Health and Medicine
Preserving gut mucus architecture
Oct. 20, 2020—A new method that keeps microbes and gut cells together will be useful for studies of complex host-microbe interactions and for analysis of clinical specimens.
Depression and the brain-age gap
Oct. 19, 2020—Older depressed adults show accelerated brain aging, according to a new study from Vanderbilt researchers, who suggest that the effects of depression may speed the decline in cognitive functions in older individuals.
Possible COVID-19 “decoy”
Oct. 15, 2020—It might be possible to use vesicles carrying the receptor for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to bind the virus and prevent infection.
Factor involved in stomach injury response identified
Oct. 15, 2020—Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have identified a key factor that coordinates the body’s repair response to severe injury in the stomach caused, most commonly, by infection by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori.
Brain blood vessel response to hypoxia
Oct. 15, 2020—The brain’s response to low oxygen — growth and remodeling of blood vessels — involves certain cell types and molecular pathways, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.
COVID-19 long-acting antibodies discovered by Vanderbilt University Medical Center move to phase 3 clinical trials
Oct. 13, 2020—AstraZeneca is advancing into phase 3 clinical trials with an investigational COVID-19 therapy of two long-acting antibodies discovered by Vanderbilt University Medical Center and optimized by AstraZeneca.
Computer-based study reveals impact of race on health
Oct. 8, 2020—A computer-based method developed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center that scans electronic medical records (EMRs) for genetic contributors to disease has been used for the first time to reveal the impact of race on health.
Researchers create molecular ‘atlas’ of GI tract neurons
Oct. 8, 2020—Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have generated the first comprehensive molecular “atlas” of genes expressed by the neuronal cells within the intestine that coordinate the functions of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.
Vanderbilt Prize winner Doudna awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Oct. 7, 2020—University of California, Berkeley, biochemist Jennifer Doudna, PhD, recipient of the 2020 Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science, has been awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Bick receives NIH Director’s Early Independence Award
Oct. 6, 2020—Alexander Bick, MD, PhD, a new faculty member in the Division of Genetic Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has received a 2020 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Early Independence Award.
Early steps in reovirus replication
Oct. 6, 2020—Conformational change in a reovirus surface protein modulate the virus’s attachment to host cells, Vanderbilt researchers have found.
Clue to diabetic kidney disease
Oct. 5, 2020—Vanderbilt researchers have identified a signaling pathway that promotes kidney fibrosis in patients with diabetes — and that could be targeted with an existing approved medication.
