Cell Imaging Shared Resource

James Hayes, Rekha Nagarajan and James Costanzo are the winners of the 2025 Cell Imaging Shared Resource Life Is Beautiful Image Contest. They worked with Jenny Schafer, CISR managing director and research associate professor of cell and developmental biology, Oleg Kovtun, research assistant professor of chemistry, and CISR senior research specialists Kari Seedle and Tegy Vadakkan to create these images as part of their individual research projects. Read More

To study the dynamics of structural proteins in the heart, Vanderbilt investigators generated a cellular tool they expect will be useful for screening drugs that affect heart muscle contraction. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have uncovered another piece in the puzzle of how cells divide — a process that goes awry in cancer cells. Read More

Live cell imaging studies have revealed that microvilli — finger-like protrusions on the surface of epithelial cells — move and collide as they form the brush border. Read More

Using super-resolution microscopy tools in the Nikon Center of Excellence, Vanderbilt investigators have determined the molecular architecture of the contractile ring machinery that functions during cell division — a process that is essential for life. Read More

A mutation associated with epilepsy and autism also is responsible for a “pale eye” trait in two rare genetic disorders, Angelman syndrome and Prader-Willi syndrome, neuroscientists at Vanderbilt University Medical Center reported this week. Read More

Dylan Burnette, Ph.D., assistant professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, won 12th Place in Nikon’s Small World 2016 Photomicrography Competition for a colorful image of a dividing cancer cell. Read More

Officials of Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and Nikon Instruments Inc. last week celebrated the opening of the Vanderbilt Nikon Center of Excellence, which features state-of-the-art microscopy for live-cell imaging. Read More

On Tuesday, Oct. 4, the Cell Imaging Shared Resource (CISR) at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) will officially unveil its new Nikon Center of Excellence, which will feature state-of-the-art microscopy for live cell imaging. Read More

Progress against America’s most intractable health challenges, among them heart disease, cancer and diabetes, requires the best minds, the latest tools and the easy collaboration demanded by 21st century science. Read More

Two new “super-resolution” optical microscopes have put Vanderbilt University Medical Center on the cutting edge of cellular imaging, and are giving researchers their first views of the cell at the molecular level. Read More