Year: 2011

Tina Hartert, M.D., MPH, left, Kathryn Miller, M.D., MPH, and Yarris Muhammed are on the team studying the links between rhinoviruses and bronchiolitis. (Mary Donaldson / Vanderbilt) An infant’s risk of developing bronchiolitis caused by human rhinoviruses (HRV), aka the common cold, is linked to whether the mother has allergies… Read More

The Vanderbilt Melodores have come a long way from a group of guys practicing in the basement of Carmichael Towers. The all-male a capella group has been nominated for a Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award for Best Classical Song for their rendition of Eric Whitacre’s “Sleep.”… Read More

(Photo credit: iStock photo) In the battle of the bulge, one important battalion is a set of brain cells expressing the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R). Via signals from the fat-derived hormone leptin, these neurons regulate feeding behavior and fat metabolism in an attempt to regulate body weight. But how leptin influences… Read More

The top three priorities for Tennessee’s elected officials should be the economy, education and health care, according to a new poll launched by Vanderbilt University. Read More

Since the days of Darwin, the “tree of life” has been the preeminent metaphor for the process of evolution, reflecting the gradual branching and changing of individual species. The discovery that a large cluster of genes appears to have jumped directly from one species of fungus to another, however,… Read More

Volunteer Becky Clark reads to a student at the Mama Lere Hearing School at Vanderbilt (Anne Rayner / Vanderbilt) OPTION Schools Inc., in collaboration with the Vanderbilt Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, is conducting a study looking at how children who are deaf or hard of hearing… Read More

Vanderbilt University expert suggests environmentally friendly Valentine’s Day celebration alternatives Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, is a day filled with cards, sweets, flowers and gifts.  Like many holidays, its celebration can create unintentional environmental side effects, such as the consumption of natural resources and the generation of solid waste. But… Read More

The lives and challenges of being black or of African descent in Europe are explored this semester in the Black Europe and the African Diaspora lecture and film series at Vanderbilt University. Convened by Trica Danielle Keaton, associate professor of African American and Diaspora Studies, and co-sponsored by… Read More

The legal debate over President Obama’s health care law – specifically whether the insurance requirement in the law goes beyond Congress’s authority and is thus unconstitutional – is likely to go to the Supreme Court. Vanderbilt University Law School and the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management have experts who can weigh in on the debate and the future of health care in America. Read More

Peter Hedera, M.D. Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), a group of progressive neurodegenerative disorders that impairs the ability to walk, can be caused by mutations in more than 40 different genes. Despite this genetic heterogeneity, the pathologic features – degeneration of long axons in the spinal cord – are relatively uniform,… Read More

Should you go for it on a fourth down? How NFL risks relate to business. Plus, jumping on the James Franklin bandwagon, and see how Vanderbilt remembers the iconic 1960s. [vucastblurb]… Read More

Watch video of the Feb. 2, 2011 Thinking Out of the Lunch Box event, “What Is the Meaning of the American Civil War on Its 150th Anniversary?” featuring Michael Kreyling, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English, and Richard Blackett, Andrew Jackson Professor of History. Robert Penn Warren wrote his book The Legacy of… Read More

13.1-Hour Dance Marathon benefits Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt Hundreds of Vanderbilt students will dance the night away Friday, Feb. 18, at the Student Recreation Center during the annual all-night Vanderbilt University Dance Marathon. A portion of the donations will help fund a new endowment to… Read More

In the past year, the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health has greatly expanded campus-wide programming, one that students are closely involved with shaping. “We have a very close relationship with the medical students and we are working to develop deeper and more significant relationships with students in other schools,” said… Read More

Researchers at Vanderbilt University are busy building the pharmacy of the future. On its shelves may be: • New medications for schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease, and the first drug treatment for Fragile X syndrome; • A drug that can stop a particularly vicious form of breast cancer in its tracks;… Read More

Parade All-Americans. Four-star standouts. Mr. Football recipients. All-State players galore. Talent in abundance. Welcome to James Franklin’s initial National Signing Day at Vanderbilt. “I can’t tell you how happy I am today,” Franklin said. “All of these young men have listened to our pitch – and have chosen to become… Read More

This month, things will change for the better in the Edgehill community, a neighborhood located a few blocks from the Vanderbilt campus. Healthy food will be more readily available to Edgehill’s low-income residents, thanks to an innovative “mobile grocery store” developed by second-year medical student Ravi Patel and initially inspired… Read More

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and across the globe, announced today a multi-national collaboration to discover and map all genes relating to Alzheimer’s disease through the formation of the International Genomics of Alzheimer’s Project (IGAP). Alzheimer’s disease, a progressive, neurodegenerative disorder that is fatal, has no cure and available… Read More

John Poindexter, a retired Vanderbilt administrator known for his devoted service to the university including efforts to preserve institutional history, has died. He was 85. Read More

Try asking any Monday morning quarterback about blown fourth-down play calls in the NFL and you are guaranteed passionate opinions. In most fourth-down plays, an NFL team will punt or try for a field goal. But, occasionally, teams decide to do something that is viewed as risky – attempt a… Read More