Biological Sciences
-
Robot biologist solves complex problem from scratch
A team of scientists has taken a major step toward developing robot biologists. They have shown that their system, the Automated Biology Explorer, can solve a complicated biology problem from scratch. Read MoreOct 13, 2011
-
Cell phone bee mortality link: sensationalism not science
Vanderbilt graduate student Cassidy Cobbs has investigated recent news reports linking cell phone emissions with bee mortality and found that there is no scientific basis for the claims. Read MoreJun 14, 2011
-
Bad buzz about blue-eyed cicadas
Photo of a true blue-eyed cicada (Matt Weiss, Cicada Mania) Have you heard the latest buzz going round that scientists at Vanderbilt are paying as much as $3,000 for specimens of the rare blue-eyed cicada? If you have, I hope you haven’t spent a lot of time… Read MoreJun 2, 2011
-
Laboratory throws away cookbooks in pursuit of discovery
Students at BSC111c poster session discussing project that determined the phylogenetic relationship of a number of common insects (Susan Urmy / Vanderbilt) In an educational environment increasingly characterized by canned and virtual science experiments that always come out right, Vanderbilt’s alternative introductory biology laboratory (BSC 111c) stands… Read MoreMay 20, 2011
-
What scientists know about cicadas
Periodic cicadas, like those currently emerging in Middle Tennessee, play an important role in the local ecosystem. Read MoreMay 19, 2011
-
Vanderbilt University honors top students during Commencement
Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos presented the Founder’s Medals to the top scholars from Vanderbilt University’s undergraduate and professional schools during Commencement on Friday, May 13. Read MoreMay 13, 2011
-
New insect repellant may be thousands of times stronger than DEET
Discovery of a new class of insect repellant raises the possibility of formulations that are thousands of times more effective than current repellants. Read MoreMay 9, 2011
-
Could bacterial hitchhikers influence formation of new host species?
Vanderbilt researchers are exploring what role, if any, bacteria play in environmental diversity, with the aim of answering one of biology's most fundamental questions. Read MoreMay 5, 2011
-
Attacking malaria on several fronts
Vanderbilt researchers are using a variety of approaches to hasten the beginning of the end of malaria. Read MoreApr 27, 2011
-
Sponsored Research grants for March
The Division of Sponsored Research received notification in March that the following grants in excess of $25,000 had been awarded: Julie A. Adams, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, has received an award in the amount of $25,000 by the Department of Defense for “Expeditionary Capabilities Consortium: Urban Operations Laboratory.”… Read MoreApr 22, 2011
-
Sleep strategy used by night nurses throws off their circadian clocks
As many as 25 percent of hospital nurses use sleep deprivation to adjust to working on the night shift, the poorest strategy for adapting their internal, circadian clocks to a night-time schedule. Read MoreApr 14, 2011
-
Worm grunting on NPR
Gary Revell shows some of the worms he has collected using worm grunting (Ken Catania) “What is worm grunting?” That is one of the questions that moderator Richard Sher asked panelists last weekend in a rerun of a pre-recorded edition of “Says You!” – the popular… Read MoreMar 11, 2011
-
New model to test how antidepressants work
A new mouse model offers the ability to better test how selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) work and could lead to the development of new classes of anti-depressants. Read MoreFeb 18, 2011
-
Kennedy Center celebrates Science Day 2011
A record crowd of students and presenters turned out for the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development's 2011 Science Day Feb. 15. Read MoreFeb 16, 2011
-
Discovery of jumping gene cluster tangles tree of life
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 MoreFeb 4, 2011
-
Scientists of the future
School for Science and Math students Katie Roland, left, who attends Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet School, and Isaiah Bolden, who attends Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School, with the School for Science and Math’s director, Angela Eeds, Ph.D. (Mary Donaldson / Vanderbilt University) Report after report, it… Read MoreFeb 1, 2011
-
Mental health research fund lauds VU scientists
Left to right: Karen Gregory, Elizabeth Hammock, Peilin Jia, John Panos Eight Vanderbilt University scientists have won 2010 Young Investigator Awards from NARSAD, the world’s leading mental health research charity. Each scientist will receive up to $60,000 over two years for innovative brain and behavioral studies of serious psychiatric disorders. Read MoreJan 31, 2011
-
Scripps Research and Vanderbilt launch joint institute to advance science at interface of chemistry and medicine
Personalized medicine refers to the relationship between genetic differences among individuals and corresponding differences in their chemical state and how they respond to various nutrients, drugs, and compounds in their environment. (Photo courtesy of Scripps Research Institute) Leftover blood samples from Vanderbilt’s clinics are retrieved daily from the Pathology lab. Read MoreJan 13, 2011
-
Babies’ biological clocks dramatically affected by birth light cycle
Graduate student Chris Ciarleglio who performed the study in the McMahon Lab that found the circadian clock in mammals is imprinted by the day/night cycle when an individual is born. The finding may help explain why people born in the winter at high latitudes are at greater risk for seasonal… Read MoreDec 6, 2010
-
Image of mosquito’s heart wins first place in Nikon’s ‘Small World’ photomicrography competition
Jonas King, a member of the research group of Julián Hillyer, assistant professor of biological sciences, captured the image as part of the group's research on the circulatory system of Anopheles gambiae, a mosquito that spreads malaria. Read MoreOct 15, 2010