An international research team including scientists from Vanderbilt University has discovered how the diabetes drug metformin blocks glucose production by the liver. The discovery, reported Aug. 27 in the journal Nature Medicine, could lead to development of new ways to treat type 2 diabetes.

Nancy Carrasco, MD, a leading figure in the study of iodide transport and its critical role in the thyroid and mammary glands, has been named chair of Vanderbilt University’s Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University and the University of Michigan have discovered a critical factor in the rheostatic control of body weight by the brain.

The Flexner Discovery Lecture series kicks off the academic year next week with presentations by two Vanderbilt faculty members. The Cutting-Edge Discovery Lectures by Meena Madhur, MD, PhD, and Scott Smith, MD, PhD, begin at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 30 in 208 Light Hall.

Using new computational approaches to understand the behavior of cells should aid efforts to predict how mutations affect cell function and how diseases respond to drug combinations.

Vanderbilt researchers used spectroscopy to understand how a drug transporter pumps drugs out of cells, findings that are important for developing novel anti-cancer and anti-bacterial drugs that can overcome drug resistance.

Using techniques to control and monitor the activities of individual neurons, Vanderbilt investigators are probing the brain’s reward circuitry.