Research, News & Discoveries

Feb. 23, 2021, 8:00 AM by Emily Stembridge Patients with severe injuries, such as level 1 trauma or burns, face many complications of calcification during recovery. One is loss of bone, or osteoporosis. Another is calcification of soft tissue, resulting in heterotopic… Read More

Research Staff Awards honor those who help drive engines of discovery Feb. 18, 2021, 9:57 AM   by Bill Snyder Laboratory and administrative personnel at Vanderbilt University Medical Center were honored last week for research excellence during the 17th annual Research Staff Awards, held virtually this year because of the… Read More

Feb. 18, 2021, 11:00 AM by Leigh MacMillan Uveal coloboma can affect the iris — the colored part of the eye — giving it a keyhole appearance. (iStock) Uveal coloboma — a birth defect that causes a malformation of the eye — accounts for up to 10% of childhood blindness. Read More

By Lorena Infante Lara, February 15, 2021 Assistant Professor of Biochemistry Yi Ren and Assistant Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics Gregor Neuert have been recognized as School of Medicine Basic Sciences Dean’s Faculty Fellows. Established in 2020, the Dean’s Faculty Fellows program in Basic Sciences is designed to recognize… Read More

by Marissa Shapiro Feb. 17, 2021, 9:00 AM Vanderbilt biochemist Yi Ren is part of a team that has identified a new behavior of a SARS-CoV-2 protein and discovered that interfering with its function can block virus replication in host cells. This opens… Read More

by Marissa Shapiro Feb. 12, 2021, 9:00 AM Bruce Carter (Vanderbilt University) Bruce Carter, professor of biochemistry and an associate director of the Vanderbilt Brain Institute, has been appointed to the scientific advisory board of the CMT Research Foundation. He joins… Read More

by Marissa Shapiro Feb. 11, 2021, 9:00 AM Vanderbilt researchers have identified the protein receptor in specialized heart cells that, when removed, preserves cardiac function after a heart attack. This discovery has significant implications for survival after a heart attack, with a promising therapeutic… Read More

Feb. 4, 2021, 9:00 AM by Leigh MacMillan Transcription factors — proteins that regulate gene expression — play critical roles in cell fate decisions and are frequent targets of mutation in a variety of human cancers. Understanding how transcription factors contribute to disease requires the identification of their direct gene targets, but traditional methods are time-consuming… 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