Research, News & Discoveries

Today’s infant formulas are much improved over formulas of decades past, but according to some scientists—and Townsend’s discerning daughter—they’re still a far cry from mothers’ milk. Chemists hope to change that. To create formula that more closely mimics breast milk, researchers like Steve Townsend at Vanderbilt University are trying to make the… Read More

A New Pathway for DNA Cross-Link Repair Interstrand cross-links (ICLs) are a highly toxic form of DNA damage in which the two complementary DNA strands are covalently bound together. This form of damage is difficult to repair, so animal cells have evolved the Fanconi anemia (FA) pathway specifically… Read More

Dynamics of Basement Membrane Repair The basement membrane (BM) is an ancient, highly conserved structure that lies under the basal surface of epithelial cells and wraps around organs such as muscles and nerves. It provides mechanical stiffness and modulates cellular communication by interacting with signaling molecules. Although much… Read More

Organizing Microtubule Asters Microtubules (MTs) are a critical component of the cytoskeleton, playing a role in a range of processes from cell polarization to division. MTs are polymers of αβ-tubulin that grow and shrink from a rapidly changing plus-end and a more slowly changing minus-end to form two… Read More

Vanderbilt University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are combining their expertise in biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics and computation to explore transformative, interdisciplinary ways to study complex cellular processes to tackle some of the most pressing problems in biology. The collaboration between the university and ORNL was propelled by a May 3 campus… Read More

Biomedical science trainees at Vanderbilt have a new career exploration option starting this fall — they can get a taste of what it means to be a “data scientist.” The Biomedical Research Education and Training (BRET) Office of Career Development’s ASPIRE Programreceived a Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF) grant to support a… Read More

Tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is a highly infectious lung disease in humans.Unfortunately, resistance to anti-tubercular medicines such as fourth-generation fluoroquinolones is on the rise. In most cases, fluoroquinolone resistance is caused by mutations in a bacterial enzyme called gyrase. Compounds called M. tuberculosis gyrase inhibitors (MGIs) display activity against tuberculosis in cellular… Read More

Vanderbilt University has been awarded a five-year, $8.1-million grant from the National Cancer Institute to serve as a research center in the institute’s prestigious Cancer Systems Biology Consortium. Directed by Dr. Vito Quaranta, professor of biochemistry and pharmacology in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, the new center will focus on advancing the… Read More

Albumin Degradation in the Diabetic Kidney A major long-term complication of diabetes is kidney damage that leads to diabetic nephropathy (DN), a condition associated with considerable morbidity and mortality among diabetic patients. An early sign of DN is the appearance of protein, primarily albumin, in the urine. Indeed, clinicians… Read More

Targeting Mood Disorders in Alcohol Withdrawal Mood disorders such as anxiety and depression are strongly associated with alcohol use disorder and can be exacerbated during alcohol withdrawal. In fact, the increase in anxiety and depression associated with withdrawal contributes to the likelihood of relapse and return to alcohol abuse. Read More