Vanderbilt Center for Structural Biology

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
August 11, 2016

Transcription factor evolution

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered a novel model of evolution for factors that control gene expression.

By Sanjay Mishra
April 20, 2016

How strep grabs on to platelets

New structural details of the binding of the bacterium Streptococcus sanguinis to platelets may offer new therapeutics for life-threatening cardiovascular infections.

By VUMC News and Communications
bacteria microbiome
February 5, 2016

Dynamics of a drug resistance transporter

Vanderbilt investigators are exploring the shape changes in a multidrug transporter to understand the mechanisms of antibacterial resistance.

By VUMC News and Communications
DNA image
October 29, 2015

New class of DNA repair enzyme discovered

A new class of DNA repair enzyme has been discovered which demonstrates that a much broader range of damage can be removed from the double helix in ways that biologists did not think were possible.

By Leigh MacMillan
model of DNA double helix
July 30, 2015

Study sheds light on crucial DNA binding protein

Researchers at Vanderbilt University have established the molecular basis for the function of Replication Protein A (RPA), a DNA binding protein that is a crucial “scaffold” for genome replication, response to damage and repair.

By Bill Snyder
July 24, 2015

How to trick a wily virus

Vanderbilt investigators have discovered how human antibodies induced during testing of an experimental “bird flu” vaccine kill the virus.
By Sanjay Mishra
July 16, 2015

Study reveals how protein helps cells tolerate DNA damage

Vanderbilt and Stanford investigators have discovered how a protein that's part of the DNA replication "machinery" helps cells tolerate DNA damage.
By Leigh MacMillan
February 26, 2015

Center for Structural Biology symposium to feature stellar lineup

The Vanderbilt University Department of Biochemistry will host a two-day symposium March 6-7 to honor the 60th birthday of Walter Chazin, Ph.D., director of the Center for Structural Biology.
By VUMC News and Communications
January 2, 2015

Genome-editing pioneer next up in Discovery Lecture series

Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D., recipient of a 2015 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, will deliver the next Flexner Discovery Lecture on Thursday, Jan. 8.
By Leigh MacMillan
December 11, 2014

Bacterial secretion machinery: 3-D view

New structural findings reveal how "gatekeeper" proteins participate in the secretion systems bacteria use to infect host cells.
By Leigh MacMillan
May 23, 2014

Repair protein’s DNA recognition motif

Insights into the workings of DNA damage response proteins such as SMARCAL1 could suggest new ways to improve genome integrity and prevent cancer.
By Leigh MacMillan
May 9, 2014

Bypassing DNA damage

Studies of a human polymerase that replicates DNA have provided a complete kinetic and structural framework for understanding how the enzyme accurately bypasses DNA damage.
By VUMC News and Communications
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