Pathology Microbiology And Immunology

Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus — two pathogens that frequently co-infect the lungs of patients with cystic fibrosis — appear to cooperate with each other, Vanderbilt investigators have discovered. When pseudomonas is starved for metal by the host, it shuts down the production of factors that would normally kill staph, promoting a co-infection. Read More

To prepare for the potential of a smallpox return, Vanderbilt researchers are isolating and studying naturally occurring antibodies from the blood of previously infected or immunized people. Read More

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the major cause of life-threatening viral pneumonia in infants worldwide, yet despite repeated efforts, scientists have been unable to develop an effective vaccine against it. Read More

Researchers at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine have uncovered a link between epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling and the inflammatory response to bacterial infection in the gastrointestinal tract. Read More

New discoveries will guide efforts to develop vaccines or antiviral agents for norovirus, the most common cause of infectious diarrhea. Read More

Too much dietary zinc increases susceptibility to infection by Clostridium difficile — “C. diff” — the most common cause of hospital-acquired infections. Read More

The bacterium Helicobacter pylori has been linked to anemia and may be contributing to the incidence and severity of anemia worldwide. Read More

Emerging viral infections like Zika keep popping up around the world in such quick succession that medicine is having a hard time keeping up. It can take 15 years and more than a billion dollars to bring a new drug to market. Read More

Modulation of T cell metabolism thus may represent a new therapeutic avenue for leukemia patients. Read More

Increasing expression of a transcription factor called KLF2 can promote immunological self-tolerance and “tune down” autoimmunity, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center reported recently. Read More

Hypoxia (lack of enough oxygen) is bad for the body as a whole, but in the neighborhood where infection-fighting antibodies arise, may be important for keeping proper order. Read More

Fecal transplants are increasingly being used to treat certain human illnesses and more scientists have begun to research the transplants' effects in animals. Read More

High school students performing advanced research at Vanderbilt have the opportunity to share their findings with the scientific community through a journal of their own. Read More

Sepsis, an exaggerated and overwhelming inflammatory response to infection, is a major worldwide killer of babies in the first four weeks of life (neonatal period). Read More

Jeff Davidson, Ph.D., professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, was honored last month at the joint 27th annual Symposium on Advanced Wound Care and Wound Healing Society meeting in Atlanta for “outstanding lifetime achievement in wound healing.” Read More

A newly discovered mechanism that helps cancer cells avoid destruction by immune system cells may improve immunotherapies. Read More

A genetic mutation that promotes cancer development blocks the normal sorting of a protein called “Argonaute 2.” Read More

Vanderbilt researchers show that a certain factor negatively impacts the first-line responder cells in the lungs, providing one explanation for why patients with asthma are at greater risk for invasive bacterial disease. Read More

Vanderbilt physician/scientist Mary Zutter, M.D., Louise B. McGavock Professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology and assistant vice chancellor for Integrative Diagnostics, can now add “White House guest” to her resume. Read More

A microRNA — a small piece of RNA involved in regulating gene expression — functions as an oncogene to drive the development of lung cancer, Vanderbilt University investigators have discovered. Read More