Molecular Physiology And Biophysics

The School of Medicine Basic Sciences is launching a new lecture series: “The Kairos Lectures: Research of Consequence at the Right Moment.” 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

As 2025 draws to a close, we reflect on the achievements and contributions to science made by the School of Medicine Basic Sciences community over the past year. SOMBS facilitates outstanding fundamental science research across four departments, two institutes, 10 centers, and 18 core facilities. The work of our faculty,… Read More

Bingshan Li and his lab are changing the paradigm of how geneticists can identify risk genes for schizophrenia, enabling new studies into its underlying biology and opening new doors for the development of treatments against it. Read More

A new image analysis tool called TrueSpot has the capacity to overhaul the quantity and quality of usable data that can be obtained from fluorescence microscopy, which is used across an enormous range of biological, biomedical, and physical research. 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

Started in June 2025, a new collaborative science project called diffUSE involving Vanderbilt University, Cornell University, and the University of California, San Francisco, could be the next watershed moment. The $5 million, three-year project led by the Astera Institute will advance our understanding of protein motion. Using diffuse scattering, an overlooked signal measured by X-ray crystallography, the project will determine how protein dynamics are characterized, leading to a new paradigm in dynamic structural biology. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers probe the mysteries of an enzyme that could be used as a tool in basic research and medicinal chemistry. Read More

Assistant Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics and Principal Investigator Stephanie Wankowicz explores how protein movement influences function. 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