Department Of Cell And Developmental Biology

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

Since its February 2025 publication in Nature Cell Biology, a groundbreaking study from the Burnette Lab has drawn more than 44,000 Article Accesses—amplified by Vanderbilt’s new open access agreement with Springer Nature. The study reveals the existence of blebbisomes, massive, motile extracellular vesicles that behave almost like mini cells. Packed with organelles and capable of delivering immune-modulating proteins, blebbisomes may one day serve as therapeutic couriers or targets in cancer treatment. Read More

Lisa M. Monteggia and Matthew J. Tyska are among the 471 scientists elected as 2024 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dean John Kuriyan was also recently elected a member of the 2025 class of fellows of the American Association for Cancer Research academy. Read More

A study of a unique spatial map of gene expression in 1.6 million cells from the lungs of 35 people with pulmonary fibrosis revealed a discovery that could eventually change how early PF can be detected. Some lung tissue in these patients shows signs of the disease before significant structural remodeling of the tissue occurs. Read More

The Center for Computational and Systems Biology, launching at Vanderbilt University in early 2025, will focus on analyzing vast amounts of data to look for new ways to tackle human diseases and conditions. 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

Alissa Weaver, professor of cell and developmental biology, was honored for her work on a paper published in Developmental Cell titled “VAP-A and its binding partner CERT drive biogenesis of RNA-containing extracellular vesicles at ER membrane contact sites.” Read More

If you had visited Vanderbilt nearly a century ago searching for cellular research, you would have found yourself in the Department of Anatomy. Established in 1925, the Department of Anatomy gave way to the Department of Cell Biology before taking on its current moniker—Cell and Developmental Biology—in 2001. Read More

VIRAL will highlight the work and stories of the university’s international researcher community during its second annual symposium. The platform is for international students to discuss research and personal experiences. Read More