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Research, News & Discoveries

  • Photo taken from slightly above and behind a person wearing a green turtleneck with long sleeves. They are holding a lancing device to their finger. The table in front of them has several additional tools diabetics use, including a glucometer, and an open carrying case.

    Sin3a regulates pancreatic β-cells fitness and function

    By Sohini Roy People with type 1 diabetes generate little to no insulin, which promotes the absorption of glucose from the blood. The transcriptional coregulator Swi-independent 3 — or Sin3 — switches on and off the genes that drive crucial biological processes during prenatal development, including cellular differentiation, maturation, survival, metabolism,… Read More

    Sep. 14, 2020

  • Colorful 3D illustration of a cell undergoing cell division. The outside of the progeny cells is bright orange/red. Green filaments spread out from each pole toward the center. The cell is getting pinched around the center; the area between the cells is blue. The background is black.

    Myosin motors regulate cell shape during division

    By Natalya Ortolano Myosin motors and long actin filaments accumulate at the center of dividing cells to constrict the membrane. When a bouncy ball deforms under the weight of your body, its rubber membrane stretches and contracts. Likewise, the membrane of a cell doubling itself prior to division must accommodate… Read More

    Sep. 14, 2020

  • 3D rendering of a few RNA viruses. The one in the center has a quarter of the top half removed, forming a little window into the inside. Inside is a few molecules of RNA. The viruses are blue/gray with red proteins on their surface (much like the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2), and the RNA molecules are yellow.

    VIR-CLASP reveals new insights into cellular mechanisms of viral immune response

    By Brad Davidson VIR-CLASP has the potential to find new therapeutic targets during infection by a wide variety of RNA viruses. RNA viruses invade cells and co-opt cellular machinery to replicate and translate their genomic material. To stave off infection until immune cells arrive, host cells rely on “intrinsic immunity… Read More

    Sep. 10, 2020

  • A human hand, palm open to the viewer, with a pink ribbon drawn on it. The pink ribbon is the chosen symbol for breast cancer awareness.

    Study explores the role of MYCN in Triple Negative Breast Cancer diagnosis and treatment

    By Mary Alice Keller Triple-negative breast cancer is a type of breast cancer that tests negative for the three receptors that are commonly found in breast cancer: estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) receptors. The oncogene MYCN regulates cancer cell growth, proliferation, metabolism, and… Read More

    Sep. 10, 2020

  • Vanderbilt team works across disciplines to replicate cellular filament behavior for the first time, shedding new light on a fundamental cellular process

    Vanderbilt team works across disciplines to replicate cellular filament behavior for the first time, shedding new light on a fundamental cellular process

    by Marissa Shapiro Sep. 8, 2020, 12:00 PM A Vanderbilt University laboratory led by Marija Zanic, assistant professor of cell and developmental biology, has demonstrated for the first time how microtubules—filaments that are essential to many of a cell’s functions—move around in a… Read More

    Sep. 10, 2020

  • Vanderbilt University

    Gould promoted to senior associate dean

    Kathy Gould, Louise B. McGavock professor of cell and developmental biology in the School of Medicine Basic Sciences, has been named senior associate dean for biomedical research, education, and career development. Kathy joined the Vanderbilt faculty as an assistant professor after she obtained her Ph.D. from the University of… Read More

    Sep. 4, 2020

  • Vanderbilt University

    New clue to Alzheimer’s disease

    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

  • Assembling cell power plant machinery

    Assembling cell power plant machinery

    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

    Sep. 3, 2020

  • Vanderbilt University

    Vip1 allows cells to adapt to changing conditions

    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

    Aug. 28, 2020

  • A 3D rendering of a Marburg virus, which resembles the Ebola virus and is vaguely shaped like an ampersand. The virus is brown on a blue background and has tiny blue spheres scattered all over its surface.

    Non-neutralizing antibodies from a Marburg infection survivor show therapeutic potential

    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

    Aug. 28, 2020