has named John Kuriyan, one of the world’s leading structural biologists, as its next dean of the School of Medicine Basic Sciences, C. Cybele Raver, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, announced today. Kuriyan’s appointment, effective Jan. 1, 2023, will advance the university’s… Read More

Researchers who have graduated from, attended, taught or been heavily mentored by faculty at historically Black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, have produced a comprehensive review of existing strengths and opportunities that will enable more Black graduates from predominantly white institutions, or PWIs, to enter science, technology, engineering, mathematics and… Read More

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Basic Sciences hosted its inaugural “Juneteenth: A Freedom Celebration” event on June 15. The programming sought to inform the community about the history and meaning of the important date, which commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S., and highlight the accomplishments of Black scientists… Read More

The lab of Kathy DelGiorno, assistant professor of cell and developmental biology, seeks to understand changes in the pancreas in response to injury and disease. In a recent project led by graduate student Leah Caplan, also from the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, the lab investigated the formation of… Read More

William Wan, assistant professor of biochemistry at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Basic Sciences, has been named a 2022  Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences.  “As a Pew Scholar, our lab will use and develop cutting-edge methods like cryo-electron tomography to determine how… Read More

Staphylococcus aureus (“staph”) is an increasingly antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogen that can cause a variety of life-threatening illnesses.  Researchers at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine have developed integrated molecular imaging techniques that can produce 3D views of the battle between invading pathogens and the body’s immune defenses down… Read More

In the early 1960s, young Larry Marnett received his amateur radio license from the Federal Communications Commission. He put up an antenna outside his Kansas City, Kansas, home and began tapping away in Morse code. “It was just so cool to be ‘talking’ to someone in California or Canada,” Marnett… Read More

The appendages that protrude from a mosquito’s head hold the sensory systems that account for nearly all of its ability to detect and respond to a wide range of chemical signals that are critical for its reproduction and its survival. At the molecular level, these systems rely on genes that… Read More

Type 2 diabetes, which affects more than 30 million Americans, increases risk of cardiovascular disease. Nearly 70% of people with Type 2 diabetes die from heart disease or stroke.  Maureen Gannon, PhD, and colleagues investigated the role of the inflammatory lipid signaling molecule PGE2 — acting through… Read More

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