Research, News & Discoveries

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

Dec. 13, 2018, 10:00 AM by Leigh MacMillan Immune checkpoint inhibitors — cancer therapies that remove the “brakes” on the adaptive anti-tumor immune response — have had remarkable success in melanoma and lung cancer. Response rates to these immunotherapies in breast cancer have been disappointing, perhaps because breast cancers are… Read More

Dec. 13, 2018, 9:45 AM by Bill Snyder (iStock) The exocyst is a protein complex essential for life, that is comprised of eight subunits and is a crucial component in vesicle trafficking. The mechanisms by which exocysts assemble and deliver vesicles containing important biological materials to the cell surface has… Read More

Figure courtesy of A.R. Greenplate. Copyright 2018. Cytomics, the “omics” of cell identity, offers the opportunity to systematically identify all cells in a tissue or patient sample, and the recent advent of high-dimensional flow and mass cytometry to the cytomics arsenal has markedly increased its power. Cytomics is particularly valuable… Read More

by Kara Furlong Dec. 11, 2018, 5:00 PM Craig Lindsley Craig W. Lindsley, co-director of the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery, has been elected a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. Lindsley… Read More

by Kara Furlong Dec. 11, 2018, 5:00 PM Craig Lindsley Craig W. Lindsley, co-director of the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery, has been elected a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. Lindsley… Read More

Over 27 million people in the United States are living with type 2 (adult onset) diabetes. In most cases, type 2 diabetes results from a mixture of multiple genetic and environmental factors. However, in a small subgroup of patients, mutation of a single gene leads to the form of type… Read More

Apoptosis is a mechanism of cell death that occurs in normal tissues as part of natural cell turnover and remodeling. Apoptotic cells are cleared by efforcytosis, a specialized form of phagocytosis mediated by MerTK, a receptor tyrosine kinase expressed by many phagocytic cells. MerTK recognizes a combination of ligands, such… Read More

Vanderbilt University’s 10 newest endowed chair holders were lauded for their exemplary teaching and scholarship during a Nov. 27 ceremony at the Student Life Center. Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Susan R. Wente noted in her opening remarks that this group of chair holders… Read More

by Bill Snyder Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have identified a biomarker for insulin-producing beta cells. Their finding, reported this month in the journal Cell Metabolism, could lead to improved ways to study and treat diabetes. The researchers demonstrated that human beta cells can be positively identified and… Read More