Research, News & Discoveries

In addition to fueling cutting-edge research, a new molecular imaging system will serve as a cornerstone resource at the Mass Spectrometry Research Center, which is recognized nationally as a hub for molecular imaging and technology development. It will be made accessible to collaborators across academia, national labs, and industry, ensuring broad impact. Read More

Started in June 2025, a new collaborative science project called diffUSE involving Vanderbilt University, Cornell University, and the University of California, San Francisco, could be the next watershed moment. The $5 million, three-year project led by the Astera Institute will advance our understanding of protein motion. Using diffuse scattering, an overlooked signal measured by X-ray crystallography, the project will determine how protein dynamics are characterized, leading to a new paradigm in dynamic structural biology. Read More

The Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Basic Sciences welcomed 42 new graduate students into its Interdisciplinary Graduate Program and Quantitative and Chemical Biology Program through orientation events and the Simple Beginnings ceremony. These academic programs combine coursework and research to guide students toward earning a Ph.D. and careers in the biomedical sciences. Read More

Prashant Donthamsetti has received a prestigious NIH Director’s Pioneer Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. His project will use a new platform called Tag-Guided Drug to uncover how specific dopamine signaling proteins contribute to addiction. This work paves the way for more precise and effective addiction therapies. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers probe the mysteries of an enzyme that could be used as a tool in basic research and medicinal chemistry. Read More

Vanderbilt-Ingram names William Tansey associate director for Shared Resources and Douglas Kojetin as co-leader of the Genome Maintenance Research Program. The Genome Maintenance Research Program is focused on understanding how DNA is damaged, repaired, packaged, expressed and replicated. Read More

Meet Hannah Schaeffer, administrative manager for the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery. Read More

A colorectal cancer research team led by Robert Coffey has received a Specialized Programs of Research Excellence grant renewal totaling $12.6 million from the National Cancer Institute.The team has made numerous discoveries over the past 23 years, and it plans to build upon those achievements with the goal of “drugging the undruggable.” Vanderbilt-Ingram is one of only four cancer centers in the U.S. with GI Cancer SPORE funding. Read More

Kathleen DelGiorno has received a Research Scholar Award from the American Cancer Society to study pancreatic cancer development. She will focus on the role of two fatty acids that are known to be involved with tumorigenesis. Read More

David Cortez and Rahul Bhowmick won the Chancellor’s Award for Research for their work, “RAD51 Bypasses the CMG Helicase to Promote Replication Fork Reversal,” which was published in the journal Science. Read More