Health And Medicine

Supported by a $1.4 million U.S. Department of Defense grant, the Vanderbilt Lab for Immersive AI Translation is collaborating on research that is using machine learning and artificial intelligence to more accurately determine if a person has a mild traumatic brain injury, or concussion. Read More

Research from Teru Nakagawa, professor of molecular physiology and biophysics, describes intricacies of normal brain function with implications for our understanding of brain injury and recovery: A decrease in pH can modify a neurotransmitter receptor’s structure, thereby modulating its location and kinetics. Read More

Gaining and assessing surgical experience in endoscopic kidney stone surgery is particularly challenging given the limited field of view in the devices. Jie Ying Wu, assistant professor of computer science, is creating an eye-gaze sharing system to complement the current standard of care in which trainees get only verbal feedback. The system allows trainees to see the expert’s gaze. The expert can use their gaze in real time to point to objects on the screen or where the trainee should go next. Read More

In a recent episode of Smarter Every Day, YouTube sensation and host Destin Sandlin talks with Vanderbilt Professor Tina Iverson and Senior Research Associate Prashant Singh about bacterial “motors” and how they work in the microorganisms that make us sick. The video racked up more than 1.4 million views in its first day. Read More

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health has renewed a five-year grant through the NIH’s flagship T32 institutional training grant program. T32 grants provide funding to support students and postdoctoral trainees working in focused areas of research that advance the NIH mission. Read More

Vanderbilt School of Nursing Associate Professor Deonni Stolldorf, PhD, RN, has been named a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, one of the most prestigious honors in nursing. Fellows are selected based on their contributions and impact to advance the public’s health. Read More

Vanderbilt assistant professor of pharmacology Cody Siciliano has been awarded a $1.3 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to study oral chemesthesis, the burning sensation you feel in your mouth when you sip alcohol. Understanding this sensation better could lead to new treatments for alcohol use disorders, but research in this area is scarce. Read More

Jeffrey Spraggins, associate professor of cell and developmental biology, biochemistry, and chemistry, has been named director of the Mass Spectrometry Research Center. He succeeds Richard Caprioli, Stanford Moore Chair in Biochemistry, who established the MSRC in 1998 and who is retiring this summer. Read More

Researchers from the School of Medicine Basic Sciences recently developed an analytical tool called EV Fingerprinting that could lead to the use of “liquid biopsies” as a substitute for traditional biopsies for certain patients or diseases. Read More

Richard Caprioli, Stanford Moore Professor of Biochemistry at the School of Medicine Basic Sciences, is retiring from Vanderbilt in August 2024. Caprioli’s work has created new possibilities for understanding the relationships between molecular and cellular organization in tissue microenvironments, ultimately providing a precision medicine toolbox for uncovering the molecular underpinnings of normal aging and disease.Caprioli is best known for developing matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization imaging mass spec. Read More

Rolanda Johnson and Michael Gooch were recently honored for their contributions to nursing with fellow designations. Read More

Donna Ingles, director of operations for the Vanderbilt Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization, has been named to the 2024 Young American Leaders Program at Harvard Business School by the Global Action Platform. She was one of 10 local leaders chosen for the program, which aims to create a biomedical economic development strategy for the region using cluster models devised by Harvard economist Michael Porter. Read More

The study reported in the journal Nature provides a mechanistic explanation for the “obesity paradox” — that obesity can contribute to cancer progression but also improve response to immunotherapy. Read More

Using computer-aided drug design, Heidi Hamm, Craig Lindsley, and Jens Meiler and their labs generated a novel series of biologically active compounds that can serve as a basis for anti–blood clot preventative drugs. Read More

A team of Vanderbilt researchers has developed a wirelessly activated device that mimics the wavelike muscular function in the esophagus and small intestine responsible for transporting food and viscous fluids for digestion. Read More

AJ Hinton, Amber Crabtree, and colleagues collaborated to provide a commentary on the challenges facing autistic adults in science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine. As autistic adults face a high unemployment rate, the authors argue that solutions are necessary to evoke change within STEMM institutions to acquire and retain autistic employees. Read More

Researchers in the lab of Stephen Fesik, Orrin H. Ingram II Chair in Cancer Research, have added BI-0474 as the second molecule co-discovered by Vanderbilt to the open science portal opnMe.com, an initiative being driven by biopharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim. Read More

Graduate student Hillary Layden studies transcriptional control of cancer in the lab of Scott Hiebert, Hortense B. Ingram Chair in Cancer Research and professor of biochemistry. She shares the results from her research in which she used a deep genomic analysis to determine how protein mutations influence gene expression to promote cancer progression. Read More

Three Vanderbilt University School of Nursing faculty members won awards at the American College of Nurse Midwives annual awards celebration in May 2024. Read More

Sean Seymore, Centennial Professor of Law at Vanderbilt Law School, argues that federal courts have “abandoned their gatekeeping function” for protecting public health in patent cases. Read More