Research, News & Discoveries

Jul. 8, 2019, 11:31 AM by Kathy Whitney Richard Vari, PhD, Senior Dean for Academic Affairs, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, and president of IAMSE, (left) presents the award to Neil Osheroff, PhD. Neil Osheroff, PhD, John G. Coniglio professor of Biochemistry, professor of Medicine and director of the… Read More

Jul. 8, 2019, 3:42 PM Ingrid Mayer, MD, center, principal investigator of a clinical study testing a drug that may prevent cancer metastasis, with Vanderbilt drug repurposing program team members Robert Lavieri, PhD, and Meghan Joly, PhD. (photo by Joe Howell) by Leigh MacMillan A clinical study of a drug… Read More

Jul. 1, 2019, 9:29 AM by Jessica Pasley Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) recently awarded three grants to investigators in the Department of Ophthalmology to support research into the causes, treatment and prevention of blinding diseases. The Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology received an RPB Unrestricted Grant,… Read More

By Deborah Roby The influenza virus prevents its own destruction and causes virulence by a newly discovered method. The non-structural protein 1 (NS1) of the influenza A virus allows disease proliferation by binding a protein that activates the host’s immune reaction. The lab of Yi Ren, in collaboration with researchers… Read More

Jul. 2, 2019, 9:24 AM by Bill Snyder Joel Hardman, PhD Joel Hardman, PhD, an internationally recognized scientist and educator who chaired the Department of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine from 1975 to 1990, died June 30, 2019 in Hoosick Falls, New York, after a lengthy illness. He… Read More

By Lorena Infante Lara Research from the labs of Roland Stein (Molecular Physiology & Biophysics) and Chris Wright (Cell & Developmental Biology) suggests that the chromatin remodeling complex Swi/Snf, when bound to transcription factor Pdx1, is required for controlling the growth rate of the embryonic pancreas and for maintaining β cell identity… Read More

Jun. 20, 2019, 8:00 AM by Anivarya Kumar Md. Jashim Uddin, Larry Marnett Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death in women and one of the most difficult malignancies to detect at an early stage. Emerging clinical evidence suggests that the enzyme cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1) contributes significantly to tumorigenesis… Read More

Jun. 12, 2019, 9:00 AM by Bill Snyder The human cytochrome P450 enzymes are responsible for metabolizing a variety of substances — from lipids (fats) and steroid hormones to drugs and toxic chemicals. One such enzyme, P450 17A1, generates androstenedione and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), involved in the production of sex hormones. Read More

Figure reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License 4.0 from A. M. Weissmiller, et al. Nat. Comm., (2019) 10, 2014. SWI/SNF is a multicomponent protein complex that plays an important role in chromatin remodeling. It is also likely an important tumor suppressor, as indicated by the fact that… Read More

Jun. 10, 2019, 9:00 AM by Leigh MacMillan During late stages of heart development, interactions between the endocardium (the inner layer of cells) and the myocardium (the heart muscle) are known to be crucial. Signaling between these two cell layers during the earliest stages of heart development has been more difficult… Read More