Biochemistry

The labs of Lauren Jackson and Todd Graham recently published a study in the Journal of Cell Biology describing a significant interaction between an essential protein complex used for protein and lipid transport—the COPI complex—and its regulator protein. Read More

The CMT Research Foundation, a non-profit focused solely on delivering treatments and cures for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease*, has invested in a project at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Basic Sciences that seeks to treat the problem of overproduction of PMP22, the primary genetic cause of CMT in patients with CMT1A. Read More

Chuck Sanders, Aileen M. Lange and Annie Mary Lyle Chair of Cardiovascular Research and professor of biochemistry and medicine, has recently been promoted from associate dean for research to vice dean of the Vanderbilt School of Medicine Basic Sciences. Read More

The laboratories of Brian Bachmann and Jonathan Irish have developed a method to discover new small molecules that may kill cancer cells by working through the body’s immune system. Read More

By determining how proteins in different areas of the eye’s lens change over time, Vanderbilt researchers have learned more about how they could contribute to the mysterious progression of cataracts—a clouding of the lens that affects more than 65 million people worldwide each year.   Read More

Assistant Professor of Biochemistry Emily Hodges and graduate student Tyler Hansen used a blended approach to create a new, multi-omic method to identify and characterize gene regulatory elements—non-coding DNA sequences that control gene expression—in the human genome. Read More

New research into the enzyme topoisomerase II sheds light on how it helps DNA replicate properly. Read More

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… Read More

The process, discovered in the axons of neurons, is implicated in Alzheimer’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, traumatic brain injury and other diseases or injuries to the nervous system. Read More

Lorena Infante Lara writes about her plans to use her Ph.D. to pursue a career in the media. Read More

“Stay with science,” Nobel laureate Peter Agre, M.D., advised dozens of medical and graduate students who attended his lecture at Vanderbilt University Medical Center last week. “It will take you to fascinating places.” Read More

A new class of DNA repair enzyme has been discovered which demonstrates that a much broader range of damage can be removed from the double helix in ways that biologists did not think were possible. Read More

Vanderbilt investigators have discovered how mammals, including humans, produce the painkiller morphine. Read More

Pioneering Vanderbilt University structural biologist Charles Sanders, Ph.D., has been named interim editor of Biochemistry, an eminent journal for publishing research articles about the molecular structure, mechanisms and interactions of important biological molecules. Read More

A series of experimental antibiotics may be a good starting point for developing new anticancer drugs. Read More

Chelsea Sullivan, a graduate student in the lab of Bruce Carter, Ph.D., received this year’s Leon W. Cunningham Award for Excellence in Biochemistry during a presentation last week. The award, named for the late Leon Cunningham, Ph.D., former chair of the Department of Biochemistry, is given annually… Read More

D. Borden Lacy, Ph.D., associate professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, and Biochemistry, will receive the 2014 Margaret Etter Award from the American Crystallographic Association (ACA) for outstanding achievement and exceptional potential in crystallographic research demonstrated by a scientist at an early stage of their independent career. Read More

The strength of Vanderbilt biochemistry, especially in the area of metabolism and diabetes, has a lot to do with a brilliant husband-and-wife research team escaping the rise of Nazism in the early 1920s. Read More

Understanding how bacteria become resistant to quinolone antibiotics could guide strategies for developing new antibacterial drugs. Read More

Researchers have found an unusual interaction between a factor that “turns on” protein synthesis and one that produces fatty acids. Read More