Research, News & Discoveries

Nov. 12, 2020, 9:00 AM by Sarah Glass Continuous activation of cell surface receptors increases signaling that can promote oncogenic transformation. One receptor, EphA2, has been identified as a driver of lung cancer, but its interacting partners are not well characterized.  Reporting in Molecular Cancer Research, … Read More

Erin Calipari, assistant professor of pharmacology and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, discusses the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on those struggling with opioid addiction. Read More

by Marissa Shapiro Nov. 9, 2020, 8:00 AM Yi Ren, assistant professor of biochemistry Vanderbilt University researcher Yi Ren is part of an international team that has confirmed the mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2, the scientific name for the strain of coronavirus causing COVID-19, targets and… Read More

Nov. 6, 2020, 8:00 AM By Jenna Somers and Jane Hirtle Yi Ren, assistant professor of biochemistry As a structural biologist, Yi Ren, assistant professor of biochemistry in the School of Medicine Basic Sciences, studies the structure of biological molecules at the atomic level to understand… Read More

by Marissa Shapiro Nov. 3, 2020, 12:00 PM Vanderbilt pharmacologists have reported the first evidence that aberrant spontaneous release of neurotransmitters in the brain can cause a range of severe intellectual and neurodevelopmental disorders in infants and children. Baris Alten (Baris Alten) Ege Kavalali… Read More

by Marissa Shapiro Nov. 4, 2020, 9:00 AM On Oct. 19, Nancy Carrasco, professor and chair of the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics and the Joe C. Davis Chair of Biomedical Science, was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.    The election process recognizes… Read More

by Marissa Shapiro Nov. 2, 2020, 9:30 AM Vanderbilt University Assistant Professor of Pharmacology Jerri Rook has been recognized with the 2020 Melvin R. Goodes Prize for Excellence in Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery. Presented by the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, the prize recognizes leading researchers who… Read More

By Emery Little Frances Arnold, 2018 Nobel laureate in Chemistry, presented this year’s John R. and Donna S. Hall Engineering Lecture for the Vanderbilt School of Engineering. Frances Arnold, a 2018 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry and chemical engineering professor at California Institute of Technology, shared her groundbreaking research in… Read More

By Kendra H. Oliver Academic departments are busy places filled with faculty who deal with tight schedules, trainees who are occupied with completing their degrees, and staff members who try to manage the organized chaos. Everyone handles their individual life responsibilities alongside work, and this is particularly true during… Read More

Oct. 29, 2020, 9:00 AM by Leigh MacMillan (iStock) The nucleus accumbens (NAc) is a brain region that integrates diverse inputs to coordinate motivated and reward-based behavior and has a role in addiction. Histamine-producing neurons innervate the NAc, but how histamine contributes to NAc neuronal circuits is undefined. Kevin Manz, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in… Read More