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.

Lab transformation project underway; will modernize clinical lab operations

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.

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.

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.

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.