Vanderbilt University Medical Center has stepped up its support of research aimed at cracking the mysteries of the genome, the master DNA code.

Overly enthusiastic reporting about the promise of scientific discovery has contributed to a “backlash” against science in this country, NPR Science Correspondent Joe Palca, Ph.D., said at Vanderbilt University last week.

Heidi Hamm, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Pharmacology, has won the 2012 Ariens Award from the Dutch Pharmacological Society.

Vanderbilt University has received a major federal grant — just more than $7 million in the first year — to extend HIV/AIDS-related technical assistance and training in the rural province of Zambézia, Mozambique.

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