Research
How attracting multiple mates affects flirting fads in birds
Feb. 22, 2019—For many species, extravagant displays are a critical part of attracting a mate. Think of a peacock’s long tail or a songbird’s elaborate melody. When considering these populations, scientists at Vanderbilt University wondered if they could use new methods to test a theory that has been around for almost 150 years: that having multiple reproductive...
Study links Celebrex, heart valve calcification after earlier research declared drug safe
Feb. 22, 2019—A big-data analysis of patient records at Vanderbilt University has found a link specifically between Celebrex and heart valve calcification.
Student creates app for orangutans
Feb. 22, 2019—A coding hobby led Vanderbilt HOD and economics double major Ben Scheer on a wild immersion, building an app for orangutans at Zoo Atlanta.
First step toward model brain: turning iPSCs into working blood-brain barrier
Feb. 21, 2019—The brain endothelial barrier had previously been generated from induced pluripotent stem cells in a two-dimensional culture but not validated in three-dimensional, vein-like structures that are necessary to feed the organoids.
Vanderbilt collaboration yields promising compound to treat arrhythmia
Feb. 21, 2019—In addition to establishing potency, the team’s tests on cells and, later, mice showed that even high doses of the compound caused no ill effects.
Skin diseases study uses crowdsourcing to gather data
Feb. 21, 2019—Identifying and quantifying skin lesions often requires hours of tedious visual inspection by experts, making it difficult to study a lot of them at once. Eric Tkaczyk and Daniel Fabbri have found that training multiple non-experts to do basic evaluations can achieve comparable results.
VUMC chikungunya antibody set to enter clinical trial
Feb. 21, 2019—A monoclonal antibody against the chikungunya virus developed by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center is the first monoclonal antibody encoded by messenger RNA to enter a clinical trial.
Discovery of new “checkpoint” points to new cancer immunotherapy option
Feb. 21, 2019—An international team involving Vanderbilt researchers has discovered that a new “checkpoint” protein on immune system cells is active in tumors, and that blocking it — in combination with other treatments — is a successful therapeutic approach in mouse models of cancer.
Research shows frogs can adapt to traffic noise
Feb. 21, 2019—Frogs don’t like living near noisy highways any better than people do, but research from Vanderbilt suggests that frogs, like hardened city-dwellers, can learn to adapt to the constant din of rumbling trucks, rolling tires and honking horns.
Study takes personal approach to cochlear implant programming
Feb. 21, 2019—Vanderbilt University Medical Center recently received a $3.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to improve outcomes for children with significant hearing loss by providing individualized, prescription-like programming for their cochlear implants.
New algorithm calculates drug synergy; initial tests involve melanoma, lung cancer
Feb. 20, 2019—Drug combinations used for the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and melanoma aren’t as effective as they could be. Oncologists haven’t had the right tools to predict drug interactions, other than in costly clinical trials. That could change with a new algorithm developed by a cross-disciplinary Vanderbilt University team for calculating drug synergy. The...
Study finds children with autism more likely to face maltreatment
Feb. 15, 2019—Middle Tennessee children with autism spectrum disorder are 2.5 times more likely than children without ASD to be reported to the Child Abuse Hotline by age 8.