‘Vanderbilt Basic Sciences’
Lee named 2022 Innovation Fund investigator by The Pew Charitable Trusts
Sep. 28, 2022—Dr. Ethan Lee, professor of cell and developmental biology and pharmacology, has been named a 2022 Innovation Fund investigator by The Pew Charitable Trusts. As a vote of confidence in the power of collaborative, interdisciplinary research, Pew created the Innovation Fund in 2017 to encourage partnerships among alumni of Pew’s biomedical programs. Combining their unique areas of expertise,...
Dark Matter of Protein Evolution
Sep. 21, 2022—By Chuck Sanders While I have always considered myself to be a “grungy wet lab” sort of scientist, a few years ago I saw a talk by Stephen Traynelis of Emory University that inspired me to make a modest foray into the realm of bioinformatics. Dr. Traynelis spoke on using genetic intolerance metrics as a...
The best of both worlds: Blending assays to understand human genome regulation
Sep. 20, 2022—Assistant Professor of Biochemistry Emily Hodges and graduate student Tyler Hansen used a blended approach to create a new, multi-omic method to identify and characterize gene regulatory elements—non-coding DNA sequences that control gene expression—in the human genome. The new technique, ATAC-STARR-seq, was published in Genome Research. During DNA transcription, regions of the genome called enhancers...
The best of both worlds: Blending assays to understand human genome regulation
Sep. 19, 2022—By Caroline Cencer Assistant Professor of Biochemistry Emily Hodges and graduate student Tyler Hansen used a blended approach to create a new, multi-omic method to identify and characterize gene regulatory elements—non-coding DNA sequences that control gene expression—in the human genome. The new technique, ATAC-STARR-seq, was published in Genome Research. During DNA transcription, regions of the...
Emily Hodges and Terunaga Nakagawa named 2022 Stanley Cohen Innovation Fund recipients
Sep. 15, 2022—By Emily Overway The Stanley Cohen Innovation Fund provides a yearly award to support innovative and groundbreaking research at Vanderbilt University. This year, after a competitive application process, Emily Hodges, assistant professor of biochemistry, and Terunaga Nakagawa, associate professor of molecular physiology and biophysics, were named as the 2022 recipients. Hodges’ proposed project investigates DNA...
Roden leads effort to map heart disease-causing genetic variations
Sep. 15, 2022—One in 100 people have genetic variations that can cause potentially life-threatening heart conditions, including high cholesterol (lipid disorders), heart muscle disease (cardiomyopathies), and abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias). Yet the functional impact of most of these cardiovascular genetic variants — whether they disrupt normal function or are harmless — is unknown. That is about to...
Emily Hodges and Terunaga Nakagawa named 2022 Stanley Cohen Innovation Fund recipients
Sep. 15, 2022—The Stanley Cohen Innovation Fund provides a yearly award to support innovative and groundbreaking research at Vanderbilt University. This year, after a competitive application process, Emily Hodges, assistant professor of biochemistry, and Terunaga Nakagawa, associate professor of molecular physiology and biophysics, were named as the 2022 recipients. Hodges’ proposed project investigates DNA methylation and how...
Immune cells drive beta cell loss in Type 2 diabetes
Sep. 8, 2022—Obesity and overnutrition increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes through several mechanisms. One of these is through loss of the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreatic islet. Wenbiao Chen, PhD, and colleagues previously have shown that overnutrition stressed the endoplasmic reticulum, the part of the beta cell essential for producing insulin. This caused the...
John Wilson to use $3 million grant to develop technology to help cancer patients better fight disease
Sep. 7, 2022—John Wilson, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Vanderbilt University, has received a $3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to develop technology that seeks to boost a person’s immune system to better fight cancer. Wilson is the Principal Investigator of the five-year grant. He specializes in the study of cancer immunotherapy...
Alissa Weaver & Matthew Tyska named 2022 ASCB Fellows!
Sep. 2, 2022—Alissa Weaver, Professor and Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair, Vanderbilt University, and Matthew Tyska, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor, Vanderbilt University have been named 2022 ASCB Fellows. “The 2022 ASCB Fellows are individuals who have contributed broadly and significantly to the cell biology community and to the Society. We honor their scientific achievement and their role in furthering ASCB’s mission...