Aliquots Archives
Staph’s activation of blood clotting
Jun. 9, 2020—Staph bacteria may change the factor they use to activate blood clotting — to evade the immune response — a new study suggests.
When rankings are unfounded
Jun. 8, 2020—There are many good reasons to survey anesthesiology patient satisfaction but ranking individual clinicians isn’t one of them, the authors of a new study conclude.
Protecting the injured kidney
Jun. 4, 2020—Leslie Gewin and colleagues have upended conventional dogma about Wnt/beta-catenin signaling in the kidney, finding that it protects against chronic kidney disease rather than promoting it.
Potential new cancer target
Jun. 4, 2020—Vanderbilt researchers have discovered the involvement of a certain type of adenosine receptor in mediating signaling that supports tumor growth and metastasis.
Probing innate immunity
May. 19, 2020—Manuel Ascano team validates an inhibitor of the cGAS-STING signaling pathway, which is important for cellular innate immunity against bacteria, viruses, and our own damaged DNA.
Implant one day may replace dialysis
May. 18, 2020—Vanderbilt researchers used pharmacological manipulations to increase salt and water transport by kidney cells grown in culture, a step necessary for realizing an implantable artificial kidney device.
Antibodies eye Pacific Island “fever”
May. 14, 2020—Vanderbilt Vaccine Center team isolates monoclonal antibodies against Ross River virus, which causes rash, fever and debilitating muscle and joint pain lasting three to six months.
The adaptable anthrax bacterium
May. 14, 2020—Vanderbilt researchers discover how anthrax bacterium defends itself against structural damage and resists the toxicity of the antimicrobial drug targocil.
A dual-purpose metabolic switch
May. 5, 2020—John York and colleagues have demonstrated that the protein Vip1 is a rare type of bifunctional enzyme: it can both synthesize and destroy key cellular signaling molecules.
The role of diet in esophageal cancer
May. 4, 2020—New findings suggest that dietary calcium and magnesium affect the risk of esophageal cancer; if confirmed in interventional studies, they could inform dietary modifications to reduce the burden of this cancer.
EHRs, biobanks and Mendelian diseases
Apr. 30, 2020—Electronic health records and biobanks can be effectively combined to detect and study Mendelian diseases such as cystic fibrosis.
Antibody finding raises hopes for Marburg, COVID-19 treatments
Apr. 30, 2020—Monoclonal antibodies against Marburg virus — a more lethal cousin of the RNA virus that causes COVID-19 — may aid in the development of antibody “cocktails” to counter viral infection.
