Nature

February 19, 2024

VUMC part of major step to achieving precision medicine

An analysis of genomic data from nearly 250,000 participants in the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program has identified more than 275 million previously unreported genetic variations, nearly 4 million of which have potential health consequences.

By Bill Snyder
A C. diff bacterium (green) with iron particles in red, shown in a reconstructed electron tomogram from STEM-EDS. (image courtesy of James McBride)
November 15, 2023

Novel C. diff structures are required for infection, offer new therapeutic targets

Vanderbilt research discovers that iron storage “spheres” inside the bacterium C. diff — the leading cause of hospital-acquired infections — are important for infection in an animal model and could offer new targets for antibacterial drugs.

By Leigh MacMillan
April 12, 2023

Research identifies new target that may prevent blood cancer

An international coalition of biomedical researchers co-led by Vanderbilt’s Alexander Bick, MD, PhD, has determined a new way to measure the growth rate of precancerous clones of blood stem cells that one day could help doctors lower their patients’ risk of blood cancer.

By Bill Snyder
November 16, 2022

Cardiac antigen identified as mechanism for heart complication with immunotherapy-related myocarditis

Researchers from from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center have identified the mechanism for the deadly heart inflammation myocarditis.

By Tom Wilemon
July 8, 2021

Study finds genetic risk factors for severe COVID-19 illness

A massive worldwide collaboration including researchers from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has identified several genetic factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe COVID-19 illness.

By Bill Snyder
June 22, 2021

Combination antibody therapies should retain effectiveness against emerging COVID-19 variants: study

Five monoclonal antibody “cocktails,” including one developed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), are protective in animal studies against several variant strains of COVID-19, according to a report this week in the journal Nature.

By Bill Snyder
April 7, 2021

Study revises understanding of cancer metabolism

Tumors consume glucose at high rates, but a team of Vanderbilt researchers has discovered that cancer cells themselves are not the culprit, upending models of cancer metabolism that have been developed and refined over the last 100 years.
By Leigh MacMillan
January 6, 2021

Genome editing technique “rescues” mice from accelerated aging disorder: study

Researchers from the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Vanderbilt University Medical Center for the first time have used a novel genome-editing technique to “rescue” mice from progeria, a rare genetic disease that causes accelerated aging.
By Bill Snyder
October 13, 2020

COVID-19 long-acting antibodies discovered by Vanderbilt University Medical Center move to phase 3 clinical trials

AstraZeneca is advancing into phase 3 clinical trials with an investigational COVID-19 therapy of two long-acting antibodies discovered by Vanderbilt University Medical Center and optimized by AstraZeneca.
By Bill Snyder
October 31, 2019

Vanderbilt investigators lead effort to create map of the human kidney

Short of mandating universal diabetes treatment, regular exercise and low-calorie diets, little can be done to stem the rising tide of kidney failure — unless scientists can figure out why exactly the kidney’s filtration units, the glomeruli, stop working.
By Bill Snyder
June 18, 2019

Study identifies critical regulator of tumor-specific T cell differentiation

A study published June 17 in Nature offers clues as to why blocking inhibitory receptors on tumor-infiltrating T cells may not always work
By Tom Wilemon
February 13, 2019

Researchers push forward frontiers of vaccine science

Using sophisticated gene sequencing and computing techniques, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the San Diego Supercomputer Center have achieved a first-of-its-kind glimpse into how the body’s immune system gears up to fight off infection.
By Bill Snyder
May 17, 2018

Alphavirus “Achilles heel”

Targeting the protein that mosquito-borne viruses use to enter cells could be a strategy for preventing infection by multiple emerging viruses.
By Bill Snyder