Robert Coffey Jr., M.D., Ingram Professor of Cancer Research at Vanderbilt University, has received a five-year, $5.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the role of extracellular RNA (ex-RNA) in colorectal cancer.

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center investigators are receiving $1 million in breast cancer research grant funds from Susan G. Komen, the largest nonprofit foundation supporting breast cancer research.

A noninvasive test can be used to identify the presence of Helicobacter pylori and evaluate its virulence, which will be useful in areas with high rates of H. pylori-associated gastric cancer.

Vanderbilt research scientist Melinda Aldrich, Ph.D., MPH, has been awarded a National Institutes of Health Academic Career Award to investigate some of the genetic secrets behind a greater risk of lung cancer among African-Americans compared with other racial and ethnic groups.

Vanderbilt will add a new race event, the 2013 Nashville Undy 5000, to the list of affiliated events for the upcoming fall season.

Daniel Brown, M.D., has been named chief of Interventional Oncology, a new division within the Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences.

Researchers are developing imaging methods to predict patient outcome early in the course of chemotherapy for breast cancer – to allow clinicians to adjust therapy for patients who are not responding.