Research

Rebecca Cook, Ph.D., assistant professor of Cancer Biology, has spent her life trying to understand what makes things grow, from seedlings in soil to tumor cells in the body. Read More

The mechanical forces generated by the rhythmic expansion and contraction of cardiac muscle cells play an active role in the initial stage of heart valve formation. Read More

Premature babies who receive an interventional therapy combining their mother’s voice and a pacifier-activated music player learn to eat more efficiently and have their feeding tubes removed sooner than other preemies, according to a Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt study published today in… Read More

Soldiers in Afghanistan are experimenting with smartphones engineered to better protect operational data designed by scientists at Vanderbilt University’s Institute for Software Integrated Systems. Douglas Schmidt, professor of computer science, is quoted. Read More

Some scholars still believe that romantic love was invented by European troubadours in the Middle Ages, and that people outside of the western tradition don’t really experience it. Ted Fischer, professor of anthropology, decided to test that theory. The verdict? Everybody loves. Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has received an 18-month, $6.9 million award to set up a Clinical Data Research Network (CDRN) that can reach millions of patients and speed the translation of research findings into clinical practice. Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Richard Ho, M.D., MSCI, has received a presidential honor for his innovative studies of mechanisms by which drug transporter proteins mediate the absorption, distribution and elimination of chemotherapeutic agents. Read More

George Wanna, M.D., assistant professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, has been named to receive the Harris P. Mosher Award from the American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society Inc., also known as the Triological Society. Read More

John Gore, Ph.D., director of the Vanderbilt University Institute for Imaging Science, was named an honorary professor of Zhejiang University, China, during his recent visit to Zhejiang University School of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Science. Read More

Julie Ozier, MHL, has been named director of Vanderbilt’s Human Research Protection Program (HRPP) and Institutional Review Board (IRB). Ozier has worked with the HRPP and IRB for 11 years, has been associate director since 2007, and at Vanderbilt since 1996. Read More

Obesity causes peripheral immune cells to move to the brain, where they may contribute to inflammation and the pathophysiology of obesity. Read More

The UK audio science fiction magazine Starship Sofa has published a podcast of "Descartes' Stepchildren," a short story by Robert Scherrer, professor and chair of the Vanderbilt's department of physics and astronomy. Read More

When an Aztec child was born, soothsayers would consult the birth almanacs contained in codices to determine the most auspicious date to initiate the child into the Aztec community. Read More

Variation in the gene for the beta-1 adrenergic receptor increases the risk that a patient will have an abnormal heart rhythm after cardiac surgery. Read More

Targeting the production of molecules that promote tumor blood vessel development offers a new path for treating lung cancer. Read More

Ron Vale, Ph.D., co-discoverer of the molecular “motor” kinesin, spent the first 10 minutes of his Flexner Discovery Lecture last week talking not about science, but about science communication. Read More

Rob Naftel, M.D., traveled more than 8,000 miles to learn a new surgical technique to treat hydrocephalus, the buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain. Read More

The antioxidant vitamin E prevented the buildup of toxic products in a model of a rare genetic disorder, suggesting new strategies for therapeutic development. Read More

Vanderbilt University scientists have contributed to a major finding, reported this week in the journal Nature, which could lead to the first effective vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a significant cause of infant mortality. Read More

Patrick Grohar, M.D., Ph.D. (Photo by Daniel Dubois/Vanderbilt) Patrick Grohar, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of Pediatric Hematology at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, has been awarded a $250,000 Reach Award from Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation to support Ewing sarcoma research. In addition… Read More