Department of Biochemistry

Events

KARPAY AWARD LECTURE
12:20 PM, 1220 MRB III

January 19, 2021: James Hutchison, “We’re All in This Together: Choosing the Right RAFTing Partners” (Sponsored by the Center for Structural Biology) Contact us for Zoom info.

FRONTIERS IN BIOCHEMISTRY SEMINARS
12:00 – 1:00 PM via Zoom

April 2, 2021: Chrystal Starbird, Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale University, Department of Pharmacology: “Structural Basis of TAM Receptor Oligomerization.” (Iverson/Discovery Science Emerging Scholars host) See abstract, zoom contact here.

April 9, 2021: Joe Loparo (Dewar/Olivares host) via Zoom

April 23, 2021: Andre Nussenzwieg (Dewar/Cortez host) via Zoom

April 30, 2021: Sharon Cantor (Dewar/Cortez host) via Zoom

Sept 24, 2021: Tanja Mittag (Iverson/Chazin/Sanders/CSB host) via Zoom

Dissertation Defense

January 11, 2021: Vaughn Thada (Cortez Lab), “A common mechanism of ATR activation by TOPBP1 and ETAA1,” 1:00 pm, Zoom Flyer

January 18, 2021, Corey Eduardo Hayford (Quaranta lab), “Disentangling sources of phenotypic variability in oncogene-addicted cancers,” 10:00 am Flyer

BIOCHEMISTRY DISCOVERY/FLEXNER LECTURE
4:00 – 5:00 PM, 208 Light Hall

The next scheduled Biochemistry Flexner Discovery Lecture is TBD. Please check back here for updates.

In recent years, the Department of Biochemistry has hosted such illustrious speakers as: Jennifer Doudna, Peter Agre, Karl Deisseroth, Joan Steitz, NIDA Director Nora Volkow, Nancy Andrews, and several Nobel Prize winners (Sydney Brenner, Tom Cech, Andrew Fire, Bengt Samuelsson, Kurt Wuthrich, Sir Paul Nurse, and in 2017 Eric Kandel). View a full listing of all Vanderbilt Flexner Discovery Lectures, past and present. Lectures are recorded and may be viewed online.

STUDENT COLLOQUIUM Tuesdays, 4:00 – 5:00 PM 512 Light Hall

1/26/2021 Tata Kavlashvili
2/9/2021 Anna Eitel and Kaitlyn Browning
2/23/2021 TBA
3/9/2021 Emilio Rivera
3/23/2021 Sabrina Van Ravenstein and Beth Stivison
4/6/2021 Robert Mann and Jessica Hill
4/20/2021 Nicole Kendrick
5/4/2021 Esha Dalvie
5/18/2021 Kathryn Brewer and Ivette Perez

BSA Trivia

Virtual trivia with Seth from “Talk Nerdy To Me” Trivia
March 26 and May 14 at 4pm

Biochemistry News!

Vanderbilt-developed obesity treatments will be advanced through collaboration with Soleno Therapeutics
A new partnership between Vanderbilt University’s Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery and clinical stage biopharmaceutical company Soleno Therapeutics will further research into new clinical treatments for multiple obesity syndromes.
SARS-CoV-2 protein blocks an essential step in host gene expression, new discovery finds
Vanderbilt biochemist Yi Ren is part of a team that has identified a new behavior of a SARS-CoV-2 protein and discovered that interfering with its function can block virus replication in host cells. This opens up the potential for new therapeutic targets for COVID-19.
Bruce Carter joins CMT Research Foundation scientific advisory board
Bruce Carter, professor of biochemistry and an associate director of the Vanderbilt Brain Institute, has been appointed to the scientific advisory board of the CMT Research Foundation, which shapes research directions and therapeutic development of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.
Scientists discuss inclusion and equity in biomedical research at virtual event
Biomedical researchers across Vanderbilt University will convene to discuss the history and impact of Black biomedical scientists on Monday, Feb. 15, at noon CT.
Cortez named interim chair in the Department of Biochemistry; York named Impossible Foods chief science officer
David Cortez, Richard N. Armstrong Chair for Innovation in Biochemistry and professor of biochemistry, has been named interim chair in the Department of Biochemistry beginning Jan. 1. This follows the departure of John York, who was recently named chief science officer of California-based food technology startup Impossible Foods.
Kudos: Read about faculty, staff and student awards, appointments and achievements
Read about the latest faculty, staff and student awards, appointments and achievements.
Vanderbilt-Ancora partnership advances research for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease
Further research by biochemistry professors Charles Sanders and Bruce Carter into therapeutics for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, an inherited condition that damages peripheral nerves, will be funded by Ancora Innovation LLC, a Deerfield Management company that supports Vanderbilt’s innovative life science research.
Vanderbilt researchers work to build a molecular Trojan horse to battle COVID-19
Vanderbilt biochemists figure out how the little-understood Envelope protein helps SARS-CoV-2 function and how to disrupt the endogenously creative virus.
Vanderbilt contributes to the ‘Google Earth’ of the human body, starting with the kidney
Vanderbilt contributes molecular imaging data of kidney to the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program, a consortium of 18 diverse collaborative research teams across the United States and Europe.
Vanderbilt biologist uses rabies-like virus to illuminate how SARS-CoV-2 blocks immune response
Yi Ren, assistant professor of biochemistry, has contributed to research on the function and impact of the SARS-CoV-2 protein on immune signaling protein in host cells. This understanding may lead to the development of immune-enhancing therapeutics.