Vanderbilt Center for Structural Biology

The study team includes, from left, Maribeth Nicholson, MD, MPH, Ben Spiller, PhD, Buddy Creech, MD, MPH, Borden Lacy, PhD, Eric Skaar, PhD, MPH, Isaac Thomsen, MD, MSCI, Ivelin Georgiev, PhD, and Danyvid Olivares-Villagomez, PhD.
March 30, 2023

NIH grant launches C. diff vaccine research initiative

Vanderbilt has received an NIH grant to launch the Vanderbilt Antibody and Antigen Discovery for Clostridioides difficile Vaccines, or VANDy-CdV.

By Anthony Czelusniak
December 22, 2020

UT Southwestern’s Rosen up next in Discovery Lecture Series

Michael Rosen, PhD, professor and chair of Biophysics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, will discuss mysterious cellular compartments known as “biomolecular condensates” during the next web-based Discovery Lecture.

By Leigh MacMillan
February 11, 2020

A key to calcium signaling

Erkan Karakas and colleagues used cryo-electron microscopy to determine structural details of a calcium channel protein that has numerous cell signaling roles.

By Sanjay Mishra
David Cortez, PhD, left, Petria Thompson, Katherine Amidon, Brandt Eichman, PhD, and colleagues are studying how a DNA repair pathway protein shields sites of damage to avoid mutations.
July 25, 2019

Team’s study reveals details of new DNA repair pathway

Investigators have discovered how a DNA repair pathway protein shields sites of damage to avoid mutations and maintain genome integrity.

By Leigh MacMillan
May 29, 2019

Study details regulation of a multi-drug transporter

P-glycoprotein distinguishes between chemicals that it will expel from a cell and inhibitors that block its action.

By Leigh MacMillan
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
February 15, 2018

Noted neuroscientist Gouaux set for Discovery Lecture

Eric Gouaux, PhD, whose work has helped reveal the molecular mechanisms by which nerve cells communicate, will deliver the next Flexner Discovery Lecture Thursday, Feb. 22.
By Bill Snyder
December 5, 2017

DNA damage repair: molecular insights

Structural details about a protein involved in the repair of damaged DNA provide insight into xeroderma pigmentosum disorders, which are characterized by increased risk for skin cancer.
By VUMC News and Communications
June 12, 2017

Repriming replication roadblocks

New findings shed light on how enzymes that replicate DNA skip over mutations that might cause cancer and restart DNA synthesis further away.
By Sanjay Mishra
April 14, 2017

A new mode of DNA repair

Structural details of a protein that removes DNA lesions shed light on fundamental mechanisms of DNA repair.
By Leigh MacMillan
March 30, 2017

Symposium on modeling immunity set for April 27

The 2017 Vanderbilt Symposium on Modeling Immunity will be held from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 27, in room 1220 MRB III.
By Bill Snyder
February 23, 2017

Team identifies ‘switch’ involved in DNA replication  

DNA replication is an extraordinarily complex multi-step process that makes copies of the body’s genetic blueprint. It is necessary for growth and essential to life. Now researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Vanderbilt University have found evidence that one of those steps may involve the telephone-like transmission of electrical signals regulated by a chemical “switch.”
By Bill Snyder