The Vanderbilt community is invited to attend the 12th annual Research Retreat, a showcase of cutting-edge biomedical science by Vanderbilt faculty members and trainees.

We are — at our core — a place that cares about people. That caring attitude is reflected in how we “are” with one another, and also with our patients and students.

Three years ago, a team of researchers led by David Calkins, Ph.D., vice chair and director of Research at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute, showed that the first sign of injury in glaucoma, the leading cause of blindness in the United States, occurs in the brain.

Vanderbilt’s Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit (VTEU) is one of nine U.S. sites funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to test the effectiveness of a vaccine to protect against the H7N9 bird flu that emerged in China this spring.

Using technology he helped develop, Vanderbilt University scientist Bryan Venters, Ph.D., has shed new light on the “dark matter” of the genome and has begun to explore a possible new approach to treating cancer.

Starting Oct. 1, 2014, U.S. providers and hospitals will be required to use a greatly expanded medical code set to categorize patient problems and inpatient procedures. The new code set will help sharpen health services analysis, but switching won’t be a simple matter.

Michael Merzenich, Ph.D., author of “Soft-Wired: How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Can Change Your Life,” will deliver the next Flexner Discovery Lecture at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 26, in 208 Light Hall.