Diabetes

Ever wonder what about the ROI on biomedical research looks like? At the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Basic Sciences, scientists are delivering answers—by driving discoveries that are already improving human health and paving the way for tomorrow’s treatments. This 2025–26 roundup highlights some of the year’s most exciting advances, showing the extraordinary value of sustained support for biomedical science. Read More

In a new study published in Diabetes, researchers found that prolonged treatment with the GLP-1R agonist semaglutide led to changes in feeding habits and fuel use in an animal model, offering new insights into the behavioral and metabolic adaptations that accompany weight loss, weight maintenance, and rapid weight regain after stopping treatment. Read More

Meet Hannah Waterman, a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in the lab of Alan Cherrington in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics. 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

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

A new study uncovered how tissues detect and respond to damage in basement membranes, and how they recruit a previously unknown set of "matrix mender" cells to repair the tissue. The results of this study have far-reaching implications for numerous diseases, including diabetes, dementia, and cancer. Read More

Members of the diabetes and metabolic research community gathered at Vanderbilt for a symposium honoring Dr. Alan Cherrington, whose monumental contributions to diabetes research and metabolic regulation have revolutionized therapeutic strategies for diabetes management throughout his career. Read More

Whitehead Institute Professor of Biology David Bartel will present a Vanderbilt School of Medicine Basic Sciences Apex Lecture on Feb. 11, 2025. Read More

For more than 50 years, Vanderbilt has been a global leader in the quest to understand, prevent, and treat diabetes. Read More

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health has renewed a five-year grant through the NIH’s flagship T32 institutional training grant program. T32 grants provide funding to support students and postdoctoral trainees working in focused areas of research that advance the NIH mission. Read More