Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and colleagues have isolated a human monoclonal antibody that can “neutralize” the West Nile virus and potentially prevent a leading cause of viral encephalitis (brain inflammation) in the United States.

The cellular nutrient glutamine launches a metabolic signaling pathway that promotes the function of some immune system T cells and suppresses others, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.

Donald Rubin, MD, professor of Medicine and Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology at Vanderbilt, has received the alumni award for special achievement from his alma mater, the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.

New findings may explain why the prevalence of asthma is higher in women and suggest that testosterone derivatives may be useful for treating more severe types of asthma.

In a study out this week in Science Translational Medicine, an international team led by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center sheds new light on the cause of pulmonary fibrosis and demonstrates a way to impede the disease in mice.

After serving as the department’s leader for more than 15 years, Samuel A. Santoro, MD, PhD, the Dorothy B. and Theodore R. Austin Professor and Chair of the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, will step down from his role as the department’s chair after the completion of a national search to identify his successor.

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered that IgM-type antibodies appear to play a protective role to prevent the development of type 1 diabetes — and that purified IgM antibodies can reverse the disease.