VUMC’s antibody collaboration with the DOD goes back to 2018, when the medical center signed a five-year cooperative agreement with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop protective treatments that can be rushed to health care providers within weeks after a viral outbreak.

The next day, the students, interns in the 16th summer research session of the Aspirnaut STEM pipeline program for diversity, were bound for the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

He is the first from VUMC to receive the award, which recognizes “champions” of health professions education who have advanced the VA’s health care education mission.

In a study of predominantly low-income and Black Americans ages 65 and older, the researchers found that those with the longest “sitting time” — more than 10 hours a day — had the highest mortality risk.

The research could lead to treatments that restore nerve activity through the targeted delivery of electromagnetic stimuli or drugs.

A target of their investigations is serotonin, a signaling molecule that is well known for its critical roles in regulating mood and which also plays an important role in the development of the brain and nervous system.