Research, News & Discoveries

Sep. 10, 2020, 8:38 AM by Paul Govern   Angela Jefferson, PhD, and colleagues are establishing an Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at VUMC. (photo by Avery Haller) Angela Jefferson, PhD, professor of Neurology and director of the Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer’s Center, has been awarded a $3.7… Read More

Sep. 10, 2020, 8:38 AM by Paul Govern   Angela Jefferson, PhD, and colleagues are establishing an Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at VUMC. (photo by Avery Haller) Angela Jefferson, PhD, professor of Neurology and director of the Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer’s Center, has been awarded a $3.7… Read More

By Sohini Roy People with type 1 diabetes generate little to no insulin, which promotes the absorption of glucose from the blood. The transcriptional coregulator Swi-independent 3 — or Sin3 — switches on and off the genes that drive crucial biological processes during prenatal development, including cellular differentiation, maturation, survival, metabolism,… Read More

By Natalya Ortolano Myosin motors and long actin filaments accumulate at the center of dividing cells to constrict the membrane. When a bouncy ball deforms under the weight of your body, its rubber membrane stretches and contracts. Likewise, the membrane of a cell doubling itself prior to division must accommodate… Read More

By Brad Davidson VIR-CLASP has the potential to find new therapeutic targets during infection by a wide variety of RNA viruses. RNA viruses invade cells and co-opt cellular machinery to replicate and translate their genomic material. To stave off infection until immune cells arrive, host cells rely on “intrinsic immunity… Read More

By Mary Alice Keller Triple-negative breast cancer is a type of breast cancer that tests negative for the three receptors that are commonly found in breast cancer: estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) receptors. The oncogene MYCN regulates cancer cell growth, proliferation, metabolism, and… Read More

by Marissa Shapiro Sep. 8, 2020, 12:00 PM A Vanderbilt University laboratory led by Marija Zanic, assistant professor of cell and developmental biology, has demonstrated for the first time how microtubules—filaments that are essential to many of a cell’s functions—move around in a… Read More

Kathy Gould, Louise B. McGavock professor of cell and developmental biology in the School of Medicine Basic Sciences, has been named senior associate dean for biomedical research, education, and career development. Kathy joined the Vanderbilt faculty as an assistant professor after she obtained her Ph.D. from the University of… Read More

Sep. 3, 2020, 11:30 AM by Bill Snyder Reduced expression of Dlgap2, a gene important in signaling across the synapse between nerve cells, is associated with faster cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and increased plaques and tangles found in their brains on autopsy. To better understand the role of… Read More

Sep. 3, 2020, 11:00 AM by Leigh MacMillan Mitochondrial complex II is a four-subunit protein machine located in the mitochondrial membrane that links two essential cellular energy-producing processes. Defects in complex II — because of mutations in the genes encoding the subunits or incorrect assembly of the mature complex —… Read More