Basic Science

John Wikswo, founder and director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Integrative Biosystems Research and Education and Gordon A. Cain University Professor, is the principal investigator of a $1 million award from the National Science Foundation. The object is to build a pathbreaking… Read More

Cancer cells metastasize, or spread to different parts of the body, by escaping from a primary tumor and invading neighboring tissues. To penetrate normal tissue barriers, migrating cancer cells form membrane protrusions called invadopodia that degrade the surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM).  Aron Parekh, PhD, and colleagues… Read More

Vanderbilt Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs C. Cybele Raver honored faculty from across the university at an endowed chair investiture ceremony on campus Feb. 24, conferring the university’s highest scholastic rank on those who had received the designation during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020… Read More

Many melanoma patients are treated with drugs called BRAF or MEK inhibitors that specifically target the mutant proteins created in cancerous tumors.  These inhibitors can block the tumors’ ability to grow and spread. According to Ann Richmond, Ingram Professor of Cancer Research and professor of pharmacology… Read More

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have made a fundamental discovery about how the heart compensates for genetic variations that otherwise could trigger abnormal and potentially fatal heart rhythms. Their findings, reported recently in the journal Circulation, add significantly to understanding what causes abnormal heart rhythms, or arrhythmias, and… 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

Stressful experiences can lead to adaptive or detrimental behaviors. Understanding how stress can affect our brains can help understand basic brain function and is also essential to discerning causes and treatments for some diseases. A group of researchers led by Jeffrey Conn, professor of pharmacology at… Read More

Richard Sando, assistant professor of pharmacology, has been selected to receive a 2022 Sloan Research Fellowship, one of the most competitive and prestigious awards available to early-career researchers. The fellowships, awarded annually by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, honor extraordinary U.S. and Canadian scientists and scholars… Read More

The brain is constantly firing and controlling purposeful action potentials—electronic messages used by neurons to communicate with each other and allow the brain to function. Conversely, the way spontaneous neural communication happens in the brain has been found to make use of a different process. Ege Kavalali, William Stokes Chair in Experimental… Read More

Barlow Family Director of the Vanderbilt Brain Institute and acclaimed neuroscientist Lisa Monteggia was named incoming co-principal editor, along with Dr. Tony George from the University of Toronto, of the journal Neuropsychopharmacology. Their appointments begin in January 2023. According to an NPP release, “Drs. George and Monteggia… Read More