Research

David Braun, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has received a prestigious NSF CAREER Award for foundational research in mechanically adaptive robotics. His CAREER project, “Mechanically Adaptive, Energetically Passive Robotics,” will enable the creation of new-generation industrial robots, transportation systems, and devices that can assist and augment humans. The five-year, $600,000 grant will support work on robot... Read More

Additional booster doses of vaccine against COVID-19 are particularly important for those who are immunosuppressed, namely those who have had solid organ transplants, a new study shows. Read More

A study comparing 618 military veterans who deployed to a combat zone after Sept. 11, 2001, and 2,099 health care workers (HCWs) working during the COVID-19 pandemic found similar levels of potential moral injury (PMI), with 46.1% of veterans and 50.7% of HCWs reporting PMI. Read More

By Marissa Shapiro THE IDEA The human brain is organized in functional networks—connected brain regions that communicate with each other through dedicated pathways. That is how we perceive our senses, how the body moves, how we are able to remember the past and plan for the future. The “default mode” network is the part of... Read More

By Marissa Shapiro THE IDEA The human brain is organized in functional networks—connected brain regions that communicate with each other through dedicated pathways. That is how we perceive our senses, how the body moves, how we are able to remember the past and plan for the future. The “default mode” network is the part of... Read More

Karl Zelik, associate professor of mechanical engineering, is one of three inaugural awardees for the February 2022 cycle of the Scaling Success Grant, which is the first cycle of this internal funding opportunity. Yuankai Huo, assistant professor of computer science and computer engineering, is co-PI on a SSG grant. Read More

Biomedical engineering prof says study raises the prospect of a new application of diagnostic optical biopsy by Paul Govern In a new study from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 10-second videos of white blood cell motion in the skin’s microvasculature greatly improved the prediction of which stem cell and bone marrow transplant patients would have a relapse... Read More

Vanderbilt University professor Carolyn Heinrich and colleagues conducted research to examine interactions between people inquiring about how to get a COVID-19 vaccine with state agencies and major vaccination sites. Their findings are newly published online in the journal "Social Science & Medicine." 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

To shoot a basketball with precision requires countless hours of practice. Usually, this happens under the watchful eye of a coach, who can provide guidance on the right mechanics of each shot. Now, though, thanks to new research from Vanderbilt University, players may soon be able to use artificial intelligence technology to work on those... Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have found that children with a genetic makeup that predicts high blood pressure as adults are more likely to survive congenital heart defect repair surgery. Read More

To shoot a basketball with precision requires countless hours of practice, usually under the watchful eye of a coach providing guidance on the right mechanics of each shot. Now, thanks to new research from Vanderbilt University, players may soon be able to use artificial intelligence technology to work on those same principles on their own.  Read More

Mikail Rubinov, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, computer science, psychiatry and psychology, has been awarded a four-year, $1.1 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to better understand the development and organization of brain networks, as well as their change in development and aging. Rubinov and his collaborators will link aspects of gene expression and... Read More

A Vanderbilt study found that, among adult patients with HIV, those who have lower counts of certain types of blood cells have a markedly higher risk of developing cancer. Read More

A study by Vanderbilt and New York City researchers found that 9/11 first responders to the World Trade Center have increased levels of mutations that escalate their risk for blood cancers or cardiovascular disease Read More

John Wikswo, founder and director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Integrative Biosystems Research and Education and Gordon A. Cain University Professor, is the principal investigator of a $1 million award from the National Science Foundation. The object is to build a pathbreaking “robot scientist”—a fully automated microfluidic system for parallel, independent, long-duration, machine-guided experiments. The... Read More

John Wikswo, founder and director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Integrative Biosystems Research and Education and Gordon A. Cain University Professor, is the principal investigator of a $1 million award from the National Science Foundation. The object is to build a pathbreaking “robot scientist”—a fully automated microfluidic system for parallel, independent, long-duration, machine-guided experiments. The... Read More

Joshua Caldwell, Flowers Family Chancellor’s Faculty Fellow in Engineering and associate professor of mechanical engineering, and Joseph Matson, a graduate student in Caldwell’s lab, have contributed to an international study that has discovered a new type of light-matter coupling. The work has long-term implications for how optical components can be even further miniaturized, a discovery... Read More

The rigidity of the extracellular matrix that surrounds cells impacts the contractile and invasive properties of head and neck cancer cells. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers find that invasive Group B Streptococcus strains, a significant risk to pregnant patients and infants, can grow in presence of toxic zinc levels. Read More