Vanderbilt University researchers are collaborating in a multi-center, federally-funded project to develop ways to treat and prevent the highly lethal Ebola and Marburg virus infections.

“There has never been a time when we need leaders more than today.” With these words, Jeff Balser, M.D., Ph.D., vice chancellor for Health Affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, began his quarterly conversation with colleagues at Wednesday’s Clinical Enterprise Leadership Assembly in Langford Auditorium.

An international group led by Vanderbilt University researchers has found cannabinoid receptors, through which marijuana exerts its effects, in a key emotional hub in the brain involved in regulating anxiety and the flight-or-fight response.

Vanderbilt University has been awarded a Cooperative Agreement with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Army Research Office that is worth up to $16.5 million over five years.

Vanderbilt University’s Craig Lindsley, Ph.D., has won the 2014 John J. Abel Award in Pharmacology for young investigators from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET).

“Brain Blast,” a half day of free, hands-on activities for children and adults, will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, March 1, at Vanderbilt Health One Hundred Oaks, 719 Thompson Lane.