Department of Pathology Microbiology and Immunology

February 16, 2024

Waddell Walker Hancock Cancer Discovery Fund names first scholars

A research endeavor that seeks to develop a new cancer immunotherapy utilizing nanobody delivery and targeted heating of tumors has received funding from the Waddell Walker Hancock Cancer Discovery Fund.

By Tom Wilemon
February 1, 2024

Romney Humphries receives John V. Bergen Excellence Award

Vanderbilt’s Romney Humphries, PhD, has received the 2024 John V. Bergen Excellence Award from the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute.

By Leigh MacMillan
January 16, 2024

‘Molecular Muse’ exhibit features Artist-in-Residence program’s science-inspired art

The “Molecular Muse” art exhibit on display in Light Hall is a sampling of pieces from the Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology and Inflammation Artist-in-Residence (VI4-AiR) program, which brings together scientists and artists to create and promote art as a visual science communication tool.

By Leigh MacMillan
January 11, 2024

VUMC’s James Nichols to lead lab standards institute

James Nichols, PhD, medical director of Clinical Chemistry and Point-of-Care Testing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has begun a two-year term as president of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute.

By Bill Snyder
December 29, 2023

Glucose metabolism influences B cell function

Glucose metabolism influences the qualities of activated, mature B cells — white blood cells that are required for antibody-mediated immune responses, Vanderbilt researchers discovered.

By Leigh MacMillan
Mariana Byndloss, DVM, PhD, (left), graduate student Catherine Shelton, and their colleagues discovered that beneficial bacteria in the small intestines produce a compound that protects against obesity. (photo by Erin O. Smith)
December 8, 2023

Gut microbiota metabolite protects against obesity: study

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered that beneficial bacteria in the small intestines produce a compound that protects against obesity.

By Leigh MacMillan
December 6, 2023

Pasteurization reduces bioactive component of breast milk

Pasteurization of breast milk affects the concentration of osteopontin, a bioactive protein with roles in intestinal, immunological and brain development — suggesting that osteopontin supplementation should be considered when donor milk is provided to preterm infants.
By Leigh MacMillan
November 22, 2023

Lab transformation project underway; will modernize clinical lab operations

November 21, 2023

Commensal gut bacterium protects from severe intestinal infection

The commensal bacterium Turicibacter sanguinis could be used to protect against severe intestinal infections, Vanderbilt researchers discovered.
By Leigh MacMillan
November 17, 2023

Tumor antigens key to improving cancer immunotherapy: study

Vanderbilt researchers are working to better design immune therapies that attack tumors without also attacking healthy normal tissue in patients.
By Bill Snyder
November 15, 2023

Twelve at Vanderbilt are among world’s highly cited researchers

Twelve current investigators at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt University are on this year’s list of scientists whose papers have been cited the most frequently by other researchers.
By Bill Snyder
November 15, 2023

Novel C. diff structures are required for infection, offer new therapeutic targets

Vanderbilt research discovers that iron storage “spheres” inside the bacterium C. diff — the leading cause of hospital-acquired infections — are important for infection in an animal model and could offer new targets for antibacterial drugs.
By Leigh MacMillan
November 6, 2023

Children’s antibodies highly potent against COVID-19: study

Reporting Nov. 6 in Cell Reports Medicine, Ivelin Georgiev, PhD, and colleagues demonstrated that antibodies isolated from children’s blood samples displayed high levels of neutralization and potency against variants of the COVID-19 virus, SARS-CoV-2, even when the children had not previously been exposed to or vaccinated against those variants.
By Bill Snyder