Month: January 2011

He’s known as the lovable airhead in the slapstick “Police Academy” movies. What you may not know is that Lance Kinsey’s acting chops were honed right here at Vanderbilt. More than 30 years after graduating, the actor came back to share his life lessons with a new generation of Vanderbilt… Read More

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III collaboration, which includes Vanderbilt University, has resulted in a picture of the sky so big that it would take 500,000 high-definition TVs to view it at full resolution. The color image contains more than a trillion pixels and covers about one-third of the entire sky. Read More

Personalized medicine refers to the relationship between genetic differences among individuals and corresponding differences in their chemical state and how they respond to various nutrients, drugs, and compounds in their environment. (Photo courtesy of Scripps Research Institute) Leftover blood samples from Vanderbilt’s clinics are retrieved daily from the Pathology lab. Read More

Seven Vanderbilt University faculty members have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an honor bestowed upon them by their AAAS peers. They are among 503 AAAS members from around the country who achieved this honor because of their distinguished efforts to advance science… Read More

Dr. Jonathan M. Metzl Vanderbilt University’s innovative center that links the study of medicine to other disciplines will be headed by Dr. Jonathan M. Metzl, an expert in American culture, psychiatry and medical humanities. Metzl, currently director of the Program in Culture, Health and Medicine at the University of… Read More

Civil rights leader and former NAACP Chairman Julian Bond will deliver the keynote address at a 4:30 p.m. event at Vanderbilt University commemorating the life and legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, Jan. 17. Watch it live. Read More

John Geer [Vanderbilt has a 24/7 video and audio studio with a dedicated fiber optic line and ISDN line. Use of the TV studio with Vanderbilt experts is free, except for reserving fiber time.] Blaming the Tea Party or heated political rhetoric in general for the Tucson mass shooting would… Read More

The International Lens series strives to transcend geographic, ethnic, religious, linguistic and political boundaries by promoting conversation and understand through cinema. All the screenings are free and open to the public. Read More

[Media Note: Vanderbilt has a 24/7 broadcast facility with a dedicated fiber optic line for live or taped TV interviews and a radio ISDN line. Use of the studio with Vanderbilt experts is free, except for reserving fiber time.] In this economic climate, a creative and motivated MBA intern may… Read More

Tom D. Dillehay, internationally recognized for ground-breaking and highly interdisciplinary scientific research, has been named the Rebecca Webb Wilson University Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Religion and Culture at Vanderbilt University. Read More

Can the world burn fossil fuels for energy in a way that doesn’t contribute to global warming? What can be done to protect people from the release of toxic chemicals? How would NASA care for a sick astronaut during long-duration space explorations like a manned mission to Mars? These are… Read More

We all know how to spot a macho guy – right? He’s a man’s man with a certain swagger and a way with the ladies. Well, social scientists have a different opinion – one that perpetuates stereotypes about black, Hispanic and certain homosexual men. In social science circles, a… Read More

“Efforts to weaken unions and cut wages and benefits among state and local government workers in the U.S. will reduce worker bargaining power and widen the gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ in the nation," says sociology professor Dan Cornfield. Read More

Paula Hart was just 46 when she starting having shortness of breath, along with a nagging cough and intermittent pain in her left shoulder. After a trip to the emergency room in her hometown of Evansville, Ind., and a series of additional tests, doctors finally diagnosed Hart with non-small cell… Read More

If you ask any nurse about Florence Nightingale, most will be able to say that she was the founder of modern nursing. And for many that is about the extent of their  knowledge. But this woman, who served as a catalyst for changing the view of health care and nursing,… Read More

The chancellor was literally thumping the podium. Crusty sportswriters rolled their eyes. The trolls were having a field day on the Internet. Vanderbilt was announcing a new football coach. This had happened before. “We win everywhere at Vanderbilt,” exhorted Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos. “We win athletically. We win academically. And… Read More

RSV prefers stressed cells “Stress granules” – globs of proteins and RNAs – form inside cells in response to environmental stressors and are thought to regulate protein production. Several viruses induce stress granule formation, but the function of these structures during virus replication is not well understood. James Crowe Jr.,… Read More

During the past 18 months, scientists at Vanderbilt University have received $148 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to buy major equipment, hire additional staff and accelerate their research. University officials predicted the impact of the 246 two-year “stimulus” grants awarded to more than 200 researchers across campus… Read More

The first African American to sit on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Judge Roger Gregory, will speak at Vanderbilt University Law School on Tues., Jan. 18 at 2:30 p.m. in Flynn Auditorium. Read More

Jeremy Kane’s emergence as a key figure in Nashville’s charter schools movement may well have taken root in seventh grade. That was the year he transferred from a Metro Nashville public school to Montgomery Bell Academy, a private college preparatory school. “It was the beginning of a conversation that continues… Read More