Year: 2023

The Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation has awarded a three-year grant to support research led by Houra Merrikh, PhD, professor of Biochemistry, and Ben Ho Park, MD, PhD, the Benjamin F. Byrd Jr. Professor of Oncology and director of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, to create an anti-evolution drug to reduce the capacity of cancer cells to develop resistance. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have demonstrated that a cluster of microRNAs — small pieces of RNA that regulate gene expression — work in a type of immune cells called macrophages to help protect against metabolic defects in obesity. Read More

Being named a fellow is one of the highest distinctions the nursing profession bestows, as it recognizes the impact an individual has made on health, health care and nursing. Professors Jennifer Kim and Rolanda Johnson and Assistant Professors Leanne Boehm and Lori Schirle will be inducted into the academy on Oct. 7. Read More

Biomedical engineering graduate students and postdoctoral researchers are recipients of highly competitive Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Awards from the National Institutes of Health and NIH Individual Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Fellow Transition Awards. A majority of the students are in the Vanderbilt Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) and are researchers in labs... Read More

By Jenna Somers Autumn Kujawa A two-year, $1.45 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health will support a study to test a novel therapeutic approach for preventing the emergence of anhedonia, a hallmark symptom of depression, in high-risk children. Autumn Kujawa, associate professor of psychology… Read More

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Nashville Veterans Affairs Medical Center have “cracked” the genomic code for sepsis in the lungs and kidneys. Read More

Vanderbilt observed its strongest year ever by many measures in 2022–23. The university soared to new heights in research and fundraising, received national and international recognitions and celebrated significant milestones—like its Sesquicentennial and the launch of the ambitious Dare to Grow fundraising campaign. Read More

Vanderbilt University’s dedication to encouraging unique and groundbreaking research through internal grants has helped David Hyde, assistant professor of computer science, receive funding from the National Science Foundation. His research has progressed thanks to a Seeding Success Grant, an internal funding award managed by Research Development and Support in the Office of the Vice Provost... Read More

Jonathan Metzl has written extensively for medical, psychiatric and popular publications about some of the most urgent hot-button issues facing America and the world. He serves as the director of Vanderbilt University’s Department of Medicine, Health and Society and is the Frederick B. Rentschler II Professor of Sociology and… Read More

Kendra M. Faucett, DNP, BS’00, CNM, APRN, CNE, FACNM, will become academic director for the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing’s Nurse-Midwifery specialty on September 18. She comes to Nashville from her role as an assistant professor and course coordinator at Frontier Nursing University.  “I am thrilled to be joining the No. 1 midwifery program in the country,” Faucett said. “Vanderbilt has an outstanding reputation,... Read More

The Seeding Success Grant at Vanderbilt University has helped propel ADVISER, an innovative software platform created by David Hyde, assistant professor of computer science, to earning National Science Foundation funding. ADVISER is designed to democratize access to high-end cloud computing, and the new NSF grant applies it to climate change research. Read More

Raheleh Filsoofi has been awarded a Tennessee Art Commission Grant for her project, “The Resonance of the Lands: Finding Identity and Place in Tennessee Through Clay, Music, and Community.” The program involves mapping and extracting clay from various locations across the city to create 25 clay instruments, taking inspiration from the traditional Middle Eastern clay darbuka. Read More

10 basic sciences graduate students were recognized for their high academic and scientific achievement and for the originality, significance, and rigor of their dissertation research with the Dean’s Award for Exceptional Achievement in Graduate Studies. Read More

Vanderbilt engineering professor Justus Ndukaife is leading innovative research that more effectively traps nanosized extracellular vesicles and particles to analyze their roles in cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. Read More

Justus Ndukaife, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, is leading innovative research that more effectively traps nanosized extracellular vesicles and particles to analyze their roles in cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. The research by Ndukaife and his collaborators was recently published in Nano Letters Scientific journal. The research was done in collaboration with the lab... Read More

  Erin Henrick Erin Henrick has been named a Carnegie National Faculty member by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Henrick is a senior lecturer in the Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development. “Carnegie National Faculty… Read More

During the spring 2023 semester, students worked on The Musicians in Nashville project, along with the Data Science Team and the Arts and Business Council of Greater Nashville to create a user interface for survey data of Nashville musicians. The goals of the project were to understand the economic circumstances of working artists and creative entrepreneurs in Greater Nashville, considering inflation, supply chain issues, and broader economic factors. Read More

A Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering team working to create a navigational system to decrease stone fragments left behind after surgery includes Nicholas Kavoussi, MD, left, Assistant Professor of Computer Science Ipek Oguz, PhD, and Daiwei Lu, computer science Ph.D. student. (photo by Susan Urmy) by Jill Clendening A multidisciplinary team at the Vanderbilt... Read More

Vanderbilt researchers are part of an alliance supported by the National Science Foundation that seeks to build on the use of artificial intelligence in medical imaging in Middle Tennessee. Read More

Justus Ndukaife, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, has received the Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award of $1.9 million from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. The funding will support Ndukaife’s project, “Understanding the heterogeneity of nanoscale extracellular vesicles, exomeres and supermeres using next generation optical nanotweezers.” Justus Ndukaife Nanosized extracellular vesicles and particles,... Read More