Pathology Microbiology And Immunology

An international consortium co-led by Vanderbilt's Rubén Martínez-Barricarte has discovered a new genetic disorder that causes immunodeficiency and profound susceptibility to opportunistic infections including a life-threatening fungal pneumonia.  Read More

New Vanderbilt research could inform therapeutic strategies for enhancing thymic function when desired — such as during aging, recovery from radiation therapy or chemotherapy, or other conditions that reduce T cell output. Read More

Gastrointestinal inflammation, such as occurs in inflammatory bowel disease, triggers the expansion of a population of “bone-eating” cells, leading to bone loss. Read More

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have discovered why the uropathogenic bacterium E. coli, the leading cause of urinary tract infections, is so tenacious; their findings could lead to new ways to prevent recurrent UTIs. Read More

A Vanderbilt study found that the bacterium Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) may be a previously unrecognized contributor to colorectal cancer. Read More

Mariana Byndloss, assistant professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology, and William Wan, assistant professor of biochemistry, have been named 2022 Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences. The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Alexander and Margaret Stewart Trust have selected Alexander Bick, assistant professor of genetic medicine, to join the 2022 class of Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer Research.  Read More

A team led by Vanderbilt researchers has described and characterized the first zinc metallochaperone: a protein that puts zinc into other “client” proteins. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers are studying a bacterial pathogen that can survive on hospital surfaces — without water — for months, an ability that has helped it become a leading cause of hospital-acquired infections. 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

Vanderbilt's James Crowe Jr., MD, and Michel Nussenzweig, MD, PhD, of The Rockefeller University, have been jointly awarded the 2022 Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine for “groundbreaking work” that enabled the use of human antibodies to treat COVID-19. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers help answer the question of why patients with autoimmune diseases like lupus are more susceptible to bacterial infections: their neutrophils have impaired antibacterial activity. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered that early inappropriate activation of the enzyme plasmin caused by severe injury is a trigger of systemic inflammatory response syndrome and resulting organ failure. Read More

H. pylori infection — a strong risk factor for stomach cancer — changes the composition of stomach lipids, which could offer new biomarkers for detecting premalignant changes, Vanderbilt researchers discovered. Read More

The invading pathogen Salmonella, a common cause of food poisoning, can change its metabolism to overcome host resistance to its colonization. Read More

A novel CRISPR screen developed by Vanderbilt researchers identified a promising new target for anti-inflammatory therapeutics. Read More

Carl Johnson, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Biological Sciences and expert in biological clocks, identifies temporal component to COVID-19 viral shedding. Est. reading time: 2.5 mins. Read More

A technology developed at Vanderbilt has led to the discovery of an “ultra-potent” monoclonal antibody against multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, including the delta variant. Read More

Nicholas Shealy, a doctoral student in Vanderbilt University’s Microbe-Host Interactions Program, has been awarded a prestigious fellowship grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute that advances diversity and inclusion in the sciences. Read More

Vanderbilt Vaccine Center researchers have isolated monoclonal antibodies against hantaviruses, an emerging source of human disease with pandemic potential. Read More

Graduate student Catherine Shelton has been selected as one of two students nationally to receive the ninth annual Gut Microbiome, Yogurt and Probiotics Fellowship grant from Danone North America, the fresh dairy and plant-based products company. Shelton will use her grant to fund her research on identifying early-life microbiota components that may prevent obesity in children. Read More