Nature Communications

Three Vanderbilt faculty members are diving into a "chicken-and-egg" problem of type 2 diabetes: Does the disease change beta-cell subtypes? Or do changes in the cells cause diabetes? Guoqiang Gu, Emily Hodges and Ken Lau have come up with a new method of studying the subtypes that can track them through different stages instead of just once when they're fully developed. "Thanks to this and other research, it may be possible to one day create a diet supplement for pregnancy that could reduce the risk of diabetes for babies," Gu said. 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

The laboratory of Ege Kavalali, professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology, published a new paper in Nature Communications that determined that liquid-liquid phase separation plays a key role within the nanostructure of synapses, and that its disruption affects evoked but not spontaneous neurotransmission. Read More

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center for the first time have shown that activation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is essential for the development of kidney fibrosis, tissue scarring following injury that can lead to kidney failure. Read More

Researchers from around the globe gathered for the inaugural Nature conference “Bioengineering for Global Health” at Vanderbilt University Nov. 13–15. Faculty members from the Department of Biomedical Engineering and editors from Nature Communications, Nature Biomedical Engineering and Nature Reviews Bioengineering led the organization of the conference. Read More

Vanderbilt mechanical engineering professors Deyu Li and Josh Caldwell are part of a team of researchers who have discovered a new heat dissipation channel using phonon polaritons that could have extensive implications for novel cooling technologies in devices like smart phones and other modern electronics. The research was recently published in Nature Communications under the... Read More

Vanderbilt researchers detail the landscape of RNA editing — a form of RNA modification — in primary effusion lymphoma cells during Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus infection and identify an edited viral microRNA that is critical for infection. Read More

The transport of water molecules through nanoscale pores is central to a number of processes like water treatment, biological membranes, ionic/molecular separations, water treatment and protective applications, but the mechanisms of transport are not fully understood. Piran Kidambi, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Vanderbilt, and a team of researchers recently had a... Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have created single-atom thick membranes with pores that allow for transport of water molecules but block even the smallest of salt ions and small molecules. The findings were published in Nature Communications on November 7, 2022, and could hold implications for developing advanced materials that protect against threats such as biological and chemical... Read More

A new model suggests that a protein involved in the generation of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) works differently than previously thought. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have identified a critical regulatory factor in the bacterium that causes the disease anthrax and has been used as a biological weapon. Read More

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have developed a new method for identifying drugs for the repurposing trials that can lead to new indications for drugs already in use. Read More

  by Bill Snyder In a multidisciplinary collaboration, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have identified a subtype of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) that appears to be able to escape detection by the immune system and evade immunotherapy. Their report, published Nov. 1 in the journal... 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

An international group of researchers including Vanderbilt epidemiologists has identified new DNA methylation biomarkers associated with prostate cancer risk. Read More

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 More

A cellular RNA quality control mechanism was known to restrict replication of RNA viruses. Vanderbilt researchers have discovered it is also antiviral against DNA viruses. Read More

Bacterial invasion of vaginal cells sets up a protective niche and a reservoir for recurrent urinary tract infections, Vanderbilt researchers demonstrated. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have identified haplotypes, ancestral fragments of DNA, that are associated with hereditary prostate cancer in a first-of-its-kind genomic study made possible by the study of prostate cancer patients with family histories of the disease. Read More

A study of 280,000 U.S. veterans, including 56,000 African Americans, has identified in greater detail than ever before the genetic architecture of kidney function and chronic kidney disease (CKD), according to researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and their colleagues. Read More