Research, News & Discoveries

Our growing ability to acquire data at the level of single cells in complex samples provides exciting new opportunities to understand physiological and pathophysiological processes; however, it also presents daunting challenges for the statistical evaluation of the resultant huge datasets. To date, most experimental approaches have focused on identifying the… Read More

Katherine Rothamel, a PhD student in the Department of Biochemistry at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, has been selected as the 2017 Vanderbilt Prize Student Scholar. Katherine Rothamel She will be mentored by Lynne Maquat, PhD, an internationally known scientist at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and… Read More

Vanderbilt chemists have been awarded $7.2 million over the next five years from the National Cancer Institute to lead an initiative to better understand how a combination chemotherapy for breast cancer targets DNA. Michael Stone, PhD, Carmelo Rizzo, PhD, and Martin Egli, PhD, will research the chemical biology… Read More

Small heat-shock proteins (sHSPs) are molecular chaperones that bind to unfolded proteins to prevent protein aggregation and defend against cellular stress. Mutations in human sHSPs are associated with inherited diseases including cataract and cardiomyopathy. Individual sHSPs bind to each other to form oligomers. Hassane Mchaourab,… Read More

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a kidney disease characterized by loss of kidney function in patients with diabetes. Raymond Harris, MD, and colleagues previously showed that the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is activated in mouse models of type 1 diabetes, and that… Read More

Loss of a protein that regulates mitochondrial function can greatly increase the risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack), Vanderbilt scientists reported Oct. 3 in the journal eLife. The study illustrates how “integrative genomics,” a combination of basic research, a human biobank linked to electronic health records… Read More

Four Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) investigators have received financial support from Susan G. Komen for breast cancer research. Jennifer Pietenpol, PhD, Executive Vice President for Research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and director of VICC, will receive $400,000 to lead a clinical trial for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast… Read More

A New Approach to RAS Inhibition Image reproduced with permission from T. R. Hodges, et al., (2018) J. Med. Chem., published online September 11, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.8b01108. Copyright 2018 American Chemical Society RAS is a small protein that acts as a molecular on/off switch to modulate numerous signaling pathways that… Read More

Promoting Immune-Mediated Therapy in Breast Cancer Image courtesy of Dr. Steven Harmes. Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas Texas. Despite major progress in early diagnosis and treatment, breast cancer (BC) remains the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women in the U.S. A promising new approach to cancer therapy… Read More

Elongating Microvilli in the Intestine Enterocyte showing Brush border and unstirred layer Author: Boumphreyfr Enterocytes, the epithelial cells lining the lumen of the intestine, develop a dense lawn of microvilli (MV) on their apical surface as they differentiate from stem cells in the intestinal crypt. We know that MV… Read More