Cell And Developmental Biology

As 2024 comes to a close, we take a look back at the accomplishments and contributions to science and society made by School of Medicine Basic Sciences community members throughout the past year. The efforts of our faculty, trainees, staff, and collaborators have resulted pioneering discoveries that tangibly benefit society. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers used advanced imaging techniques to detail the microscopic structure of intestinal tuft cells, highlighting their unique organization of the structural protein actin. Read More

Eunyoung Choi and Ken Lau receive funding for novel cancer research, which may ultimately result in cancer detection and treatment options for patients. The fund supports early-stage, high-risk high-reward research projects and honor Cohen’s seminal discoveries, which led to the invention of many anticancer drugs used today. Read More

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the U.S. Ken Lau and Jeffrey Spraggins are creating the first spatially mapped atlas characterizing the progression trajectories of early-onset colorectal cancer versus average-onset CRC as they transition from precancerous lesions to malignant cancers. Read More

HHMI Hanna Gray postdoctoral fellow Anthony Venida will present the Discovery Science Emerging Scholar Lecture on Tuesday, Nov. 19. Read More

Congratulations to our School of Medicine Basic Sciences members who were promoted or received new appointments from July to September 2024. These individuals significantly enrich our pursuit of pathbreaking research and contribute to the growth and success of our school.  Read More

Nobel Prize winner Venki Ramakrishnan delivered a captivating talk as part of the School of Medicine Basic Sciences Apex Lecture Series. His presentation was based on his best-selling book, Why We Die, which explores the biological mechanisms behind aging and death and humanity's efforts to prolong life. Read More

Mirazul Islam, a graduate student in the lab of Professor Ken Lau, has developed a molecular clock that records the timing of cellular events at a single-cell resolution. Read More

Coffey and Lau plan to uncover the mechanistic underpinnings of supermeres in the tumor microenvironment, look for other immune exclusion biomarkers, and evaluate the efficacy of immunotherapy when immune exclusion proteins are targeted. Read More

Christian de Caestecker, a Ph.D. student in the lab of Ian Macara, Louise B. McGavock Professor and chair of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, proposed and validated a mechanism that solved a decades-old mystery: he shed light on the process by which epithelial cells, polarized cells that face the outside world, sort and deliver the specialized proteins they need at each cell’s poles. Read More