Research, News & Discoveries

by Melanie Moran Jan. 31, 2021, 1:31 PM Leaves pathbreaking legacy of leadership and discovery at Vanderbilt University Susan R. Wente, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs (Vanderbilt University) Susan R. Wente, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, will become president… Read More

Vivian Gama, assistant professor of cell and developmental biology, and Leon Bellan, associate professor of mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering, have won a $2.3 million, three-year grant from the National Institutes of Health Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative.  Vivian Gama Leon Bellan (Vanderbilt University) The researchers will be developing three-dimensional brain organoids and related tissue—miniaturized… Read More

Jan. 28, 2021, 10:05 AM by Bill Snyder Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston have discovered what may be the Achilles’ heel of the coronavirus, a finding that may help close the door on COVID-19 and possibly head off future… Read More

by Marissa Shapiro Jan. 28, 2021, 7:00 AM Vanderbilt University has joined the Leap Health Breakthrough Network, a global group of leading academic and research institutions committed to solving the world’s most serious health challenges—such as cancer and infectious diseases—at record speed. Wellcome Leap is… Read More

by Marissa Shapiro Jan. 27, 2021, 9:00 AM For the second time, cancer researchers at Vanderbilt have discovered a protein that—when genetically manipulated to impede it from interacting with a gene responsible for cancer genesis—effectively melts tumors in days.  The article, “MYC regulates ribosome… Read More

Jan. 21, 2021, 11:00 AM by Leigh MacMillan Brain inflammation plays a role in human epilepsy, but most studies have focused on acquired epilepsies, such as those due to head trauma, viral infection or other insults. Neuroinflammation has never been reported in genetic epilepsy associated with ion channel gene mutations. … Read More

by Marissa Shapiro Jan. 26, 2021, 9:00 AM A chemical probe molecule—a “first gen” molecule that can be used for drug development—that targets a host cell’s protein quality control pathways can dramatically reduce infection by Dengue and Zika viruses. The research led by Lars… Read More

Jan. 21, 2021, 10:00 AM by Sarah Glass WDR5 is a protein that is overexpressed in a variety of cancers. Inhibiting WDR5 by targeting the WDR5-interaction (WIN) site can inhibit the growth of cancer cells in vitro, but this mechanism of action has not been fully elucidated.  Publishing in … Read More

by Marissa Shapiro Jan. 12, 2021, 9:00 AM Vanderbilt researchers have discovered a unique pathway that initiates islet β cell inflammation—a hallmark of type 2 diabetes—putting them a step closer to developing targeted therapeutics for the disease that affects one in 10 Americans. Wenbiao… Read More

by Marissa Shapiro Jan. 11, 2021, 9:00 AM Borden Lacy (Vanderbilt University) Borden Lacy, Edward and Nancy Fody Chair in Pathology and professor of biochemistry and pathology, microbiology and immunology, has been named director of the Vanderbilt Center for Structural Biology.  She… Read More