Research, News & Discoveries

Aug. 6, 2020, 10:00 AM by Sarah Glass Oral contraceptives are implicated in slightly increasing breast cancer risk. This birth control method contains forms of estrogen, a hormone that binds ERalpha (estrogen receptor alpha), to alter the reproductive cycle. While much is known about estrogen signaling, few have researched how receptor homeostasis… Read More

Aug. 5, 2020, 7:00 AM By Jenna Somers Cody Siciliano (Vanderbilt University) Assistant Professor of Pharmacology Cody Siciliano has been awarded the Fay/Frank Seed Grant from the Brain Research Foundation and the Alkermes Pathways Research Award from the… Read More

Jul. 30, 2020, 8:08 AM by Bill Snyder A protein linked to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive neurological disease that causes muscle weakness, may be a key to treating fibrotic disease of the kidneys and other organs, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center reported recently. FUS is the… Read More

by Marissa Shapiro Jul. 21, 2020, 10:00 AM The brain has an uncanny ability to enhance or reduce communication between brain cells. Whether or not communication is fast or slow changes the brain’s overall function. Understanding how these cells communicate within the brain is… Read More

A bold engineering approach by a Vanderbilt University researcher to sort breast cancer cells based on their behavior first has produced compelling data that show less migratory cells create more metastases, contradicting the prevailing hypothesis on how cancer spreads. Expanding this ambitious research by Cynthia Reinhart-King, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor… Read More

Jul. 16, 2020, 9:16 AM by Tom Wilemon After serving 16 years as associate director for Research Education at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), Ann Richmond, PhD, Ingram Professor of Cancer Research, is stepping down from the leadership post. Ann Richmond, PhD, is stepping down from her role as associate director… Read More

Jul. 15, 2020, 1:42 PM by Bill Snyder Based on positive results in preclinical studies reported today, potently neutralizing antibodies identified by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are showing promise as a potential therapy for preventing and treating COVID-19. The monoclonal antibodies were isolated from the blood of a couple… Read More

Jul. 14, 2020, 4:19 PM by Leigh MacMillan An experimental coronavirus vaccine stimulated robust immune responses against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and raised no serious safety concerns in an early-stage clinical trial. The vaccine, called mRNA-1273, was developed by Moderna Inc. in collaboration with the National Institute of… Read More

Jul. 14, 2020, 8:00 AM by Leigh MacMillan NAEs are bioactive lipid molecules that appear to play roles in energy balance, inflammation, stress responses and addiction. How NAE levels are regulated and their precise contributions to biological processes remain poorly understood. To develop tools to explore NAE function,… Read More

By Sohini Roy Neuro-2a cells after treatment with STING-NP. (Wang-Bishop et al. Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, through a CC BY-NC 4.0 license) Neuroblastoma, an aggressive pediatric brain cancer with a high mortality rate, boasts a unique microenvironment that puts the brakes on infiltrating… Read More