Life, Earth and Space

microscope
September 19, 2013

Lacy’s crystallographic research achievements recognized

D. Borden Lacy, Ph.D., associate professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, and Biochemistry, will receive the 2014 Margaret Etter Award from the American Crystallographic Association (ACA) for outstanding achievement and exceptional potential in crystallographic research demonstrated by a scientist at an early stage of their independent career.

By Nancy Humphrey
June 19, 2013

Validating maps of the brain’s resting state

A team of Vanderbilt researchers has provided important validation of maps of the brain at rest that may offer insights into changes in the brain that occur in neurological and psychiatric diseases.

By VUMC News and Communications
microbrain
July 24, 2012

Vanderbilt-led team to develop ‘microbrain’ to improve drug testing

Creating a device out of human cells that simulates brain chemistry is the goal of a $6.4 million grant which is part of major new federal initiative to develop a series of “organs on a chip” designed to improve the drug development process.

By VUMC News and Communications
Neurons with serotonin transporters labeled with quantum dots. (Jerry Chang / Vanderbilt)
June 27, 2012

Probing the roots of depression by tracking serotonin regulation at a new level

An interdisciplinary team of scientists have successfully tagged a protein that regulates the neurotransmitter serotonin with tiny fluorescent beads, allowing them to track the movements of individual molecules for the first time. This capability makes it possible to study the manner in which serotonin regulates mood, appetite and sleep at a new level of detail.

Night nurse
April 14, 2011

Sleep strategy used by night nurses throws off their circadian clocks

As many as 25 percent of hospital nurses use sleep deprivation to adjust to working on the night shift, the poorest strategy for adapting their internal, circadian clocks to a night-time schedule.

By VUMC News and Communications
January 12, 2011

Seven Vanderbilt University Faculty Honored by AAAS Scientific Society

By Leigh MacMillan
March 11, 2010

Human cells exhibit foraging behavior like amoebae and bacteria

When cells move about in the body, they follow a complex pattern similar to that which amoebae and bacteria use when searching for food, a team of Vanderbilt researchers have found.
By VUMC News and Communications
February 18, 2010

A new type of genetic variation could strengthen natural selection

The unexpected discovery of a new type of genetic variation suggests that natural selection – the force that drives evolution – is both more powerful and more complex than scientists have thought.
By VUMC News and Communications
December 21, 2009

TIPSHEET: The future of Pluto and Ceres

Three years ago, when the International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto to dwarf planet status, the unpopular decision was based on personal opinions and professional politics, not on rigorous scientific criteria that can clearly differentiate planets from lesser bodies, points out Vanderbilt astronomer David Weintraub. In the next decade, however, the amount of knowledge that we have about Pluto and another dwarf planet, Ceres, will change dramatically and this new information may affect our views of these objects and their status in the solar system as asteroids, dwarf planets or planets.
By VUMC News and Communications
December 18, 2009

Nuclear energy powered by uranium from the sea could promote peace in coming century

One of the best things the world can do to promote peace and stability in the coming century is to expand commercial nuclear power based on the extraction of uranium from the ocean. That is the proposition which Frank Parker, an internationally recognized expert in remediation of radioactively contaminated soil and water and a member of the National Academy of Engineering, advanced at an exclusive meeting held at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in the Vatican last month.
By VUMC News and Communications
December 17, 2009

Astronomer receives NSF award to study black holes’ evolution and to support Fisk-Vanderbilt minority Ph.D. program

Vanderbilt University Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy Kelly Holley-Bockelmann has been awarded the National Science Foundation's largest ever Faculty Early Career Development grant in the field of astronomy. She will use the prestigious award to continue her studies of black holes while supporting the university's innovative program designed to make the university the top producer of underrepresented minorities with Ph.D.s in physics and astronomy.
By VUMC News and Communications
November 17, 2009

New study confirms exotic electric properties of graphene

First, it was the soccer-ball-shaped molecules dubbed buckyballs. Then it was the cylindrically shaped nanotubes. Now, the hottest new material in physics and nanotechnology is graphene: a remarkably flat molecule made of carbon atoms arranged in hexagonal rings much like molecular chicken wire.
By VUMC News and Communications
November 9, 2009

Interdisciplinary research team to develop novel drug detection technology using software that acts like a robotic scientist

With the support of a $2.7 million Recovery Act grant from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), an interdisciplinary team headed by Vanderbilt chemist John McLean and physicist John Wikswo will attempt to determine whether an individual's white blood cells retain chemical memories of exposure to drugs like cocaine and alcohol that can be read reliably and unambiguously.
By VUMC News and Communications