Department of Chemistry

July 28, 2022

Study reveals need for matching targeted therapies with EGFR subtypes

A Vanderbilt study suggests that clinicians should take a deeper dive into distinguishing EGFR mutations when prescribing targeted therapies for non-small-cell lung cancers.

By Tom Wilemon
Benjamin Brown, left, Jens Meiler, PhD, Zhenfang Du, PhD, and colleagues are studying the functional consequences of genetic mutations and how those changes can drive cancerous growth.
April 8, 2021

Personalized Structural Biology aids cancer treatment decisions

Cancer specialists at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in partnership with biochemists and structural biologists across the Vanderbilt University campus, are taking “personalized” cancer therapy to a new level.

By Bill Snyder
March 28, 2019

Cancer’s SOS

Stephen Fesik and colleagues are advancing cancer drug discovery with the characterization of small molecules that modulate RAS, an important target for anti-cancer therapies.

By Sanjay Mishra
January 31, 2019

Designing antibodies to fight the flu

Vanderbilt investigators said their work shows that computational design can improve the ability of naturally occurring antibodies to recognize different flu strains and may hasten the development of more effective flu therapies and vaccines.

By Bill Snyder
January 17, 2019

DNA’s on/off switch

DNA-binding “switches” represent a fundamentally new method of communication between DNA-processing enzymes, Vanderbilt researchers propose.

By Bill Snyder
April 6, 2018

New view of the heartbeat

Structural views of the proteins that regulate the heartbeat may help improve existing treatments for cardiac arrhythmias.

By Sanjay Mishra
August 11, 2016

Transcription factor evolution

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered a novel model of evolution for factors that control gene expression.
By Sanjay Mishra
January 21, 2016

VU investigators use magnetism to help isolate malaria biomarker

Vanderbilt investigators have developed a way to detect malaria that is faster and more sensitive than current clinical methods — a development that has the potential to make malaria detection significantly less expensive and more stable.
By VUMC News and Communications
October 22, 2015

Chazin honored with international biophysics award

Walter Chazin, Ph.D., director of the Vanderbilt Center for Structural Biology, is a recipient of a 2016 Fellow of the Biophysical Society award.
By Bill Snyder
October 2, 2015

The yin and yang of COX-2

New findings add to the understanding of how the enzyme COX-2 works, which is critical to the development of COX-2-targeted anti-inflammatory drugs.
By Sanjay Mishra
October 1, 2015

Collaboration seeks to develop new therapies for bone, other diseases

La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co. and Vanderbilt University have signed a research and license agreement covering Vanderbilt’s research program and intellectual property rights related to compounds that block bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) type-I receptors. The compounds have therapeutic potential in a broad range of diseases, including rare genetic disorders.
By Leigh MacMillan
August 26, 2015

Framework for studying cell responses

Vanderbilt investigators have developed a framework for studying cellular responses that could be used to identify the agents driving a range of biological processes in health and disease.
By Leigh MacMillan
August 7, 2015

Bridging the antibiotic gap

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered how certain molecules with antibiotic properties are synthesized, findings that could lead to new drugs that overcome the increased antibiotic resistance in bacteria.
By Sanjay Mishra and Bill Snyder