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Team’s sustained work in T-cell immune response awarded P01 grant totaling $11 million
For more than a decade Matt Lang and collaborators across the U.S. have worked to recreate key components of T-cells and how they know when to start fighting disease. Conventional wisdom suggested that T-cells formed regular, force-free bonds with infected cells, and in doing so caused the chain reaction of immune response. The team slowly... Read MoreOct 4, 2020
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$8.7 million DARPA grant advances AI-assisted CPS design work
A new, $8.7 million project—Design. R–AI-assisted CPS Design—involves pathbreaking work for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as future cyber-physical systems will rely less on human control and more machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence processors. Read MoreOct 4, 2020
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NSF seed grant supports biomanufacturing of new drug delivery technologies
Vanderbilt researchers awarded one of NSF’s 24 new projects to drive future manufacturing One of the challenges of drug delivery systems is to optimize their targeting properties so therapeutic compounds used in smaller amounts reach only a specific area of the body and result in little or no side effects. The ability to engineer the... Read MoreOct 2, 2020
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Pinpointing brain changes in psychosis
Specific regions of the thalamus — a central brain region — are smaller in adults with psychotic disorders and youth at risk for psychotic disorders and are associated with cognitive impairment. Read MoreOct 1, 2020
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Genes spell penicillin allergy risk
Studies using large DNA biobanks revealed genetic variants associated with penicillin allergy, the most common type of drug-induced allergic reaction. Read MoreOct 1, 2020
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Cohen Fund bolsters Siciliano’s memory research
Cody Siciliano, PhD, assistant professor of Pharmacology in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, has been selected to receive a one-year, $100,000 research award from the Stanley Cohen Innovation Fund to support his studies of the neural substrates of memory. Read MoreSep 24, 2020
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Rational vaccine design
Understanding immunity generated by smallpox vaccine may hold lessons for COVID-19 vaccine development. Read MoreSep 22, 2020
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Throwing weight around on the internet
What users mention in online weight loss forum tracks with how much weight they lose. Read MoreSep 21, 2020
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Study identifies antibodies that block alphaviruses
Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have identified antibodies that, in animals, block infection by alphaviruses, which can cause chronic and debilitating joint pain and arthritis and are an increasing global health concern. Read MoreSep 20, 2020
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VUMC awarded $34 million to lead nationwide convalescent plasma study
Vanderbilt University Medical Center has been awarded a one-year, $34-million grant by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health, to conduct a nationwide study of “convalescent plasma” as a treatment for COVID-19. Read MoreSep 20, 2020
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‘Scavenger’ molecule may point to new atherosclerosis treatment
A small-molecule “scavenger” that reduces inflammation and formation of atherosclerotic plaque in blood vessels in mice potentially could lead to a new approach for treating atherosclerosis in humans, according to researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Read MoreSep 20, 2020
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Probing pathogen antibiotic resistance
Understanding how bacteria evolve resistance to antibiotics and host stresses could guide the development of more effective antimicrobial therapeutics. Read MoreSep 17, 2020
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New predictors of prostate cancer risk
An international group of researchers including Vanderbilt epidemiologists has identified new DNA methylation biomarkers associated with prostate cancer risk. Read MoreSep 17, 2020
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Sin3a regulates pancreatic β-cells fitness and function
The transcriptional coregulator Swi-independent 3 — or Sin3 — switches on and off the genes that drive crucial biological processes during prenatal development, including cellular differentiation, maturation, survival, metabolism, and stress responses. Read MoreSep 14, 2020
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Myosin motors regulate cell shape during division
When a bouncy ball deforms under the weight of your body, its rubber membrane stretches and contracts. Likewise, the membrane of a cell doubling itself prior to division must accommodate changes in intracellular pressure — or explode. Read MoreSep 14, 2020
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VIR-CLASP reveals new insights into cellular mechanisms of viral immune response
RNA viruses invade cells and co-opt cellular machinery to replicate and translate their genomic material. Read MoreSep 10, 2020
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Study explores the role of MYCN in Triple Negative Breast Cancer diagnosis and treatment
The oncogene MYCN regulates cancer cell growth, proliferation, metabolism, and survival; tumors with increased MYCN expression are more aggressive. Read MoreSep 10, 2020
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Award supports integration of genomic data, electronic health records
Eric Gamazon, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine, has been awarded a $1.5 million grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to develop novel computational tools that integrate functional genomic data and electronic health records. Read MoreSep 10, 2020
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VUMC to lay groundwork for Tennessee’s first federally funded Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center
Angela Jefferson, PhD, professor of Neurology and director of the Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer’s Center, has been awarded a $3.7 million, three-year grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to support establishment of a prospective NIA-funded Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Read MoreSep 10, 2020
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Fibroids and birth outcomes
Women with three or more uterine fibroids — non-cancerous growths — during pregnancy are more likely to have infants with reduced birthweight and may need additional surveillance. Read MoreSep 8, 2020