Emmanuel Volanakis, M.D., assistant professor of Pediatrics and Hematology/Oncology, was awarded a $250,000 Hyundai Hope On Wheels grant last week for his ongoing research into T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), an aggressive blood cancer.

Vanderbilt’s Eskind Diabetes Clinic has been selected to examine the ability of the drug abatacept to prevent type 1 diabetes (T1D). As part of the TrialNet consortium, Vanderbilt will be one of 14 North American sites observing the effects of the drug in people at high risk to develop T1D.

After more than a month in and out of the hospital with her daughter, Kynslee, Kristen Allen felt she was at the end of her rope. Last spring, the nearly 2-year-old Columbia girl developed diarrhea that wouldn’t go away after taking antibiotics for repeated ear infections.

A coronavirus protein is required for replication of the viral genome and may be a good treatment target for SARS and other diseases caused by coronaviruses.

Alkaline phosphatase enzymes appear to play roles in promoting pregnancy and in protecting the uterus from bacterial infection.

Neal Patel, M.D., MPH, has been named chief medical informatics officer for the Vanderbilt University Health System. Patel, professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, has served as the inpatient chief medical information officer since 2006.