School Of Medicine Basic Sciences

Non-exercise physical activity has a measurable energy expenditure, which goes down when animals engage in voluntary exercise, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered. Read More

The Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology (VICB) will hold a Founders’ Celebration mini-symposium on March 28 to acknowledge the contributions of its founders, Lawrence Marnett, PhD, and Ned Porter, PhD, and to celebrate 15-plus years of success as a trans-institutional scientific incubator. Read More

MCL-1 is a member of the BCL-2 family of proteins important for blocking apoptosis, or programmed cell death. Many types of cancer cells escape the body’s effort to kill them by overexpressing MCL-1. Read More

A new integrated imaging approach makes it possible to probe the molecules involved in invasive infections and can be broadly applied to any health or disease state. Read More

Vanderbilt investigators have used sophisticated cell biological and structural techniques to “classify” mutations in potassium channels, studies that could lead to personalized treatment of heart rhythm disorders. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered an unanticipated link between sulfur and iron balance, pointing to a genetic basis for iron-deficiency anemia. Read More

Investigators at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) and the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute (VTCRI) have revealed a gene mutation’s role in Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome, a genetically inherited disease which causes tumor growth in several organs. Read More

Christine Lovly, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt, has received a $200,000 grant to support promising new research on lung cancer. Read More

New findings suggest that oxidative stress damages mitochondrial DNA, and they link this damage to a disease state. Read More

Craig Lindsley, PhD, co-director of the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery (VCNDD), has been named a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and elected chair-elect of the Section of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered a role for microtubules — part of the cellular “skeleton” — in organizing the unique sidedness of the epithelial cells that line organs like the intestines. Read More

Studies of alpha-B crystallin in zebrafish could ultimately lead to improved treatment for cataracts and heart disease. Read More

Vanderbilt investigators examined the entire training pathway of potential biomedical research faculty and found two key points of loss: during undergraduate education and in transition from postdoctoral fellowship to tenure-track faculty. Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) on Monday held its first Directorship Celebration to honor and support eight of its leaders in clinical care, research, education and administration. Read More

Researchers at Vanderbilt University have discovered how insulin crosses the capillary endothelium to exit blood vessels and stimulate skeletal muscle cells — a major finding that may lead to new ways to reverse insulin resistance, a hallmark of type 2 diabetes. Read More

Blocking a nerve-cell receptor in part of the brain that coordinates movement could improve the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, dyskinesia and other movement disorders, researchers at Vanderbilt University have reported. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered that curcumin — the active ingredient in the spice turmeric — needs to be metabolically activated to exert anti-inflammatory effects. Read More

Ian Macara, PhD, Louise B. McGavock Professor and Chair of Cell and Developmental Biology and co-leader of the Signal Transduction and Chemical Biology Research Program at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), has been named one of the Pink Tie Guys for the Susan G. Komen Central Tennessee organization. Read More

Using bioinformatics approaches, Vanderbilt investigators have identified gene expression networks that are deregulated in mouse and human stomach cancers. Read More

On July 24 Vanderbilt scientist Eric Skaar, Ph.D., MPH, summarized his group’s latest paper in a tweet: “If S. aureus is going to drink our blood like a vampire, let's kill it with sunlight.” Read More