Research, News & Discoveries

by Leigh MacMillan The Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology and Inflammation (VI4) recently moved into its new research and administrative home. The state-of-the-art facilities in Medical Center North represent the first phase of research space for VI4, which was created in 2017 as a key initiative… Read More

Jul. 9, 2020, 9:30 AM by Leigh MacMillan The proteins Sin3a and Sin3b act as scaffolds for protein complexes that regulate gene expression to control cell differentiation, survival and function. Guoqiang Gu, PhD, and colleagues have assessed the roles of Sin3a/b in the embryonic development and… Read More

Jul. 8, 2020, 1:38 PM   by Bill Snyder Scientists at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) in Phoenix, Arizona, have discovered previously unreported genetic and cellular changes that occur in the lungs of people with pulmonary fibrosis (PF). Their findings, reported Wednesday, July 8,… Read More

Stephen W. Fesik, Ph.D., Orrin H. Ingram, II Chair in Cancer Research and Professor of Biochemistry, Pharmacology, and Chemistry, is the featured speaker of this July 3, 2020 webinar (50:43) titled, “A Promising Start to Ending Coronaviruses.”… Read More

Susan R. Wente has served dual roles as biomedical scientist and interim chancellor and provost This story will run in full in the inaugural, Summer 2020 issue of Vestigo, the magazine from the School of Medicine Basic Sciences. When the first reports of an unusual new respiratory disease made news in January,… Read More

By Heather Caslin Approximately 30 million Americans have type 2 diabetes. The majority are over 45 years old. © Vitalii Vodolazskyi, stock.adobe.com Within the pancreas, β-cells produce insulin that delivers energy to tissues through glucose. People with type 2 diabetes have smaller, less functional β-cells; however, the mechanisms that drive… Read More

by Marissa Shapiro Jun. 24, 2020, 11:57 AM By applying unsupervised and automated machine learning techniques to the analysis of millions of cancer cells,Rebecca Ihrie and Jonathan Irish, both associate professors of cell and developmental biology, have identified new cancer cell types… Read More

Jun. 22, 2020, 8:00 AM by Leigh MacMillan Lennox-Gastaut syndrome is a severe early-onset seizure disorder that includes cognitive and behavioral abnormalities. Its pathophysiology is largely unknown.  Recent whole-exome sequencing in patients with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome identified a spontaneous mutation in the gene encoding a GABA-A receptor subunit implicated in other childhood epilepsies. … Read More

By Dana Meeks Ten outstanding faculty members from across the university have been selected for the 2020 cohort of Chancellor Faculty Fellows. This group is composed of highly accomplished, recently tenured faculty from a wide variety of disciplines and areas of expertise. “Investing in this remarkable group of… Read More

Jun. 18, 2020, 11:00 AM by Leigh MacMillan Cells missing the protein HMCES are hypersensitive to DNA-damaging agents that cause a common type of DNA lesion — an “abasic” site. But the agents also generate other types of lesions associated with mutations and cell lethality, making it unclear whether HMCES… Read More