Bill Snyder Archive — Page 56 of 118

June 14, 2019

New method tested to block chikungunya infection

Scientists are testing a new way to fight chikungunya virus that involves injecting genetic material into the bodies of infected and at-risk individuals to trigger rapid production of potent, virus-neutralizing antibodies.

June 12, 2019

Steroid binding to metabolic enzyme

Understanding how a steroid-metabolizing enzyme binds to its substrates may aid in designing drugs to treat sexual dysfunction as well as prostate cancer.

Research assistant Mahsa Majedi loads reagent used in DNA sample preparation in the genomics lab. She is part of a team of more than a dozen people at VUMC who are “sprinting” to develop — within 90 days — an antibody-based treatment to stop the spread of the Zika virus.
June 6, 2019

VUMC joins international effort to speed vaccine development

VUMC has joined an international effort to streamline and accelerate development of vaccines and other treatments against a growing worldwide surge of deadly and debilitating viral infections.

May 16, 2019

Flu’s “hidden target” may lead to universal vaccine: study

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Scripps Research Institute have discovered a “hidden target” on the surface of the hypervariable influenza A virus that could lead to better ways to prevent and treat the flu.

May 9, 2019

New trans-institutional program to focus on genetic variations, disease

A new program at Vanderbilt will help researchers determine more precisely how genetic variations contribute to disease and what potentially can be done to put them right.

May 3, 2019

Researchers putting the brakes on lethal childhood cancer

Malignant rhabdoid tumor (MRT) is one of the most aggressive and lethal childhood cancers. Although rare — about 20 to 25 new cases are diagnosed annually in the United States — there is no standard effective treatment for the disease, which is driven by loss of an anti-cancer protein called SNF5. The chances are very small that a child will survive a year after MRT diagnosis.