The first suspected case of COVID-19 was detected in Tennessee March 5. Within four days, the lab team identified a testing platform, obtained reagents and developed and validated the test. By the end of the first 10 days, more than 3,300 tests had been completed.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill have been awarded $500,000 by Google’s philanthropy, Google.org, to study how COVID-19 alters gene expression in some people in ways that may be linked to their risk of severe illness and death.

Nominations are being accepted for the 2020 Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Research Staff Awards.

Combining studies of genetically diverse mouse populations and human data led to the identification of a gene associated with cognitive decline and brain changes in Alzheimer’s disease.

Alexander Bick, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Genetic Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, is a recipient of the 2020 Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF) Career Award for Medical Scientists.

Physician-scientists at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are investigating whether SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can be spread through aerosolized emissions (microscopic droplets and particles) during minimally invasive surgery in children.