News
Gabriella Robertson and Gillian Fitz to receive the Harold Stirling Vanderbilt (HSV) award
Apr. 17, 2021—The Graduate School has approved the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology’s nomination for Gabriella Robertson and Gillian Fitz to receive the Harold Stirling Vanderbilt (HSV) award, an annual $5,000 service-free stipend which pays monthly from August 2021 through July 2023.
Chloe Snider recognized with Alan Hall Award
Apr. 16, 2021—Recent Ph.D. graduate Chloe Snider (CDB, Kathy Gould lab) was recognized by the Journal of Cell Biology with the Alan Hall Award, granted to outstanding graduate students and first-year postdocs whose work was presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology.
Zanic receives 2020 Early Career Award
Apr. 16, 2021—Marija Zanic received the 2020 Early Career Award from the Motility & Cytoskeleton subgroup. She accepted the award and presented a talk at the 2021 Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society, which took place in February.
Ramirez receives NIH award
Apr. 16, 2021—Sara Ramirez, graduate student in CDB, Sabine Fuhrmann lab received an award from the NIH.
Wojciechowski awarded NCI grant
Apr. 16, 2021—Andrea Wojciechowski, graduate student in CDB, Bill Tansey lab, has recently been awarded a received grants from the National Cancer Institute.
Committee Recap: Spring 2021
Apr. 10, 2021—Following the graduate students’ letter to department leadership, the CDB Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee formed in June 2020. Since that time, we have written a diversity statement emphasizing the values of our department and our shared commitment to taking action to promote belonging and success for scientists from all backgrounds and identities. You can...
New CRISPR screening technique developed at Vanderbilt leads to discovery of pathway that may be linked to cancer initiation
Mar. 13, 2021—by Marissa Shapiro Mar. 10, 2021, 9:00 AM A new genome-wide CRISPR screening technique conducted by researchers at Vanderbilt University is offering new insights about how tumors in 80 to 90 percent of all cancers grow. Maria Fomicheva Ian Macara (Vanderbilt University) This novel approach developed by Maria Fomicheva, a graduate student in the lab...
Page-McCaw spearheads improvements to her program’s “direct-admit” process
Mar. 2, 2021—Andrea Page-McCaw, DGS for CDB, spearheaded improvements to her program’s “direct-admit” process in which prospective students choose an adviser during the application process. “A direct-admit student is particularly dependent on their adviser because of their complete reliance on the adviser’s funding, along with the student’s reduced professional network and decreased potential to change labs,” McCaw...
Cell Imaging Shared Resource to receive new Zeiss LSM980 Confocal Microscope with Airyscan2
Feb. 26, 2021—The Cell Imaging Shared Resource (CISR) will be getting a new Zeiss LSM980 Confocal Microscope with Airyscan2. CISR was awarded a VA equipment grant (Shared Equipment Evaluation Program – ShEEP) in late 2020, and is in the purchase process right now. The award total was $649,867. The grant was written by Jenny Schafer, Jim Goldenring,...
Vivian Gama has won a $2.3 million BRAIN Initiative grant, developing brain organoids to map neurological development
Feb. 16, 2021—Vivian Gama, assistant professor of cell and developmental biology, and Leon Bellan, associate professor of mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering, have won a $2.3 million, three-year grant from the National Institutes of Health Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative. Vivian Gama Leon Bellan (Vanderbilt University) The researchers will be developing three-dimensional brain organoids and related tissue—miniaturized and simplified versions produced in vitro—that resemble a human brain at 24 to 25 weeks post-conception. These will provide an...
Susan R. Wente named president of Wake Forest University
Feb. 3, 2021—by Melanie Moran Jan. 31, 2021, 1:31 PM Leaves pathbreaking legacy of leadership and discovery at Vanderbilt University Susan R. Wente, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs (Vanderbilt University) Susan R. Wente, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, will become president of Wake Forest University July 1, 2021, after a pathbreaking 19-year career...
Tansey Reports on “WIN for blocking cancer growth”
Jan. 31, 2021—Jan. 21, 2021, 10:00 AM by Sarah Glass WDR5 is a protein that is overexpressed in a variety of cancers. Inhibiting WDR5 by targeting the WDR5-interaction (WIN) site can inhibit the growth of cancer cells in vitro, but this mechanism of action has not been fully elucidated. Publishing in Cell Reports, William Tansey, PhD, Alissa Guarnaccia and...
Andrea Wojciechowski (Tansey lab) receives an F31 from the NCI
Jan. 16, 2021—Andrea Wojciechowski, a graduate student in the William Tansey lab, recently received an F31 from the National Cancer Institute.
Ken Lau part of $1.5 million NSF project to develop advanced brain organoids
Jan. 16, 2021—Vanderbilt engineers have received a $1.49 million National Science Foundation grant to advance the science of organoids with cells that organize themselves and mimic development of human brain structures. Organoids are lab-produced groups of cells that serve as research models for human physiology in development and disease, including design and testing of drugs and other...
Susan Wente honored with endowed chair
Jan. 16, 2021—by Morgan Kroll Nov. 11, 2020, 11:24 AM (Vanderbilt University) Twenty-nine prominent faculty from across campus comprise Vanderbilt University’s latest endowed chair honorees. They include scholars working in diverse areas—from election analysis and lung cancer research to the nascent field of neurolaw, exploring the brain mechanism underlying legal decision-making. “An endowed chair is a remarkable...