Strategic Plan
13 cross-college collaborative projects win TIPs funding
Jun. 2, 2016—Thirteen interdisciplinary projects, ranging from cellular processes and smart cities to global health care issues, have been selected as the 2016 awardees of the Trans-Institutional Program (TIPs) initiative.
VUMC to be site for national malnutrition study
May. 19, 2016—Vanderbilt University Medical Center is the test site for a nationwide initiative to address the longstanding problem of malnutrition in hospital patients.
Search launched for director of Vanderbilt Brain Institute; Emeson to serve as interim
May. 9, 2016—A national search will be launched this fall for the Barlow Family Director of the Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Susan R. Wente announced today. Current VBI Associate Director Ron Emeson will begin a term as interim director effective July 1.
Current cancer drug discovery method flawed: VUMC study
May. 5, 2016—The primary method used to test compounds for anti-cancer activity in cells is flawed, Vanderbilt University researchers reported May 2 in Nature Methods.
Improving natural killer cancer therapy
Apr. 29, 2016—A newly discovered mechanism that helps cancer cells avoid destruction by immune system cells may improve immunotherapies.
Trans-institutional team competes in regionals of global student competition for social good
Apr. 28, 2016—A proposal to help poor families produce food in crowded urban spaces put a Vanderbilt University trans-institutional team on the road to the regional finals of the Hult Prize, an international case competition that seeks innovative solutions to social issues worldwide.
Investigators explore African ancestry, Alzheimer’s risk
Apr. 28, 2016—Higher genomic levels of African ancestry are associated with an increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease, a consortium of investigators reported recently in Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
Study sheds light on link between autism, GI issues
Apr. 28, 2016—Researchers at Columbia and Vanderbilt universities have made an important discovery in mice that has implications for understanding the gastrointestinal (GI) problems experienced by some children with autism.
Study links COPD with increased bacterial invasion
Apr. 28, 2016—Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common smoking-related lung illness and the third leading cause of death in the United States. Scientists have long believed that inhaling toxic gases and particles from tobacco smoke causes inflammation of the small airways in the lungs, leading to the development of COPD.
New director sees Innovation Center as both startup and catalyst for campus and city
Apr. 22, 2016—A startup veteran and investor whose ventures range from retail to manufacturing joined Vanderbilt University this spring as the inaugural executive director of the newly created Innovation Center. Robert Grajewski joined Vanderbilt as the Evans Family Executive Director of the Innovation Center on April 1. The Innovation Center, set to open late summer, will support a maker culture that encourages innovation and creativity and bolsters implementation of the four intersecting themes that make up the university’s Academic Strategic Plan.
Class of 2016: Pranjal Gupta pursues chemical engineering, pre-med, film and more
Apr. 21, 2016—There’s the Pranjal Gupta dressed in kurta and pyjama, his feet keeping time with an impossibly fast Indian dance tune. And then there’s the Pranjal Gupta in a lab coat, peering through glasses at data on how children with autism integrate sight and sound.
Study explores how some breast cancers resist treatment
Apr. 21, 2016—A targeted therapy for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), the most aggressive form of breast cancer, has shown potential promise in a recently published study. TNBC is the only type of breast cancer for which there are no currently approved targeted therapies.
