Roger Cone

A new report released this week raises questions about “gene drives,” a biological process that can profoundly and rapidly alter the characteristics of entire species. Read More

I’m graduating in May, and while it will be hard to leave Vanderbilt, it will be even harder to leave The Commons. The Commons has been such a defining part of my Vanderbilt experience, and has been my home here since day one. Read More

The hormone leptin regulates glucose balance, but not fat stores, in zebrafish. Read More

A Vanderbilt University-led research team has discovered a molecular “rheostat” in the brain’s appetite control center that may provide new insights into obesity, which is at epidemic levels in this country. Read More

A receptor in the brain that regulates appetite and body weight has now been found in L cells, key regulatory cells in the gut, providing the pharmaceutical industry with a novel drug target for both obesity and diabetes, a Vanderbilt University-led research team reported this week. Read More

Reporting last week in the journal Cell, researchers from Oregon Health and Science University, Harvard Medical School and Vanderbilt University describe the first “four-dimensional” picture of a brain receptor that plays a key role in learning and memory. Read More

Vanderbilt University researchers have received a two-year, $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study a mouse model of the metabolic and hormonal changes caused by bariatric surgery. Read More

Vanderbilt University’s contributions to the field of diabetes — past and present — were celebrated recently during the annual Diabetes Day at the Vanderbilt Student Life Center. Read More

Vanderbilt University’s Roger D. Cone, Ph.D., and Elizabeth Heitman, Ph.D., have been appointed to the National Academies’ Board on Life Sciences, which advises the government and scientific community on a wide range of topics, from stem cell research to bioterrorism. Read More

Vanderbilt University researchers have discovered a new critical component in the obesity pathway. Read More

Dietary variety – not high-fat or sugary foods – appears to stimulate overeating in a mouse model of an inherited obesity syndrome. Read More

Last month, Vanderbilt University announced a collaboration agreement with GlaxoSmithKline, a leading pharmaceutical and consumer health care company, to develop potential new drugs for severe obesity. Read More

Vanderbilt University has signed a collaboration agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapies for severe obesity. Read More

Several Vanderbilt researchers have collaborated with this year's Nobel Chemistry winners. Read More

A California high school student helped accelerate an anti-obesity drug discovery program at Vanderbilt University this summer — and provided the proof-of-principle for a new technique that could save the lab an estimated $250,000 in the process. Read More

New findings point to brain circuitry that communicates about the body’s nutritional status and regulates how nutrients are mobilized. Read More

By Roger Cone, chairman of the department of molecular physiology and biophysics at Vanderbilt, Jon Kaas, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt, and Robert Webster, Rose Marie Thomas Chair in Virology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital This opinion piece was published on the… Read More

See new Vanderbilt research on who makes up a Tea Party supporter. Plus, learn what hip hop is doing for kid’s health and discover Vanderbilt’s ties to the new X-Men movie! [vucastblurb]… Read More

First appearance from "Uncanny X-Men" #96. Art by Dave Cockrum. Via Wikipedia. Here’s another reason to love the X-Men: real science. Listen carefully to the dialogue between Professor Charles Xavier and CIA agent Dr. Moira MacTaggart in the new movie, “X-Men: First Class,” and you’ll hear a… Read More

An obesity-associated genetic variation makes fatty food more rewarding yet less satisfying, new research in mice suggests. Read More