Antonis Rokas

College of Arts and Science professors Joel Harrington, Antonis Rokas and Edward Wright-Rios have been awarded highly prestigious 2018 Guggenheim Fellowships for their research. Read More

Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor in Biological Sciences Antonis Rokas has been selected as a finalist for the $250,000 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists Read More

Following a collaborative rapid cycle process, an ad hoc faculty committee has released a report identifying four proposed thematic areas for future investment in graduate education and research at Vanderbilt. Read More

Geneticists have developed an effective new method for identifying the genes that produce the chemicals plants use to protect themselves from predators, which are an important natural drug source. Read More

A powerful new method has been devised to settle contentious phylogenetic tree-of-life issues. such as "What is the oldest branch of the animal family tree?" Read More

Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Susan R. Wente has appointed a seven-member faculty committee to synthesize ideas submitted by each school and college into a set of recommendations for significant new investments in graduate education and research at Vanderbilt. Read More

An interdisciplinary team of biologists and medical researchers have created a new platform, which they call GEneSTATION specifically designed to leverage the growing knowledge of human genomics and evolution to advance scientific understanding of human pregnancy and translate it into new treatments for the problems that occur when this complex process goes awry. Read More

Vanderbilt biologists played an important supporting role in a major genetic study of malaria-carrying mosquitoes published this week in the journal "Science." Read More

According to a 2013 survey of graduating seniors, more than half did faculty-guided or independent research during their Vanderbilt careers. Read about five students for whom research has helped shape their undergraduate years. Read More

With their intricate, translucent shapes and elaborate bioluminescent displays, comb jellies add beauty and mystery to the ocean depths. They also have an important story to tell about the origin of animals. Read More

Vanderbilt phylogeneticists examined the reasons why large-scale tree-of-life studies are producing contradictory results and have proposed a suite of novel techniques to resolve the contradictions. Read More

(iStock) The circadian clocks that control and influence dozens of basic biological processes have an unexpected “snooze button” that helps cells adapt to changes in their environment. A study by Vanderbilt University researchers published online Feb. 17 by the journal Nature provides compelling new evidence that at least some species… Read More

A new video report of research by Antonis Rokas and John Gibbons describes how humans domesticated microbes like yeast just as we domesticated cats and dogs. Read More

Study maps the genetic changes involved in the domestication of Aspergillus oryzae, one of the fungi used to make sake, soy sauce and miso. Read More

Mark Lipsey of Peabody was awarded the Earl Sutherland Prize for Achievement in Research at Fall Faculty Assembly. Read More

  Every so often a piece of research makes it into the popular culture. That is the case with the discovery of Vanderbilt biologists Antonis Rokas and Jason Slot that entire gene clusters have jumped between unrelated species of mold millions of years… Read More

Since the days of Darwin, the “tree of life” has been the preeminent metaphor for the process of evolution, reflecting the gradual branching and changing of individual species. The discovery that a large cluster of genes appears to have jumped directly from one species of fungus to another, however,… Read More