cell and developmental biology
A compound to counteract aging?
Apr. 29, 2021—A compound that increases lifespan in yeast is offering clues to pharmacological approaches that might slow the aging process and improve health.
New CRISPR screening technique developed at Vanderbilt leads to discovery of pathway that may be linked to cancer initiation
Mar. 10, 2021—A new genome-wide CRISPR screening technique conducted by researchers at Vanderbilt University is offering new insights about how tumors in 80 to 90 percent of all cancers grow.
Trans-institutional collaboration receives $2 million BRAIN Initiative grant, developing brain organoids to map neurological development
Feb. 1, 2021—Researchers will combine expertise in developmental cell biology and tissue engineering/microfluidics to develop highly complex organoids, with the goal of understanding currently incurable neurological disorders.
A protein that can melt tumors discovered at Vanderbilt
Jan. 27, 2021—For the second time, cancer researchers at Vanderbilt have discovered a protein that—when genetically manipulated to impede it from interacting with a gene responsible for cancer genesis—effectively melts tumors in days.
Brunger leads $1.5 million NSF project to develop advanced brain organoids
Jan. 7, 2021—Vanderbilt engineers have received a $1.49 million National Science Foundation grant to advance the science of organoids with cells that organize themselves and mimic the development of human brain structures.
Mahadevan-Jansen and Vanderbilt Biophotonics Center resume lab activity with renewed purpose during Research Ramp-up
Dec. 4, 2020—When in-person research ramped down in mid-March due to COVID-19, Anita Mahadevan-Jansen and her team did not know when they'd be back in the lab, so they methodically preserved experiments. While preparing the lab for closure was not difficult, the team’s two-month absence created complex academic and financial challenges that they continue to work to overcome.
Vanderbilt microscopist receives Chan Zuckerberg Initiative grant to expand access to imaging technologies
Dec. 2, 2020—Bryan Millis, research assistant professor of cell and developmental biology and biomedical engineering, has been awarded a grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s Imaging Scientists program. The proceeds will go toward building an immersive virtual education platform to expand instruction and accessibility of high-end microscopy techniques within and beyond the Vanderbilt research community.
Six Vanderbilt faculty elected as AAAS fellows in 2020
Nov. 24, 2020—Six Vanderbilt University faculty members have been elected 2020 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.
Vanderbilt researchers make counterintuitive discoveries about immune-like characteristics of cells, chemotherapy’s impact on tissue growth
Oct. 15, 2020—Biologists reveal that tissue perturbations by chemotherapy agents promote stem cell expansion and that fibroblast cells exhibit unexpected, immune-like behavior.
International collaboration with Vanderbilt scientists sheds light on rare exocyst mutations that cause severe developmental disabilities in children
Sep. 14, 2020—Mukhtar Ahmed, Christian de Caestecker and Ian Macara, in collaboration with geneticists from Australia and Italy discover novel mutations in the Exocyst, providing new understanding of a critical cellular protein complex.
Vanderbilt team works across disciplines to replicate cellular filament behavior for the first time, shedding new light on a fundamental cellular process
Sep. 8, 2020—Cell biologists, physicists and computer scientists use computational modeling to pinpoint the components that shape cell behavior.
Vanderbilt research shows stimulating tuft cell production reverses intestinal inflammation
Aug. 28, 2020—Single-cell and multisystem analysis leads cell biologists at Vanderbilt to new understanding of rare cells, with potential inflammation-reducing therapeutics for Crohn’s disease and IBD patients.