Department of Pathology Microbiology and Immunology

Andy Weiss, PhD, Caitlin Murdoch, PhD, and colleagues have characterized the first zinc metallochaperone: a protein that puts zinc into other “client” proteins.
May 17, 2022

Study identifies first cellular “chaperone” for zinc, sheds light on worldwide public health problem of zinc deficiency

A team led by Vanderbilt researchers has described and characterized the first zinc metallochaperone: a protein that puts zinc into other “client” proteins.

By Leigh MacMillan
Erin Green, PhD, Eric Skaar, PhD, MPH, and colleagues are studying how a certain bacterial pathogen can survive on hospital surfaces for months with no water.
May 5, 2022

VUMC team discovers how bacterial pathogen survives without water

Vanderbilt researchers are studying a bacterial pathogen that can survive on hospital surfaces — without water — for months, an ability that has helped it become a leading cause of hospital-acquired infections.

By Leigh MacMillan
May 5, 2022

COVID-associated bleeding risk

While case reports have noted acquired hemophilia after COVID-19 infection or vaccination, a new study finds no increased risk.

By Leigh MacMillan
Eric Skaar, PhD, MPH, Hualiang Pi, PhD, and colleagues are studying a regulatory factor in the bacterium that causes the disease anthrax.
April 7, 2022

Study advances understanding of bacterial bioterrorism agent

Vanderbilt researchers have identified a critical regulatory factor in the bacterium that causes the disease anthrax and has been used as a biological weapon.

By Leigh MacMillan
March 31, 2022

Crowe receives national award for COVID antibody research

Vanderbilt’s James Crowe Jr., MD, and Michel Nussenzweig, MD, PhD, of The Rockefeller University, have been jointly awarded the 2022 Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine for “groundbreaking work” that enabled the use of human antibodies to treat COVID-19.

By Bill Snyder
March 29, 2022

VUMC mourns loss of noted scientist, teacher Stratton

Charles Stratton IV, MD, associate professor of Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology and of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, died March 21 in Nashville. He was 77.

By Bill Snyder
March 24, 2022

Grant set to support Georgiev’s research to identify new antibodies

Vanderbilt's Ivelin Georgiev, PhD, has received a three-year, $750,000 award from The G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Foundation of Rye Brook, New York, to support research aimed at rapidly identifying potent, disease-fighting antibodies.
By Bill Snyder
March 10, 2022

Technique hastens COVID-19 antibody discovery

Optimization of a technique developed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center enables rapid and efficient identification of neutralizing monoclonal antibodies against the virus that causes COVID-19.
By Bill Snyder
January 27, 2022

Impaired neutrophils in autoimmunity

Vanderbilt researchers help answer the question of why patients with autoimmune diseases like lupus are more susceptible to bacterial infections: their neutrophils have impaired antibacterial activity.
By Leigh MacMillan
January 19, 2022

Study identifies molecular trigger of severe injury-induced inflammatory response

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered that early inappropriate activation of the enzyme plasmin caused by severe injury is a trigger of systemic inflammatory response syndrome and resulting organ failure.
By Leigh MacMillan
January 17, 2022

H. pylori, lipid loss and stomach cancer

H. pylori infection — a strong risk factor for stomach cancer — changes the composition of stomach lipids, which could offer new biomarkers for detecting premalignant changes, Vanderbilt researchers discovered.
By Leigh MacMillan
January 13, 2022

Salmonella overcomes host resistance

The invading pathogen Salmonella, a common cause of food poisoning, can change its metabolism to overcome host resistance to its colonization.
By Leigh MacMillan
January 13, 2022

Study seeks to refine head and neck cancer treatment options

By Bill Snyder