Elisabeth Dykens, Ph.D., Annette Schaffer Eskind Professor and director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (VKC), has announced plans to step down from her role as the center’s director. To assist with the transition, she will continue to serve in this role until a successor is identified.

Studies of the molecular complex that helps build specialized cellular surfaces could shed light on the mechanisms underlying a genetic deaf-blindness syndrome accompanied by intestinal disease.

Vanderbilt engineers have modified a cotton candy machine to create complex microfluidic networks that mimic the capillary system in living tissue and have demonstrated that these networks can keep cells alive and functioning in an artificial three-dimensional matrix.

Vanderbilt investigators are exploring the shape changes in a multidrug transporter to understand the mechanisms of antibacterial resistance.

Harsh Trivedi, M.D., MBA, associate professor of Psychiatry, vice chair for Clinical Affairs for Vanderbilt’s Department of Psychiatry, and executive director and chief medical officer of Vanderbilt Behavioral Health, has been named CEO of Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital. He will remain administrative director for Vanderbilt Behavioral Health.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) recently began offering patients an option for safely disposing expired and unwanted medicines — a service made possible by a change in state law.