Department of Biochemistry

A new mode of DNA repair

Structural details of a protein that removes DNA lesions shed light on fundamental mechanisms of DNA repair.

Fighting fungal infections

A detailed structural and functional analysis of the yeast protein that is the main target of antifungal drugs will help direct efforts to develop better treatments.

Team identifies ‘switch’ involved in DNA replication  

DNA replication is an extraordinarily complex multi-step process that makes copies of the body’s genetic blueprint. It is necessary for growth and essential to life. Now researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Vanderbilt University have found evidence that one of those steps may involve the telephone-like transmission of electrical signals regulated by a chemical “switch.”

COX-2 ‘conjugate’ may slow growth of some tumors: study

More than a decade after the anti-inflammatory drugs Vioxx and Bextra were pulled from the market because of a heightened risk of heart attack and stroke in some patients, COX-2 inhibitors may be on the verge of a comeback, this time as anti-cancer agents.

Graduate student’s cancer studies land NCI support

Kamakoti “Kami” Bhat, a fifth-year graduate student in the lab of David Cortez, Ph.D., professor of Biochemistry in the School of Medicine, has achieved a “first” for Vanderbilt University.

DNA damage response protein

Vanderbilt researchers have determined that a previously uncharacterized protein responds to DNA replication stress and has an essential role in maintaining the integrity of the genome.

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