Aliquots - Research Briefs

June 18, 2020

Studying cells in reduced dimensions

Vanderbilt cell biologists have developed an unbiased, quantitative framework for evaluating single-cell data.

By Bill Snyder
June 9, 2020

Staph’s activation of blood clotting

Staph bacteria may change the factor they use to activate blood clotting — to evade the immune response — a new study suggests.

By Leigh MacMillan
June 8, 2020

When rankings are unfounded

There are many good reasons to survey anesthesiology patient satisfaction but ranking individual clinicians isn’t one of them, the authors of a new study conclude.

By Paul Govern
June 4, 2020

Protecting the injured kidney

Leslie Gewin and colleagues have upended conventional dogma about Wnt/beta-catenin signaling in the kidney, finding that it protects against chronic kidney disease rather than promoting it.

By Leigh MacMillan
June 4, 2020

Potential new cancer target

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered the involvement of a certain type of adenosine receptor in mediating signaling that supports tumor growth and metastasis.

By Bill Snyder
May 19, 2020

Probing innate immunity

Manuel Ascano team validates an inhibitor of the cGAS-STING signaling pathway, which is important for cellular innate immunity against bacteria, viruses, and our own damaged DNA.

By Leigh MacMillan
May 18, 2020

Implant one day may replace dialysis

Vanderbilt researchers used pharmacological manipulations to increase salt and water transport by kidney cells grown in culture, a step necessary for realizing an implantable artificial kidney device.
By Anivarya Kumar
May 14, 2020

Antibodies eye Pacific Island “fever”

Vanderbilt Vaccine Center team isolates monoclonal antibodies against Ross River virus, which causes rash, fever and debilitating muscle and joint pain lasting three to six months.
By Bill Snyder
May 14, 2020

The adaptable anthrax bacterium

Vanderbilt researchers discover how anthrax bacterium defends itself against structural damage and resists the toxicity of the antimicrobial drug targocil.
By Leigh MacMillan
May 5, 2020

A dual-purpose metabolic switch

John York and colleagues have demonstrated that the protein Vip1 is a rare type of bifunctional enzyme: it can both synthesize and destroy key cellular signaling molecules.
By Leigh MacMillan
May 4, 2020

The role of diet in esophageal cancer

New findings suggest that dietary calcium and magnesium affect the risk of esophageal cancer; if confirmed in interventional studies, they could inform dietary modifications to reduce the burden of this cancer.
By Anivarya Kumar
April 30, 2020

EHRs, biobanks and Mendelian diseases

Electronic health records and biobanks can be effectively combined to detect and study Mendelian diseases such as cystic fibrosis.
By Leigh MacMillan
April 30, 2020

Antibody finding raises hopes for Marburg, COVID-19 treatments

Monoclonal antibodies against Marburg virus — a more lethal cousin of the RNA virus that causes COVID-19 — may aid in the development of antibody “cocktails” to counter viral infection.
By Bill Snyder