Health And Medicine

In 2013, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) received one of 10 grants from the National Institutes of Health called BEST (Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training) to help train scientists for a variety of diverse careers. Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has received an $11 million program project renewal grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to study the genetics and underlying biological mechanisms that lead to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Read More

Vanderbilt University researchers from diverse scientific disciplines are joining forces to help crack the stubborn mysteries of addiction through the new Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research. Read More

Research in the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery (VCNDD) aimed at developing innovative new treatments for schizophrenia just received a powerful assist from The William K. Warren Foundation. Read More

A peptide molecule relaxes airway smooth muscle and may be a potential therapeutic for asthma that has become resistant to standard therapies. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered that regulation of cell volume plays a role in nerve degeneration and peripheral neuropathies. Read More

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a major renewal grant to continue the National Research Resource for Imaging Mass Spectrometry at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Read More

Increasing expression of a transcription factor called KLF2 can promote immunological self-tolerance and “tune down” autoimmunity, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center reported recently. Read More

Using an antibody generated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center that neutralizes the Ebola virus, researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, have determined the structure of a “decoy” protein that may enable the virus to evade detection by the immune system. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered a novel model of evolution for factors that control gene expression. Read More

Hypoxia (lack of enough oxygen) is bad for the body as a whole, but in the neighborhood where infection-fighting antibodies arise, may be important for keeping proper order. Read More

Terunaga Nakagawa, with colleagues from Japan and Oxford University in England, has discovered the bridgelike molecular structure of a mysterious glutamate receptor. Read More

Tuberculosis (TB) remains an important public health problem, particularly among people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Read More

The Robert J. Kleberg Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation has awarded a $3 million grant to Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) investigators in support of VICC’s drug discovery program. The gift awarded over the next three years from the private, San Antonio, Texas-based foundation will enable VICC researchers to pursue the development of new compounds to block the activity of cancer-causing genes and proteins that had previously been considered “undruggable.” Read More

Antidepressant use during pregnancy is common. Fetal exposure to the class of antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) is associated with the life-threatening condition PPHN (persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn), but a causal link has not been established. Read More

During development, neural circuits are remodeled – some synapses are eliminated and others are strengthened – to produce a mature, functional nervous system. Read More

The 2C-subtype of the serotonin receptor (5HT2C), which binds the neurotransmitter serotonin, plays an important role in regulating food intake and metabolism. Read More

Vanderbilt University researcher Danny Winder, Ph.D., has received a MERIT Award from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Addiction (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health, for his contributions to understanding how alcohol affects the brain. Read More

Neuropsychologist Gary Solomon, Ph.D., recently weighed in on one of the hottest debates in sports medicine, asserting that research doesn’t support the popular theory that concussions put athletes at higher risk for psychiatric illness. Read More

Women may be at higher risk than men when it comes to overuse of opioid-containing painkillers, speakers warned at a research symposium at Vanderbilt University Medical Center earlier this month. Read More