Author: Leigh MacMillan
VUMC studies provide key positive results for COVID-19 vaccine in early-stage clinical trial
Jul. 14, 2020—An experimental coronavirus vaccine stimulated robust immune responses against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and raised no serious safety concerns in an early-stage clinical trial.
New tools to study bioactive lipids
Jul. 14, 2020—Vanderbilt researchers have identified and characterized inhibitors of an enzyme that synthesizes lipid signaling molecules with roles in energy balance, inflammation and addiction.
New space bolsters infectious disease and immunology discovery
Jul. 9, 2020—The Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology and Inflammation (VI4) recently moved into its new research and administrative home.
Keeping beta cells “fit”
Jul. 9, 2020—Vanderbilt cell biologists are defining the factors that help beta cells in the pancreas stay healthy, secrete insulin and prevent diabetes initiation and progression.
Leadership in a COVID-19 world
Jun. 29, 2020—Being a biomedical scientist has served Interim Chancellor and Provost Susan R. Wente well as she’s led the university through “a rapid succession of significant decisions” since the first reports of COVID-19.
Single mutation causes seizure disorder
Jun. 22, 2020—A single mutation in one gene can impair inhibitory signaling in the brain and cause multiple types of seizures and behavioral abnormalities.
Probing DNA damage repair
Jun. 18, 2020—After discovering a new mechanism for DNA damage repair last year, Vanderbilt biochemists now provide direct evidence for how it works.
Robotic technology speeds arrhythmia gene classification
Jun. 12, 2020—Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators have used high-throughput robotic technology to rapidly study and classify variations in a gene linked to heart rhythm disorders and cardiac conditions.
C.diff captures blood cell cofactor to build defensive shield
Jun. 10, 2020—Vanderbilt University Medical Center scientists have identified a C. diff protein system that senses and captures heme (part of hemoglobin) to build a protective shield that fends off threats from our immune system and antibiotics.
Staph’s activation of blood clotting
Jun. 9, 2020—Staph bacteria may change the factor they use to activate blood clotting — to evade the immune response — a new study suggests.
Protecting the injured kidney
Jun. 4, 2020—Leslie Gewin and colleagues have upended conventional dogma about Wnt/beta-catenin signaling in the kidney, finding that it protects against chronic kidney disease rather than promoting it.
Team uses imaging to study ways the heart is affected by coronavirus
May. 21, 2020—Researchers are using imaging and diagnostic pathology to examine postmortem hearts donated by victims of COVID-19 to gain a better understanding of how the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 affects the heart.