Health and Medicine
VU, Lipscomb partner on dual degree program
Aug. 23, 2012—A new cooperative program between Vanderbilt University and Lipscomb University’s College of Pharmacy is focusing on the next generation of pharmaceutical researchers. By offering a pathway for students to earn both Pharm.D. and Ph.D. degrees, the program aims to boost the number of pharmacy-trained research scientists.
Gene linked to familial prostate cancer
Aug. 23, 2012—A rare, inherited mutation confers an eightfold increased risk of prostate cancer, a recent study shows.
Method may refine personalized trials for cancer therapy
Aug. 16, 2012—A new tool to observe cell behavior has revealed surprising clues about how cancer cells respond to therapy, and may offer a way to further refine personalized cancer treatments.
African ancestry, stomach bug link
Aug. 16, 2012—Socioeconomic factors, African ancestry linked to risk for cancer-causing infection.
Flu Tool guides patient decision-making
Aug. 14, 2012—Studies of Flu Tool, a computer application that guides health care decision-making, suggests that patients are willing to use these types of resources.
Key to a woman’s heart (condition)?
Aug. 10, 2012—Females may be at higher risk of potentially fatal heart condition due to gender differences in a protein involved in the heart’s electrical activity.
New therapeutic target for cold, flu viruses identified
Aug. 9, 2012—Viruses that cause acute respiratory infections — such as human metapneumovirus (HMPV) and flu — impair a set of immune system cells that should clear the virus from the lungs. Now, Vanderbilt University investigators have discovered the signaling pathway that disables these immune cells.
Study links rare genetic marker to brain cancer
Aug. 9, 2012—Investigators from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and three other cancer centers have identified a link between a rare genetic variant and the risk of developing glioma.
Team creates new view of body’s infection response
Aug. 9, 2012—A new 3-D view of the body’s response to infection — and the ability to identify proteins involved in the response — could point to novel biomarkers and therapeutic agents for infectious diseases.
Network approach yields glioblastoma clues
Aug. 9, 2012—MicroRNA “regulatory networks” generated at Vanderbilt aid search for biomarkers and new drugs to treat glioblastoma, the most common and lethal primary brain tumor.
Ancestry impacts smoking risk for lungs
Aug. 7, 2012—Smoking is more detrimental to lung function in individuals with high proportions of African ancestry.
Early HIV treatment also can prevent TB: study
Aug. 2, 2012—Anti-retroviral therapy can prevent tuberculosis, even in people with early HIV disease.
