Vanderbilt Institute for Infection Immunology and Inflammation

Kaydi Naylor, 4, touches an eastern chain kingsnake at last week’s “MEGAMicrobe Express” community science fair at the Warner Elementary Arts Magnet School in East Nashville.
September 22, 2022

MEGAMicrobe event shows children that science can be fun

More than 100 children who attended the “MEGAMicrobe Express” community science fair on Sept. 17 at the Warner Elementary Arts Magnet School in East Nashville.

By Bill Snyder
Luc Van Kaer, PhD, left, Luke Postoak and colleagues have identified a protein that is key to the “education” of immature T cells in the thymus.
September 1, 2022

Study identifies key player in T cell “education”

New Vanderbilt research could inform therapeutic strategies for enhancing thymic function when desired — such as during aging, recovery from radiation therapy or chemotherapy, or other conditions that reduce T cell output.

By Leigh MacMillan
Research by Christopher Peek, PhD, left, Jim Cassat, MD, PhD, and their colleagues reveals how gut inflammation leads to bone loss.
August 25, 2022

Vanderbilt researchers discover how gut inflammation leads to bone loss

Gastrointestinal inflammation, such as occurs in inflammatory bowel disease, triggers the expansion of a population of “bone-eating” cells, leading to bone loss.

By Leigh MacMillan
Maria Hadjifrangiskou, PhD, Connor Beebout, PhD, and colleagues are studying why the bacterium E. coli is so tenacious.
August 25, 2022

Study describes how E. coli co-opts cells, causes recurrent UTIs

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have discovered why the uropathogenic bacterium E. coli, the leading cause of urinary tract infections, is so tenacious; their findings could lead to new ways to prevent recurrent UTIs.

By Bill Snyder
Jim Cassat, MD, PhD, and colleagues are studying enzymes involved in metabolism that are particularly important for Staphylococcus aureus to survive in host tissues.
July 7, 2022

Mathers Foundation award supports study of crosstalk between skeletal, immune systems

Vanderbilt’s Jim Cassat, MD, PhD, has received a three-year, $750,000 award from the G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Foundation to support research exploring the interplay between bone homeostasis and infectious disease.

By Leigh MacMillan
June 2, 2022

Bacterial battle in 3D

Using imaging mass spectrometry and microscopy, Vanderbilt researchers visualized how staph bacteria modifies lipids in its membrane to evade immune system-mediated killing.

By Bill Snyder
May 17, 2022

Study identifies first cellular “chaperone” for zinc, sheds light on worldwide public health problem of zinc deficiency

A team led by Vanderbilt researchers has described and characterized the first zinc metallochaperone: a protein that puts zinc into other “client” proteins.
By Leigh MacMillan
May 5, 2022

VUMC team discovers how bacterial pathogen survives without water

Vanderbilt researchers are studying a bacterial pathogen that can survive on hospital surfaces — without water — for months, an ability that has helped it become a leading cause of hospital-acquired infections.
By Leigh MacMillan
April 7, 2022

Study advances understanding of bacterial bioterrorism agent

Vanderbilt researchers have identified a critical regulatory factor in the bacterium that causes the disease anthrax and has been used as a biological weapon.
By Leigh MacMillan
March 10, 2022

Technique hastens COVID-19 antibody discovery

Optimization of a technique developed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center enables rapid and efficient identification of neutralizing monoclonal antibodies against the virus that causes COVID-19.
By Bill Snyder
January 27, 2022

Impaired neutrophils in autoimmunity

Vanderbilt researchers help answer the question of why patients with autoimmune diseases like lupus are more susceptible to bacterial infections: their neutrophils have impaired antibacterial activity.
By Leigh MacMillan
January 17, 2022

H. pylori, lipid loss and stomach cancer

H. pylori infection — a strong risk factor for stomach cancer — changes the composition of stomach lipids, which could offer new biomarkers for detecting premalignant changes, Vanderbilt researchers discovered.
By Leigh MacMillan
January 13, 2022

Salmonella overcomes host resistance

The invading pathogen Salmonella, a common cause of food poisoning, can change its metabolism to overcome host resistance to its colonization.
By Leigh MacMillan
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