peripheral nervous system

sound mixer at different levels

Grant spurs research on how nerves guide organ function

Michelle Southard-Smith, Ph.D., associate professor of Medicine in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, has won a major award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support her research on how nerves control organ function.

Studies aim to speed, track peripheral nerve recovery

Surgeons have limited tools to successfully repair and track the recovery of peripheral nerves that have been severely damaged as a result of a traumatic injury, but Vanderbilt investigators hope to change this through research studies recently funded with more than $3 million in grants from the Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health.

Myelin junctions key to conduction

A protein in the myelin coating on nerves helps form a “seal” that enables effective nerve conduction; loss of the protein causes inherited neuropathies.

How ‘Jedi’ disposes of dead neurons

The protein Syk is essential for clearing away neuron “corpses” in the developing peripheral nervous system.