Research, News & Discoveries

May. 14, 2020, 2:00 PM by Leigh MacMillan The bacterium Bacillus anthracis — the cause of the serious infectious disease anthrax — has been used as a bioterror agent. Understanding how B. anthracis adapts to hostile environments to cause infection may identify new targets for treatment.  Eric Skaar, PhD, and… Read More

Linda Sealy, Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Associate Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, recently announced her retirement. On May 8, 2020, Vanderbilt University bestowed on Dr. Sealy the title of emerita faculty.   Sealy Retirement Announcement 7 May 2020 Dear Colleagues, I am… Read More

May. 7, 2020, 10:43 AM   by Bill Snyder More than 70% of all viruses known to cause human disease, including the one that causes COVID-19, are RNA viruses. They invade the body by hijacking the internal machinery of cells. Yet little is known about how viral RNA commandeers host… Read More

May. 5, 2020, 8:00 AM by Leigh MacMillan Compounds called inositol diphosphates are cellular signaling “codes” involved in multiple processes ranging from phosphate sensing to DNA metabolism.  John York, PhD, and colleagues have demonstrated that the evolutionarily conserved gene product Vip1 is capable of both synthesizing… Read More

Apr. 30, 2020, 10:00 AM by Bill Snyder Marburg is a distant, more lethal cousin of the RNA virus that causes COVID-19. An outbreak of Marburg hemorrhagic fever in Angola in 2004-2005 killed 90% of the approximately 250 people it infected.  Now researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch… Read More

https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-web/medschool-wpcontent/sites/64/2020/05/07095027/Tansey_website.mp4   By Suneethi Sivakumaran WDR5 has different moonlighting roles in the body, including in chromatin regulation and in chromatin-independent processes such as cell division. © Ian Dyball, stock.adobe.com The human body is a complicated network of interdependent cellular processes regulated by gene-encoded proteins. Proteins… Read More

by Ryan Underwood May. 5, 2020, 2:00 PM New gift establishes the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery to support pharmaceutical breakthroughs Vanderbilt University received $20 million from The William K. Warren Foundation, located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to establish the Warren… Read More

Apr. 16, 2020, 11:00 AM by Leigh MacMillan The cotransporter NKCC1 moves sodium, potassium and chloride ions across the cell membrane of many cell types, including intestinal epithelial cells. Two patients with mutations in NKCC1 suffered from severe intestinal dysfunction and chronic infections.  To explore the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the… Read More

https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-web/medschool-wpcontent/sites/64/2020/04/24143926/Lacy_Website.mp4   By Sara Eaton C. diff is responsible for 50% of gastrointestinal infections in hospitals but cause over 90% of GI tract infection-related deaths. © Kateryna_Kon, stock.adobe.com Gastrointestinal infections often cause damage to the stem cells in the colon’s epithelium, a thin layer of… Read More

By Lorena Infante Lara Manuel Ascano, Department of Biochemistry, and Marija Zanic, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology. The School of Medicine Basic Sciences has established a new Dean’s Faculty Fellows program designed to recognize the efforts of faculty in the early stages of their career. The award targets assistant… Read More