Research Archive

The team studying the regulation of innate immune response includes (front row, from left) Yang Zhao, Antiana Richardson, (back row, from left) John Karijolich, PhD, Xiang Ye and William Dunker.
May 6, 2021

Study finds that regulatory protein prevents signaling that triggers cell death

A protein implicated in neurodegenerative diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis prevents the activation of an innate immune response that leads to cell death, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.

By Leigh MacMillan
April 28, 2021

Regev receives Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science

Aviv Regev, PhD, an internationally known computational biologist and executive vice president of Genentech Research and Early Development (gRED), is the recipient of the 2021 Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science, officials at Vanderbilt University Medical Center announced this week.

By Bill Snyder
April 19, 2021

VUMC aids national effort to repurpose drugs for COVID-19

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has been named Data Coordinating Center (DCC) for a nationwide platform of studies aimed at “repurposing” existing drugs to treat mild to moderate symptoms of COVID-19.

By Bill Snyder
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
From left, Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD, Bradley Reinfeld, Matthew Madden and Jeffrey Rathmell, PhD, have discovered that immune cells — not cancer cells — are the major glucose consumers in the tumor microenvironment, upending a century-old observation.
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
Deanna Edwards, PhD, left, Jin Chen, MD, PhD, and colleagues are studying a new therapeutic strategy for triple-negative breast cancer.
April 1, 2021

Breast cancer cells ‘steal’ nutrients from immune cells: study

Triple-negative breast cancer cells engage in a “glutamine steal” — outcompeting T cells for the nutrient glutamine and impairing their ability to kill tumor cells, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.

By Leigh MacMillan