Vanderbilt Basic Sciences
The Skaar lab discovers how bacterial pathogen survives without water
May. 5, 2022—The pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii can survive on hospital surfaces — without water — for months, an ability that has helped it become a leading cause of hospital-acquired infections. Now, a team of Vanderbilt researchers has discovered a mechanism this bug uses to live in a dried-out state: it produces “hydrophilin” proteins that protect against water...
Study advances understanding of bacterial bioterrorism agent
Apr. 8, 2022—Vanderbilt researchers have identified a critical regulatory factor in Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes the disease anthrax and has been used as a biological weapon. The findings, reported in the journal Nature Communications, provide new insights into bacterial gene regulation and may guide novel antibacterial therapeutic strategies. B. anthracis forms dormant spores — the...
New prognosis predictor and target for gastric cancer
Apr. 8, 2022—Treatment resistance is especially pronounced in gastric cancer and contributes to patient mortality, highlighting the need for resensitization strategies. Robert Coffey, MD, Xiaodi Zhao, PhD, and colleagues compared the secretome, or secreted proteins, of chemoresistant and chemosensitive human gastric cancer cell lines to identify biomarkers of resistance. CGA, the alpha-subunit of glycoprotein hormones, was one...
Vanderbilt ranks 12th in annual survey of NIH funding; 2021 awards topped $445M
Apr. 1, 2022—Vanderbilt University again ranked among the nation’s top research institutions receiving funding from the National Institutes of Health, according to the latest data compiled by the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research. The total amount Vanderbilt scholars received across the School of Nursing, the School of Medicine Basic Sciences and 15 clinical sciences departments, which...
Crowe receives national award for COVID antibody research
Apr. 1, 2022—James Crowe Jr., MD, director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center, and Michel Nussenzweig, MD, PhD, of The Rockefeller University, have been jointly awarded the 2022 Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine for “groundbreaking work” that enabled the use of human antibodies to treat COVID-19. The announcement was made March 24 by Harrington Discovery Institute Institute...
Bachmann, Cortez among faculty honored with endowed chairs
Mar. 2, 2022—Vanderbilt Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs C. Cybele Raver honored faculty from across the university at an endowed chair investiture ceremony on campus Feb. 24, conferring the university’s highest scholastic rank on those who had received the designation during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. “As a milestone...
Understanding the molecules and brain circuits recruited by stressful experience
Feb. 18, 2022—Stressful experiences can lead to adaptive or detrimental behaviors. Understanding how stress can affect our brains can help understand basic brain function and is also essential to discerning causes and treatments for some diseases. A group of researchers led by Jeffrey Conn, professor of pharmacology at Vanderbilt, explored how specific types of neurons within the...
Pandemic leads to broader use of monoclonal antibodies
Feb. 17, 2022—New cases of COVID-19 in the United States have dropped by about 75% from the latest peak in mid-January, but as of Feb. 14, the two-year-old pandemic had claimed more than 920,000 lives, more than in any other country. Even now, more than 2,000 deaths are reported every day. Most at risk: the millions of...
Manny Ascano promoted to associate professor with tenure!
Feb. 14, 2022—Manuel Ascano, Jr., Ph.D., Biochemistry Department has been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure! Dr. Ascano is also the Associate Professor or Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology, the Director of Graduate Studies for Biochemistry, and Dean Faculty Fellow. His research focuses on DNA/RNA detection and regulation in innate immunity & viral pathogenesis. The research program of the Ascano laboratory is centered on...
Pietenpol named chief scientific and strategy officer
Feb. 10, 2022—Jennifer Pietenpol, PhD, director of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), Benjamin F. Byrd Jr. Professor of Oncology and Executive Vice President for Research for Vanderbilt University Medical Center, is stepping down on June 30 from her long-held role as the Cancer Center’s director to focus on a combined leadership role for VUMC as chief scientific...