Research, News & Discoveries

Sep. 3, 2020, 11:30 AM by Bill Snyder Reduced expression of Dlgap2, a gene important in signaling across the synapse between nerve cells, is associated with faster cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and increased plaques and tangles found in their brains on autopsy. To better understand the role of… Read More

Sep. 3, 2020, 11:00 AM by Leigh MacMillan Mitochondrial complex II is a four-subunit protein machine located in the mitochondrial membrane that links two essential cellular energy-producing processes. Defects in complex II — because of mutations in the genes encoding the subunits or incorrect assembly of the mature complex —… Read More

By Francisco Rodriguez Cells detect the nutrients that are in their environment and can adapt depending on what they sense. The class of signaling molecules known as inositol diphosphates or PP-IPs affects cellular shape, nutrient sensing and many other biological processes among organisms as simple as yeast and… Read More

By Sohini Roy The WHO reports that the Marburg virus has an average fatality rate of 50 percent, but fatality rate can be of up to 88 percent depending on the strain and the outbreak. Marburg viruses cause a hemorrhagic fever in humans, with a fatality rate of up to… Read More

by Marissa Shapiro Aug. 28, 2020, 9:00 AM Researchers at Vanderbilt University have, for the first time, been able to trigger the specific immune system response required to reverse the course of small intestinal inflammation by inducing production of tuft cells, very rare epithelial… Read More

WTVF, Channel 5, interviewed Erin Calipari, assistant professor of pharmacology, about how stress over the pandemic contributes to the development of substance abuse disorders and the increased probability of relapse. Read More

Aug. 20, 2020, 8:23 AM by Bill Snyder Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have identified antibodies that, in animals, block infection by alphaviruses, which can cause chronic and debilitating joint pain and arthritis and are an increasing global health concern. The findings, published in the journal Cell Host… Read More

Aug. 20, 2020, 9:30 AM by Bill Snyder Tumors tend to have leaky and highly dysfunctional blood vessels that can prevent anti-cancer drugs and immune cells from getting to them. Improving the effectiveness of cancer therapy, therefore, may require finding ways to “normalize” tumor blood vessels.   Signaling through a protein… Read More

Aug. 20, 2020, 8:48 AM From left, Huan Tao, MD, PhD, Sean Davies, PhD, Jiansheng Huang, PhD, and MacRae Linton, MD, led the study that identified a potential new treatment for atherosclerosis. (photo by Donn Jones) by Bill Snyder A small-molecule “scavenger” that reduces inflammation and formation of atherosclerotic plaque… Read More

by Marissa Shapiro Aug. 19, 2020, 12:00 PM The Vanderbilt Laboratory for Biosynthetic Studies, led by Brian Bachmann, professor of chemistry, has discovered a naturally occurring compound that is resilient to antibiotic resistance because of its rare properties. Antibiotic resistance, the ability of… Read More