Health And Medicine

Professor Linda Sealy has won the AAAS Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement for her continued efforts to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in STEM Ph.D. programs. Read More

Vanderbilt investigators have discovered that a sirtuin protein has oncogenic properties in neuroblastoma cells — and that blocking it reduces their growth and tumor-like characteristics. Read More

Vanderbilt investigators have conducted the first systematic evaluation of cognitive function in children with a rare genetic disorder. Read More

Opioid users have a significantly increased risk of infections severe enough to require treatment at the hospital, such as pneumonia and meningitis, as compared to people who don’t use opioids. Read More

Acetaminophen may offer a simple treatment to prevent tissue injury following lung transplant, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered. Read More

Vanderbilt investigators have discovered a role for immune system T cells in slowing the decline in skeletal muscle function in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Read More

Immunotherapy, which harnesses the power of the immune system, is one of the most promising forms of cancer therapy and has been shown to work well against some types of cancer. Read More

Researchers at Vanderbilt University have worked out part of the “wiring diagram” of a signaling system in the brain that has been linked to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Read More

When they occur among people living with HIV, certain cancers and opportunistic infections are considered by health authorities as AIDS-defining events, or ADEs. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers are comparing two types of weight-loss options to determine which is the most effective in helping obese patients reach a more ideal weight before undergoing kidney transplant surgery. Read More

From Vanderbilt Magazine: James Crowe, director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center, hopes to create a universal flu vaccine--permanently eliminating the problem of ineffective or under-effective annual flu shots. Read More

A new study from researchers at Vanderbilt and Harvard universities, published this week in the journal Health Affairs, uses federal health survey data to evaluate community-based efforts to address smoking, obesity and other health conditions such as type 2 diabetes and hypertension. Read More

Craig Lindsley, PhD, co-director of the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery (VCNDD), has been named a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and elected chair-elect of the Section of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Read More

Investigators in the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care have launched a pilot study to see if patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) can tolerate the addition of a commonly used antiviral drug to standard IPF treatments. The research team believes the drug may ultimately help slow progression of the chronic and progressive disease or reverse its course. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered a role for microtubules — part of the cellular “skeleton” — in organizing the unique sidedness of the epithelial cells that line organs like the intestines. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered imaging features associated with increased risk for aggressive meningiomas (tumors of the brain membranes) that could help guide surgical planning and patient counseling. Read More

New research reveals a unique mechanism of C. difficile toxin neutralization by a monoclonal antibody, suggesting new therapeutic approaches. Read More

Studies of alpha-B crystallin in zebrafish could ultimately lead to improved treatment for cataracts and heart disease. Read More

A six-member group of biomedical scientists from Europe and the United States, including Eric Delpire, PhD, MS, professor of Anesthesiology, has been awarded a $6 million grant to study the role of dietary potassium in hypertension. Read More

Researchers at Vanderbilt University have discovered how insulin crosses the capillary endothelium to exit blood vessels and stimulate skeletal muscle cells — a major finding that may lead to new ways to reverse insulin resistance, a hallmark of type 2 diabetes. Read More