School Of Medicine Basic Sciences

As a Marshall Scholar, considered among the most accomplished undergraduates and recent graduates in the U.S., Neikirk will pursue advanced degrees in social determinants of health and biomedical imaging. Read More

In just over two years, a Vanderbilt-Neumora collaboration has led to the Phase 1 clinical trial of a treatment for schizophrenia spectrum disorders, which affect 3.7 million adults in the United States. This is the third chemical compound discovered at the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery to reach Phase 1 clinical trials.     Read More

By Jenna Somers Heidi Carlone A three-year, nearly $1.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation supports a trans-institutional research team at Vanderbilt University investigating an innovative approach to STEM education that could help young people develop STEM identities and agency amid climate anxiety. Children around the world… Read More

As a professor of biochemistry and medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine for more than 40 years, Osheroff is the longest serving course director currently teaching medical students. He also codirects the preclerkship phase of the medical school curriculum and leads the Master Science Teachers cohort, a role established in 2007 to recognize VUSM’s outstanding basic science educators. Through his teaching, he has helped medical students at VUSM and across the globe acquire the basic science skills and knowledge they need to thrive in clinical practice, according to the AAMC. Read More

New research from the Office of Biomedical Research Education and Training connects the dots between career goals during graduate school and career outcomes, articulates how careers of Ph.D. alumni evolve during the 10 years after graduation. Read More

The Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation has awarded a three-year grant to support research led by Houra Merrikh, PhD, professor of Biochemistry, and Ben Ho Park, MD, PhD, the Benjamin F. Byrd Jr. Professor of Oncology and director of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, to create an anti-evolution drug to reduce the capacity of cancer cells to develop resistance. Read More

10 basic sciences graduate students were recognized for their high academic and scientific achievement and for the originality, significance, and rigor of their dissertation research with the Dean’s Award for Exceptional Achievement in Graduate Studies. Read More

Four Vanderbilt graduate students, faculty advisers named to Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gilliam Fellows Program for their leadership in science and commitment to advancing equity and inclusion in science. Read More

Neil Osheroff received the Mentoring, Innovation, and Leadership in Educational Scholarship Award at the annual Asia Pacific Medical Education Conference that took place in May. Read More

Marie-Claire Harrison, a graduate student in the Department of Biological Sciences, has been named the 2023 recipient of the Brighter Ventures Student Award. The Brighter Ventures Student Award supports Ph.D. students interested in the application of artificial intelligence in the biomedical research field. Read More

The labs of Lauren Jackson and Todd Graham recently published a study in the Journal of Cell Biology describing a significant interaction between an essential protein complex used for protein and lipid transport—the COPI complex—and its regulator protein. Read More

Fluorescent nanoparticles clearly identified colonic adenomas — precursors to colorectal cancer — in mice, and the formulation should translate to clinical use in humans. Read More

The CMT Research Foundation, a non-profit focused solely on delivering treatments and cures for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease*, has invested in a project at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Basic Sciences that seeks to treat the problem of overproduction of PMP22, the primary genetic cause of CMT in patients with CMT1A. Read More

Chuck Sanders, Aileen M. Lange and Annie Mary Lyle Chair of Cardiovascular Research and professor of biochemistry and medicine, has recently been promoted from associate dean for research to vice dean of the Vanderbilt School of Medicine Basic Sciences. Read More

The laboratories of Brian Bachmann and Jonathan Irish have developed a method to discover new small molecules that may kill cancer cells by working through the body’s immune system. Read More

By determining how proteins in different areas of the eye’s lens change over time, Vanderbilt researchers have learned more about how they could contribute to the mysterious progression of cataracts—a clouding of the lens that affects more than 65 million people worldwide each year.   Read More

The School of Medicine Basic Sciences Dean’s Lecture featured renowned immunologist, virologist, and alumnus Dr. Barney S. Graham. In his talk, “Reflections on Pandemics and the Future of Medicine,” Graham discussed his early research experiences leading up to his seminal work on the first experimental COVID-19 vaccines, along with his observations on the pandemic and hopes for the future of medicine. Read More

A proposal to enhance wellness and resiliency training, led by RC Stabile, associate director for trainee wellbeing in the Office of Biomedical Research Education and Training, was recently awarded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Read More

Ege Kavalali and Heidi Hamm collaborated to discover a signaling pathway for how spontaneous release of neurotransmitters can be selectively regulated without disrupting evoked action potentials. Read More