Cell And Developmental Biology

A colorectal cancer research team led by Robert Coffey has received a Specialized Programs of Research Excellence grant renewal totaling $12.6 million from the National Cancer Institute.The team has made numerous discoveries over the past 23 years, and it plans to build upon those achievements with the goal of “drugging the undruggable.” Vanderbilt-Ingram is one of only four cancer centers in the U.S. with GI Cancer SPORE funding. Read More

Kathleen DelGiorno has received a Research Scholar Award from the American Cancer Society to study pancreatic cancer development. She will focus on the role of two fatty acids that are known to be involved with tumorigenesis. Read More

James Hayes, Rekha Nagarajan, and James Costanzo are the winners of the 2025 Cell Imaging Shared Resource Life Is Beautiful image contest. 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. Read More

Recent work from a coalition of Vanderbilt labs has found clear distinctions in insulin-secreting β-cell subtypes and drawn a connection between certain subtypes and a higher risk of diabetes. Read More

Congratulations to our School of Medicine Basic Sciences members who were promoted or received new appointments between April and June 2025. These individuals significantly enrich our pursuit of pathbreaking research and contribute to the growth and success of our school. Read More

With a new method, researchers have captured a high-resolution metabolic “map” of how cells orchestrate glucose processing, revealing a hidden world where organelles and molecular complexes collaborate when responding to a rush of nutrients. The results of the pioneering work provide insights into an organizational and molecular framework that can be used to study how metabolic processes are disrupted in diseases and aging. Read More

In a landmark study published in Science Advances, Vanderbilt researchers have created the first high-resolution lipid atlas of the human kidney, mapping over 100,000 functional tissue units across 29 donors. By integrating advanced imaging mass spectrometry with microscopy using machine learning, the team identified distinct lipid signatures that could transform diagnostics and precision treatments for kidney disease. Read More

In a landmark study published in Science Advances, Vanderbilt researchers have created the first high-resolution lipid atlas of the human kidney, mapping over 100,000 functional tissue units across 29 donors. By integrating advanced imaging mass spectrometry with microscopy using machine learning, the team identified distinct lipid signatures that could transform diagnostics and precision treatments for kidney disease. Read More

Since its publication on February 21, 2025, the Burnette Lab’s article detailing the discovery of blebbisomes—a newly identified class of extracellular vesicles—has received over 44,000 Article Accesses, a remarkable benchmark for scientific reach and engagement. This visibility is due in part to Vanderbilt University’s new open access agreement with… Read More

In a new paper postdoctoral fellow Rong Sun and members of the Qiangjun Zhou lab used cryo-electron tomography to better understand the precise structural arrangement of synapses of excitatory primary hippocampal neurons. Read More