Department Of Chemistry

Ultra-thin layers of gold and copper sulfide developed by Vanderbilt doctoral student Yueming Yan with Associate Professor of Chemistry Janet Macdonald and Stevenson Professor of Physics Richard Haglund could revolutionize medical imaging and environmental sensing. The energy exchange between the metal and semiconductor particles—resonant energy transfer—can convert infrared light into visible and ultraviolet colors. The nanoscale films "could replace bulky optical sensors with flexible, wearable or even implantable devices, thus transforming health and safety technologies." Read More

This past academic year, seven graduate students and one undergraduate student participated in the 2025 Merck Compound Challenge. Created in 2018, the competition gives teams from around the world 48 hours to create a proposed route of chemical steps from a commercial chemical they believe will make the final compound. Read More

A recent study from the labs of Lars Plate and Jens Meiler, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, analyzed both selectively responsive and poorly responsive variants of cystic fibrosis and revealed the molecular determinants of drug response. Read More

Vanderbilt has announced eleven awardees in the latest round of its Innovation Catalyst Fund, an initiative that supports translational research that has promising commercial potential. Read More

In this episode of Quantum Potential, Craig Lindsley, William K. Warren, Jr. Professor of Medicine, University Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry, Chemistry and Pharmacology and executive director of the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery, joins Provost C. Cybele Raver to discuss transformative research exploring how subtle tweaks to brain chemistry could change the way we treat neurodegenerative diseases and chronic pain. Read More

Jens Meiler, Distinguished Research Professor of Chemistry, was named the principal investigator for the project, in cooperation with 14 investigators across eight institutions. The team will work together to use advanced technology, including computational modeling, AI-driven predictions and structural biology, to develop a groundbreaking vaccine against all alphaviruses that offers long-lasting protection. Read More

John M. Jumper, BS’07, is one of three scientists awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on Oct. 9. Jumper currently is a senior staff research scientist for DeepMind, a London-based company that made a huge leap forward in solving the protein folding problem using artificial intelligence. He is the third Vanderbilt alumnus to win a Nobel Prize. Read More

Four digital technology projects in the initial stages of development will advance at Vanderbilt, thanks to funding from the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries’ Digital Lab. The project proposals were evaluated for their cultural importance, global impact and potential for interdisciplinary collaboration, as well as their ability to be preserved in perpetuity. Read More

The highly selective Beckman Scholars Program is celebrating 15 years of partnership with the College of Arts and Science. Over the years, the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation has provided more than $543,000 in support of 23 undergraduate Beckman Scholars at Vanderbilt who engage in unique, hands-on, mentored research. Read More

David Hercules, Centennial Professor of Chemistry emeritus, who served as the chair of the Department of Chemistry for eight years, died January 20, 2024, after a battle with cancer. He was 91. Read More

A Vanderbilt study suggests that clinicians should take a deeper dive into distinguishing EGFR mutations when prescribing targeted therapies for non-small-cell lung cancers. Read More

Cancer specialists at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in partnership with biochemists and structural biologists across the Vanderbilt University campus, are taking “personalized” cancer therapy to a new level. Read More

Dorothy J. Wingfield Phillips, BA’67, the first African American woman to receive an undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt and a member of the inaugural class of Vanderbilt Trailblazers, recently was interviewed by the American Chemical Society about her career as a chemist and the importance of making the physical sciences more inclusive for women and underrepresented minorities. Read More

Thomas Floyd “Tommy” Howe Jr., who served as the scientific glassblower for Vanderbilt’s Department of Chemistry for 30 years, died June 29 in Nashville. He was 76. During his three decades at the university, Howe made major contributions to the chemistry department’s teaching and research programs as well… Read More

Structural views of the proteins that regulate the heartbeat may help improve existing treatments for cardiac arrhythmias. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered a novel model of evolution for factors that control gene expression. Read More

Vanderbilt investigators have developed a way to detect malaria that is faster and more sensitive than current clinical methods — a development that has the potential to make malaria detection significantly less expensive and more stable. Read More

Walter Chazin, Ph.D., director of the Vanderbilt Center for Structural Biology, is a recipient of a 2016 Fellow of the Biophysical Society award. Read More

New findings add to the understanding of how the enzyme COX-2 works, which is critical to the development of COX-2-targeted anti-inflammatory drugs. Read More

La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co. and Vanderbilt University have signed a research and license agreement covering Vanderbilt’s research program and intellectual property rights related to compounds that block bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) type-I receptors. The compounds have therapeutic potential in a broad range of diseases, including rare genetic disorders. Read More