NIGMS
New view of DNA processing ‘hub’
Jan. 23, 2013—Structural studies reveal a new framework for understanding a central player in DNA processing.
Seeing light receptor’s interactions
Jan. 18, 2013—Understanding how the main receptor for light interacts with other signaling molecules may inform new pharmaceutical development.
Zinc: a new antibiotic target?
Jan. 17, 2013—It may be possible to fight hospital-acquired pathogens like Acinetobacter baumannii by targeting the bacterium’s need for the nutrient metal zinc.
Polarity protein suppresses tumor growth, invasion
Nov. 29, 2012—The machinery that builds the characteristic shape of epithelial cells suppresses breast cancer formation and metastasis in a mouse model.
Bacterial signals in sarcoidosis
Nov. 6, 2012—Study adds evidence for infectious agents’ role in sarcoidosis, an inflammatory condition that can lead to respiratory failure and death.
Protein’s length, flexibility key to infection
Oct. 31, 2012—The structural architecture of the reovirus attachment protein is required for efficient reovirus infection of host cells.
Proteins help flip tumor’s invasive switch
Oct. 4, 2012—Vanderbilt investigators have identified how two key components of cancer's invasive "switch" — the series of signaling events that turn on a tumor cell’s invasive behavior — work together.
Cells with LIP eat their neighbors
Sep. 13, 2012—A transcription factor called LIP is capable of causing one cell to consume another.
Tool helps plumb electronic records
Aug. 24, 2012—A tool developed for one institution’s electronic health records can work at other institutions, potentially facilitating the use of these records in research studies.
VU study finds stress fuels breast cancer metastasis to bone
Jul. 18, 2012—Stress can promote breast cancer cell colonization of bone, Vanderbilt Center for Bone Biology investigators have discovered.
Roots of childhood brain tumors
Jun. 14, 2012—Cells in the back of the developing brain can give rise to brain tumors, suggesting they may be a target for treatment.
Alzheimer’s protein structure suggests new treatment directions
May. 31, 2012—The molecular structure of a protein involved in Alzheimer’s disease – and the surprising discovery that it binds cholesterol – could lead to new therapeutics for the memory-robbing disease.