Health And Medicine

Pam Jones, associate vice chancellor for health and wellness and co-commander of the university’s Public Health Central Command Center, discusses asymptomatic COVID-19 testing on campus, the goal of which is to detect and forecast possible infection trends and provide early warning signs of outbreak. Read More

Discovery shows that dopamine is not a reward molecule at all, calling for revision of textbook facts regarding the hormone’s role in the brain. Est. reading time: 3.5 mins. Read More

The School of Medicine Basic Sciences' monthly Lab-to-Table Conversation will discuss the science of marijuana and the current legal context for its use on Thursday, Sept. 23, beginning at noon CT. Read More

Patients with schizophrenia have functional changes in the white matter of the brain, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered, which may contribute to impaired working memory and processing speed. Read More

Hospitalized patients with COVID-19 who received the rheumatoid arthritis drug baricitinib, in combination with the standard of care including corticosteroids, died less often than those receiving only the standard of care, according to a study released this week. Read More

The tumor suppressor protein p53 is mutated in more than half of all human cancers. Several drugs that potentially can restore mutant p53 to its normal cancer-killing function are in clinical investigation. Read More

Alexandra Speros, instructor in clinical nursing, midwifery and primary care, explains the latest expert guidance that encourages pregnant women to get the vaccine at any stage of their pregnancy. Read More

Even in the absence of brain activity, nerve cells can turn on gene expression that is important for antidepressant effects. This novel finding from Lisa Monteggia gives researchers a more fundamental understanding of the brain’s mechanistic function for better therapeutics. Est. reading time: 2.5 mins. Read More

Thomas Talbot, professor of medicine and chief hospital epidemiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, reminds us the reasons to get vaccinated. Read More

Thomas Talbot, professor of medicine and chief hospital epidemiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, explains how signals on deaths after COVID-19 is collected and interpreted. Read More

Thomas Talbot, professor of medicine and chief hospital epidemiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, shares information about the third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, applicable to people with moderate to severe immunocompromise. Read More

Thomas Talbot, professor of medicine and chief hospital epidemiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, shares what we know about COVID-19 booster shots. Read More

MuSyC is a technique to help researchers devise new combinations of drugs. An open-source analysis tool, it holds the promise speed such discoveries around the world. Read More

A monoclonal antibody cocktail against the COVID-19 virus discovered at VUMC is the first non-vaccine modified to demonstrate the prevention of COVID-19 in a clinical trial of more than 5,000 participants. The antibody treatment could afford up to 12 months of protection from COVID-19, and preliminary laboratory findings also suggest that it can neutralize the delta variant. Read More

Three leaders of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center community are among the winners of the Nashville Business Journal’s 2021 Health Care Innovation awards. Read More

A multi-institutional team led by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center has isolated monoclonal antibodies that prevent infection by alphaviruses, including the often-lethal Eastern equine encephalitis virus. Read More

L.J. Zwiebel and his lab show that mosquito larvae, the age group targeted for most control programs, are far more sophisticated than previously thought. Est. reading time: 2 mins. Read More

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have found that people recovering from COVID-19 and those vaccinated against the causative virus, SARS-CoV-2, produce identical clones, or groups, of antibody-producing white blood cells. Read More

A high-fat diet disrupts the biology of the gut’s inner lining and its microbial communities — and promotes the production of a metabolite that may contribute to heart disease, according to a study published Aug. 13 in the journal Science. Read More

A biomarker that has proven to be a predictor for response to immunotherapies in melanoma patients also has clinical relevance for breast cancer patients, according to a new study published in Clinical Cancer Research. Read More