Department Of Cell And Developmental Biology

Kathleen DelGiorno, assistant professor of cell and developmental biology, has received a Research Scholar Award from the American Cancer Society. The award will fund research into potential therapies against pancreatic cancer, the third-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, which is forecast to become the second-leading cause by 2030. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers, including those from the Vanderbilt Brain Institute, have made significant strides in understanding how the enteric nervous system—sometimes called the “brain” of the gut—forms and functions. Read More

After concluding her term as associate dean for academic affairs for the Graduate School, Terrah Akard will return to her role as professor of nursing in the School of Nursing. Julián Hillyer, Centennial Professor of Biological Sciences, and Andrea Page-McCaw, Stevenson Chair and professor of cell and developmental biology, have been named associate deans for academic affairs. Read More

In a scientific first, researchers from Vanderbilt University and the University of California, San Diego, have generated a high-resolution metabolic “map” of how cells orchestrate glucose processing, revealing a hidden world where organelles and molecular complexes collaborate when responding to a rush of nutrients. This new study, published in Nature Communications, has redefined how glucose metabolism is visualized at the single-cell level. Read More

A new study by Vanderbilt investigators uncovered a previously unknown biological mechanism: how tissues detect and respond to damage in basement membranes, the thin layers of extracellular matrix that surround and support nearly every organ in the body. The research, published in Developmental Cell, is the first to show how local cells sense and respond to changes in basement membrane stiffness caused by damage—and how they activate a previously unknown set of “matrix mender” cells to repair the tissue. Read More

This spring, the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center to honor six individuals from the Vanderbilt community during its annual awards. Read More

Vanderbilt University’s new Center for Computational Systems Biology brings computer science, engineering and biomedical researchers together with clinicians at Vanderbilt University Medical Center to accelerate discovery related to human diseases and conditions. Read More

Thirteen innovative projects across seven colleges and schools have been selected for the spring 2024 round of Seeding Success internal grants. The Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Innovation announced the recipient list on May 31. Read More

Thirteen outstanding faculty members from across the university have been selected for the 2024 cohort of Chancellor Faculty Fellows. This group is composed of highly accomplished, recently tenured faculty from a wide variety of disciplines and areas of expertise.    Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers have discovered why most colorectal tumors escape detection and destruction by the body’s immune system. Read More

Vanderbilt research discovers that iron storage “spheres” inside the bacterium C. diff — the leading cause of hospital-acquired infections — are important for infection in an animal model and could offer new targets for antibacterial drugs. Read More

Using a four-dimensional microscope that allows them to watch a tissue putting itself together, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have achieved a rare feat in science — they have shattered a long-standing dogma about how the lung develops. Read More

Vanderbilt investigators have discovered a molecular mechanism that promotes chronic kidney disease following kidney injury. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers are studying precancerous lesions and early cancers in the colon, with the goal of developing new ways to prevent colorectal cancer, the nation’s second leading cancer killer. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered a nanoparticle released from cells, called a “supermere,” which contains enzymes, proteins and RNA associated with multiple cancers, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease and even COVID-19. Read More

Sabine Fuhrmann and colleagues have discovered a novel underlying cause of coloboma — a birth defect that causes missing tissue in the eye and accounts for up to 10% of childhood blindness. Read More

William Tansey and colleagues identified proteins that interact with the cancer drug target WDR5 and are important for cancer cell growth. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have identified a new molecular partner — and potential therapeutic target — in a signaling axis that drives lung cancer. Read More

A new method that keeps microbes and gut cells together will be useful for studies of complex host-microbe interactions and for analysis of clinical specimens. Read More