Department of Biochemistry

Events

FRONTIERS IN BIOCHEMISTRY SEMINARS
12:00 – 1:00 PM, 214 Light Hall

March 8: Cohen Lecture – Xiaowei Zhuang, Harvard/HHMI

March 15: Scott Armstrong, Harvard, “Targeting Chromatin Regulators in Leukemia”

March 22: Cohen Lecture – Gabriel Waksman, University College of London, “Structural and Molecular Biology of Type IV Secretion Systems”

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.

Winter-Spring 2019 STUDENT COLLOQUIUM 4:00 – 5:00 PM 512 Light Hall

January 8, Fred Guengerich
February 22, Houra Merrikh
March 5, Kelly Barnett
March 19, Taha Mohamed & Noah Bradley
April 2, Nicole Kendrick & Esha Dalvie
April 16, Gretchen Wemhoener
April 30, Andy Hale & Archana Krishnamoorthy
May 14, End of Year Party

Biochemistry News!

Correctly copying DNA
New research into the enzyme topoisomerase II sheds light on how it helps DNA replicate properly.
New algorithm calculates drug synergy; initial tests involve melanoma, lung cancer
Drug combinations used for the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and melanoma aren’t as effective as they could be. Oncologists haven’t had the right tools to predict drug interactions, other than in costly clinical trials. That could change with a new algorithm developed by a cross-disciplinary Vanderbilt University team for calculating drug synergy. The...
Merrikh Lab working to defeat drug-resistant superbugs
New Vanderbilt University biochemistry professor Houra Merrikh is working to defeat drug-resistant superbugs by blocking a molecule they need to mutate rapidly.
Grant enhances study of new chemotherapy targets
Vanderbilt chemists have been awarded $7.2 million over the next five years from the National Cancer Institute to lead an initiative to better understand how a combination chemotherapy for breast cancer targets DNA.
Enzyme helps build motor that drives neuron death
The process, discovered in the axons of neurons, is implicated in Alzheimer’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, traumatic brain injury and other diseases or injuries to the nervous system.
$8.1 million grant funds new center to research highly aggressive form of lung cancer
A five-year National Cancer Institute grant will fund an interdisciplinary research center for the study of small cell lung cancer, a highly aggressive, incurable form of the disease.
Vanderbilt earns top rankings, including a No. 1, for successful minority recruitment in master’s and Ph.D. programs
"Diverse: Issues In Higher Education" has ranked Vanderbilt University No. 1 in the country for the number of doctoral degrees awarded to African Americans in the biological and biomedical sciences.
Kudos: Read about faculty awards and achievements
Read about the latest faculty awards and achievements.
Jackson named 2016 Pew biomedical scholar
The Pew Charitable Trusts has named Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences and Biochemistry Lauren Parker Jackson as a member of its 2016 class of Pew biomedical scholars.
Nobel laureate’s lecture highlights impact of science
“Stay with science,” Nobel laureate Peter Agre, M.D., advised dozens of medical and graduate students who attended his lecture at Vanderbilt University Medical Center last week. “It will take you to fascinating places.”