Vanderbilt Basic Sciences

The bacterium Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile), which causes severe diarrhea and an estimated 400,000 infections annually in the United States, may be a previously unrecognized contributor to colorectal cancer. The findings from human colon cancer specimens, culturing, and mouse models were reported last month by researchers at Johns Hopkins… Read More

Alyssa Hasty, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, specializes in immunometabolism, specifically on the role that the immune system plays in obesity and metabolic disease. Recent work from her lab explored the changes in immune cell populations in fat during obesity, weight loss, and weight cycling. The work,… Read More

A Vanderbilt laboratory is investigating the sequence of events necessary for the differentiation of stem cells into heart cells—a key step in embryonic development. Postdoctoral fellow Loic Fort and Louise B. McGavock Professor and Chair of Cell and Developmental Biology Ian Macara published their most recent discoveries on this topic… Read More

Margaret Axelrod, PhD, Rachel Brown, PhD, and Simone Herzberg, aspiring physician-scientists in Vanderbilt University’s Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), are among this year’s recipients of highly competitive P.E.O. Scholar Awards. Recipients of the $20,000 awards from P.E.O. International, a philanthropic organization based in Des Moines,… Read More

Jim Cassat, MD, PhD, associate professor of Pediatrics, Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, and Biomedical Engineering, has received a three-year, $750,000 award from the G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Foundation to support research exploring the interplay between bone homeostasis and infectious disease. The Mathers… Read More

It is often assumed that religious leaders and scientists hold opposing worldviews, but what do the two groups actually think about the dialogue between them? Does one have to choose between religion and science, or can there be common ground? Join Alyssa Hasty, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor… Read More

By Emily Overway and Lindsey Guerin Lawrence Marnett In May of 2020, then dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Basic Sciences Larry Marnett formed the Dean’s Advisory Council for Mental Health and Wellness, also known as the Wellness Advisory Council. The council seeks to… Read More

Vanderbilt University has named John Kuriyan, one of the world’s leading structural biologists, as its next dean of the School of Medicine Basic Sciences, C. Cybele Raver, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, announced today. Kuriyan’s appointment, effective Jan. 1, 2023, will advance the university’s… Read More

Researchers who have graduated from, attended, taught or been heavily mentored by faculty at historically Black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, have produced a comprehensive review of existing strengths and opportunities that will enable more Black graduates from predominantly white institutions, or PWIs, to enter science, technology, engineering, mathematics and… Read More

The lab of Kathy DelGiorno, assistant professor of cell and developmental biology, seeks to understand changes in the pancreas in response to injury and disease. In a recent project led by graduate student Leah Caplan, also from the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, the lab investigated the formation of… Read More