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By Leah Mann Wenbiao Chen, Ph.D. The labs of Wenbiao Chen, associate professor of molecular physiology and biophysics, and Irina Kaverina, professor of cell and development biology, recently published a study in Molecular Metabolism focused on detecting genes that regulate insulin secretion. The authors demonstrated a new… Read More

  Dear Colleagues, Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. On this day, we have the opportunity to reflect on the goals he had for the U.S.: securing voting rights for African Americans, eliminating racial injustice, and upending class oppression wherever we live. The past few years have shown that we… Read More

Wellness Rooms are available to Vanderbilt faculty, graduate students, postdocs, staff, and visitors. The rooms can be used for lactation, temporary hoteling, and stress-reducing meditation. The School of Medicine Basic Sciences provides two spaces, 715 PRB and 6132 MRB III, to meet these needs. Both rooms feature comfortable chairs, ottomans,… Read More

Hermey and Rudolph (“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer TV Special,” public domain) By Chuck Sanders My first encounter with the heroic epic genre was in 1966 when I saw “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” the hour-long stop-motion movie produced by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin. This film is shown, without fail, on… Read More

The bacterium Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile), which causes severe diarrhea and an estimated 400,000 infections annually in the United States, may be a previously unrecognized contributor to colorectal cancer. The findings from human colon cancer specimens, culturing, and mouse models were reported last month by researchers at Johns Hopkins… Read More

Jim Cassat, MD, PhD, associate professor of Pediatrics, Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, and Biomedical Engineering, has received a three-year, $750,000 award from the G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Foundation to support research exploring the interplay between bone homeostasis and infectious disease. The Mathers… Read More

By Emily Overway and Lindsey Guerin Lawrence Marnett In May of 2020, then dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Basic Sciences Larry Marnett formed the Dean’s Advisory Council for Mental Health and Wellness, also known as the Wellness Advisory Council. The council seeks to… Read More

In 2003, Dan Roden, MD, then director of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, imagined a large-scale biobank integrated with electronic health records to help doctors “personalize” medical care for their patients. That vision became BioVU, today one of the world’s largest biobanks, with… Read More

From left to right, top to bottom: Minna Apostolova, Blake Baleami, Andreanna Burman, Drew Dixson, Kevin McCarty, Teresa Piedad Torres, Jose Zepeda, Kaeli Bryant, Julissa Burgos, Heather Hartmann, Reese Martin, Zach Sanchez. By Emily Overway The National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program… Read More

Although targeted therapies have been developed for melanoma patients, tumor progression eventually results. Understanding characteristics of melanoma associated with treatment resistance is important for prolonging therapy effectiveness. In a retrospective study of patients treated with BRAF and/or MEK inhibitors, Chi Yan, PhD, Ann Richmond, PhD, and… Read More