Genetics & Genomics

Dan Roden, MD, chats with colleagues during a break in the symposium. (photo by Erin O. Smith)
October 1, 2025

Symposium honors personalized medicine leader Dan Roden

Roden is internationally known for his contributions to understanding arrhythmias and to the field of pharmacogenomics.

By Bill Snyder
(Shutterstock)
September 29, 2025

Keloid risk genes open door to better therapy

These raised scars tend to recur after surgical removal, and the effectiveness of alternative treatments is limited.

By Bill Snyder
September 18, 2025

Vanderbilt-developed AI platform validated for molecular mapping of tissues

The advancement transforms how scientists and clinicians can visualize and analyze complex tissues on a high-resolution map of cellular landscapes across entire tissue sections.

By Tom Wilemon
September 9, 2025

Cheating Alzheimer’s

Most people whose brains exhibit Alzheimer’s pathology don’t have the disease; they reach the end of their lives never having exhibited cognitive impairment. A new study examines the genetics of this resilience.

By Paul Govern
September 5, 2025

Dan Roden awarded Vanderbilt’s Earl Sutherland Prize for Achievement in Research

He received the award for his pioneering work focusing on leveraging genetic information to enhance health care outcomes.

August 20, 2025

Vanderbilt Prize winner Huda Akil to discuss how science can aid mental health on Sept. 11

Akil is an internationally known neuroscientist at the University of Michigan and Michigan Neuroscience Institute whose research has helped reveal the fundamental nature of anxiety, depression, pain and addiction.

By Bill Snyder
August 6, 2025

Clues offer new hope for treating GI tract disorders

Hirschsprung disease is a congenital disorder that occurs in approximately 1 in 5,000 babies. Caused by a lack of ENS neurons in the muscles of the colon, Hirschsprung disease disrupts gut motility, resulting in bowel obstruction.
By Bill Snyder
July 28, 2025

Large-scale study uncovers 57 genetic hotspots into stuttering origins

The video is produced by the research team to explain the results of the study. Findings from the largest genetic analysis of stuttering are published in Nature Genetics; they point to 48 genes associated with stuttering and highlight neurological pathways of risk.
By Leigh MacMillan
July 15, 2025

Multidisciplinary study develops tools for new ‘genomics of interorgan communication’

The research characterizes the molecular “cargo” of circulating extracellular vesicles in obesity and links the findings to human genetic approaches to identify potential therapeutic targets for metabolic disease.
By Leigh MacMillan
July 1, 2025

New lab for transplant, other specialized testing launches at Vanderbilt Medical Laboratories

The new Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics Laboratory launched its first phase of testing June 26 and ultimately will fully support clinical testing for the Vanderbilt Transplant Center, the nation’s third busiest transplant center by volume.
By Leigh MacMillan
June 23, 2025

Low blood cell counts drive cancer in explosive blood disorder: study

The analysis of genetic sequencing data from more than 34,000 people over a 17-year period by researchers at VUMC was published in eClinicalMedicine.
By Bill Snyder
June 12, 2025

Tiny zebrafish aid discovery of rare, fatal genetic disease

The children were born in Turkey with a smaller-than-normal head size, cataracts, severe developmental delay, intellectual disability and epilepsy.
By Bill Snyder
April 25, 2025

Polygenic score for height could improve diagnosis for children with short stature: study

Even after comprehensive testing, about 30% of children with short stature — height below the third percentile on a growth chart — do not have a definitive diagnosis, leading to extended surveillance, testing and anxiety.
By Leigh MacMillan