Department of Pathology Microbiology and Immunology

May 7, 2020

New method captures early viral-host protein interactions

Researchers have developed a method to identify the primary interactions between incoming viral RNA genomes and host proteins.

By Bill Snyder
Howard Price’s decades-old notebook of diagnostic recipes came in handy when VUMC ran short of a component crucial to COVID-19 testing efforts.
April 30, 2020

Price’s old laboratory recipe book proves to be invaluable

Howard Price has a decades-old green notebook he keeps in his office at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and when a shortage of a critical laboratory supply nearly brought testing for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to a halt at the Medical Center, the notebook’s contents quickly became invaluable.

By Jill Clendening
April 30, 2020

Antibody finding raises hopes for Marburg, COVID-19 treatments

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.

By Bill Snyder
April 28, 2020

The priceless notebook of Mr. Price

A vital ingredient for COVID testing was unavailable anywhere. Then Howard Price remembered a recipe in an old notebook.

By Jill Clendening
Pending COVID-19 samples are prepared for testing in the Diagnostic Laboratories at VUMC.
April 23, 2020

Collaboration key to rapid expansion of lab test capacity

The rapid ramping up of SARS-CoV-2 testing at VUMC reflects the dedication of the professionals who work in the Clinical Laboratory and also their collaboration with colleagues in research laboratories throughout VUMC.

By Jill Clendening and Bill Snyder
April 14, 2020

VUMC seeks plasma donations from recovered COVID-19 patients

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is recruiting volunteers who have tested positive for COVID-19 and fully recovered to donate plasma to help those who are currently ill with the virus as part of a new research study.

By VUMC News and Communications
April 9, 2020

Research team awarded $9 million to study extracellular RNA in colorectal cancer

The NCI program project grant is supporting multiple projects that aim to define fundamental biological principles about extracellular RNA signaling and the development and aggressiveness of colorectal cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States.
By Leigh MacMillan
March 12, 2020

Diagnostic testing for genetic disorders now available on site

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has opened a Clinical Genomics Laboratory to provide diagnostic testing for genetic disorders.
By Leigh MacMillan
February 27, 2020

Bordenstein honored by Genetics Society of America

The Genetics Society of America has recognized Seth Bordenstein, PhD, an evolutionary geneticist and microbiologist at Vanderbilt, for an initiative that brings real-world scientific research into middle school, high school and college biology classes.
By VUMC News and Communications
February 27, 2020

Locksley’s Discovery Lecture

Richard Locksley, MD, spoke about his allergic diseases research during his recent Flexner Discovery Lecture. Here, he poses for a photo with VUMC’s Eric Skaar, PhD, MPH.
By VUMC News and Communications
February 25, 2020

Looking through MudPIT for protein interactions

The identification of novel protein interactions and sites of modification in proteins involved in mRNA translation adds to understanding of a process that is an important therapeutic target.
By Sanjay Mishra
February 6, 2020

Powering H. pylori pathogenesis

Timothy Cover and colleagues report new insights into the sources of energy used by a bacterial “machine” linked to the pathogenesis of stomach cancer.
By Leigh MacMillan
January 13, 2020

Zinc uptake by a deadly pathogen

The increasingly antibiotic-resistant bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii requires zinc to cause infection, and Vanderbilt researchers have identified the zinc uptake system it uses.
By Leigh MacMillan