Basic Sciences Faculty and Facility Profiles

In these videos, a number of our faculty members discuss their research, the importance of basic science, and funding and offer advice for graduate students and postdocs. Visit the Basic Sciences YouTube playlist to see core and research overviews and full interviews with our faculty!

About the School of Medicine Basic Sciences

John Kuriyan
Message from the Dean of Basic Sciences @VUBasicSciences

Addiction Research

Erin Calipari @TheCalipariLab Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Assistant Professor of Pharmacology
Co-director of the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research

Cody Siciliano @CodySiciliano Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Assistant Professor of Pharmacology

Danny Winder @VCARScience Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
Professor of Psychiatry
Co-director of the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research

“Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research: A Conversation with Langhorne Slim” Lab-to-Table Conversation

Age-Related Diseases

Kris Burkewitz Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology

Alzheimer’s, Charcot-Marie-Tooth, Long QT Syndrome

Chuck Sanders Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Associate Dean for Research
Professor of Biochemistry
Aileen M. Lange and Annie Mary Lyle Chair in Cardiovascular Research

“What Are Proteins?”: Chuck Sanders, President of The Protein Society (2022-2023), discusses what proteins are in the body and how they are important to biomedical research and impact human health.

Alzheimer’s, Autism, Parkinson’s (Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders)

Jeffrey Conn Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Professor of Pharmacology
Lee E. Limbird Chair in Pharmacology

Ege Kavalali Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Professor of Pharmacology
William Stokes Chair in Experimental Therapeutics

Craig Lindsley @LindsleyLab Research Overview Full Interview Lab What is WNCDD? @WCNDD_TN
University Professor of Chemistry, Pharmacology, and Biochemistry
William K. Warren, Jr. Chair in Medicine

“Meeting the Challenge: Neuroscience Drug Discovery with the Warren Center” Lab-to-Table Conversation

“How the Brain Remembers” Lab-to-Table Conversation

“Depression and the Brain: A Paradigm Shift in Psychiatry and Neuroscience” Lab-to-Table Conversation

Blood Disorders

Breann Brown @dr_bquared Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry

Brain Tumor Research – Adults and Children

Rebecca Ihrie @IhrieLab Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Breast Cancer/Cancer Metastasis

Barbara Fingleton @Fing2Barb Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Associate Professor of Department of Pharmacology
Associate Professor of Surgery

Breast Cancer, Lung Cancer, Ovarian Cancer

Fiona Yull Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Associate Professor of Pharmacology

View Dr. Yull’s #CelebrateImmigrants video on Twitter! She shares her experiences growing up in Tanganyika, modern-day Tanzania, and what it was like to immigrate to the U.S.

Cancer Biology

Jonathan Irish @jonathanirish Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Assistant Professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology

Cancer and Neurodegenerative/Metabolic Disease

Erkan Karakas @Karakas_Lab Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Assistant Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics

Cancer and Viral Infection

Yi Ren Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry

Cell Fate In Disease

Carlos Lopez @ceelox4 Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Adjoint Associate Professor of Biochemistry
Adjoint Associate Professor of Pharmacology
Adjoint Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics

Cell Imaging Shared Resource

The Vanderbilt Cell Imaging Shared Resource (CISR) provides researchers with access to state-of-the-art imaging equipment and expert technical support for sophisticated microscopy and analysis of tissue and cellular anatomy and physiology. View video.

Center for Structural Biology

The Vanderbilt Center for Structural Biology (CSB) is part of a major trans-institutional initiative to significantly upgrade the capabilities in Structural Biology at Vanderbilt by bringing additional faculty and state-of-the-art instrumentation to campus. View video.

Colon Cancer and Crohn’s Disease

Ken Lau @KenLauLab Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology

Colorectal Cancer

“On the Cutting-Edge: Research Toward a Cure for Colorectal Cancer” Lab-to-Table Conversation

Computational Biology

Jens Meiler @MeilerLab Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Professor of Chemistry
Associate Professor of Pharmacology
Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics

Gregor Neuert @NeuertL Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Assistant Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
Assistant Professor of Pharmacology
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering

COVID-19

“Preparing for the COVID-19 pandemic…for 36 years” Mark Denison
“A Promising Start to Ending Coronaviruses” Lab-to-Table Conversation
“Addiction, Sobriety and Art in the Time of COVID-19” Lab-to-Table Conversation

DNA Replication: Cancer, Mutagenesis, and Drug Resistance

David Cortez @davidkcortez Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Professor of Biochemistry

Houra Merrikh @merrikh_houra Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Professor of Biochemistry

Depression and Rett Syndrome

Lisa Monteggia @LisaMonteggia Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Barlow Family Director of the Vanderbilt Brain Institute
Professor of Pharmacology
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Professor of Psychology

Funding

Funding Basic Sciences at Vanderbilt University

High-Throughput Screening and Antibody Core

Paige Vinson Research Overview Full Interview HTS Facility Website
Director of the High-Throughput Screening Core
Director of the Vanderbilt Antibody and Protein Resource Core

Infectious Diseases

Manny Ascano @nyc4asc Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Associate Professor of Biochemistry
Associate Professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology

Microscopy and Quantitative Image Analysis

Bryan Millis @MillisBryan Facility Overview Full Interview
Research Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Microtubule Regulation and Molecular Transport

Irina Kaverina @KaverinaLab Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology

Marija Zanic @ZanicLab Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Associate Professor of Biochemistry

View Dr. Zanic’s #CelebrateImmigrants video on Twitter! She shares her experiences growing up in Croatia and what it was like to immigrate to the U.S.

Molecular Recognition – Endocarditis

Tina Iverson Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Professor of Pharmacology
Professor of Biochemistry

Obesity

Alyssa Hasty @ahasty4 Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Associate Dean for Faculty Development for Basic Sciences
Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair in Molecular Physiology and Biophysics

View a video explaining the findings of a recent paper on weight gain and weight loss.

Pancreatic Cancer

Kathy Delgiorno @DelgiornoKathy Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology

Protein Dynamics

Hassane Mchaourab @Mchaourablab Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Professor of Chemistry
Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
Louise B. McGavock Chair in Molecular Physiology and Biophysics

Stem Cells

Vivian Gama @VGamaLab Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology

Structural Mechanisms in Cancer and Infectious Disease

Walter Chazin @ChazinWalter Research Overview Full Interview Lab
Professor of Biochemistry
Professor of Chemistry
Chancellor’s Chair in Medicine

Viruses

Will Wan @williamwan Research Overview Lab
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry