Research, News & Discoveries

by Leigh MacMillan A team of Vanderbilt investigators has pinpointed the role of bile acids and a specific signaling pathway in the positive metabolic effects of weight-loss surgery. The findings, reported in the journal Gastroenterology, also suggest that the intestinal microbiome participates in post-surgery improvements. The results… Read More

by Heidi Hall Dec. 20, 2018, 2:56 PM A new Vanderbilt University biochemistry professor is working to defeat drug-resistant superbugs by blocking a molecule they need to mutate rapidly. In 2015, Houra Merrikh discovered that a bacterial protein called Mfd quickens the… Read More

by Ann Marie Deer Owens Dec. 21, 2018, 6:51 AM Maureen Casey, chief administrative officer for the Mass Spectrometry Research Center, is the latest recipients of the Chancellor’s Heart and Soul Staff Appreciation Award. Casey has worked for more than… Read More

Dec. 20, 2018, 10:16 AM by Kelsey Herbers Raymond Harris, MD, Ann and Roscoe R. Robinson Professor of Nephrology and director of the Vanderbilt Center for Kidney Disease, has been appointed co-chair of the American Society of Nephrology’s (ASN) Kidney Health Initiative (KHI). Raymond Harris, MD The… Read More

Exocytic vesicles fuse with the plasma membrane (PM) through the action of SNARE proteins, which in turn, are delivered to the vesicles by multisubunit protein tethering complexes. One such complex is the exocyst, comprising two tetrameric subcomplexes, SC1 (composed of SEC3, SEC5, SEC6, and SEC8) and SC2 (composed of SEC10,… Read More

Congratulations to Caleigh Azumaya, of the Nakagawa Lab, for being selected the 2019 recipient of The Anne Karpay Award in Structural Biology.  Caleigh was chosen for her ability to perform outstanding research and for her collegiality and willingness to engage those around her.  Caleigh will present the… Read More

Figure reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license from A. M. Fenix, et al. (2018) eLife, published December 12, DOI: 10.7554/eLife.42144. The sarcomere is a repeating unit of interdigitating actin and myosin filaments that serves as the building blocks of the myofibrils in striated muscle cells. Sarcomeres are demarcated… Read More

In DNA, abasic sites (apurinic/apyrimidinic or AP sites) occur through spontaneous hydrolysis of the glycosidic bond that joins the base to the deoxyribose ring (a common reaction following formation of some kinds of DNA adducts) or through the action of DNA glycosylases during repair of damaged bases. In double-stranded DNA,… Read More

Dec. 13, 2018, 10:15 AM by Bill Snyder Eosinophils are a type of white blood cell that plays many roles in the body, including helping to maintain metabolic homeostasis, the steady state that ensures the body is adequately fueled and waste is eliminated. Previous studies have found the adipose (fatty)… Read More