Department of Pharmacology Archives

From left, MacRae Linton, MD, Huan Tao, MD, PhD, Jonathan Brown, MD, and colleagues have discovered a potential new target for preventing atherosclerosis.

Nature’s “recycler” could reduce heart disease risk: study

Jul. 8, 2021—Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have identified potential new targets for the prevention of atherosclerosis through the enhancement of autophagy, a natural process for recycling damaged cellular material.

Preclinical study supports rigosertib as booster to immunotherapy treatment for melanoma

Jul. 1, 2021—A team of Vanderbilt researchers have shown in a preclinical study that the investigational drug rigosertib could be a potential booster treatment to elicit response to immunotherapies among melanoma patients.

Benjamin Brown, left, Jens Meiler, PhD, Zhenfang Du, PhD, and colleagues are studying the functional consequences of genetic mutations and how those changes can drive cancerous growth.

Personalized Structural Biology aids cancer treatment decisions

Apr. 8, 2021—Cancer specialists at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in partnership with biochemists and structural biologists across the Vanderbilt University campus, are taking “personalized” cancer therapy to a new level.

NIH grant bolsters research on heart disease, cholesterol

Jan. 21, 2021—Thanks to major funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have made major inroads in understanding how high-density lipoprotein (HDL), commonly known as good cholesterol, in some cases may actually contribute to the development of atherosclerosis.

Ann Richmond, MD, Chi Yan, PhD, Jinming Yang, PhD, and colleagues are studying ways to boost antitumor immunity and reduce tumor growth in breast cancer and melanoma.

Study reveals new strategy for reducing tumor growth, metastasis

Dec. 17, 2020—A team of Vanderbilt investigators has discovered that blocking a certain signaling pathway boosts antitumor immunity and reduces tumor growth and metastasis in models of breast cancer and melanoma.

Lindsley to direct Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery

Oct. 22, 2020—Craig Lindsley, PhD, the William K. Warren Jr. Chair in Medicine and University Professor of Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Chemistry, will become director of Vanderbilt University’s Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery (WCNDD), effective Dec. 1. Lindsley assumes the director position from Jeffrey Conn, PhD, Lee. E. Limbird Chair in Pharmacology and professor of Pharmacology.

Cody Siciliano, PhD, is studying the neural substrates of memory.

Cohen Fund bolsters Siciliano’s memory research

Sep. 24, 2020—Cody Siciliano, PhD, assistant professor of Pharmacology in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, has been selected to receive a one-year, $100,000 research award from the Stanley Cohen Innovation Fund to support his studies of the neural substrates of memory.

New clue to Alzheimer’s disease

Sep. 3, 2020—Combining studies of genetically diverse mouse populations and human data led to the identification of a gene associated with cognitive decline and brain changes in Alzheimer’s disease.

Assembling cell power plant machinery

Sep. 3, 2020—Tina Iverson and colleagues provide a structural view into the assembly of a protein machine essential for cellular energy production.

From left, Huan Tao, MD, PhD, Sean Davies, PhD, Jiansheng Huang, PhD, and MacRae Linton, MD, led the study that identified a potential new treatment for atherosclerosis.

‘Scavenger’ molecule may point to new atherosclerosis treatment

Aug. 20, 2020—A small-molecule “scavenger” that reduces inflammation and formation of atherosclerotic plaque in blood vessels in mice potentially could lead to a new approach for treating atherosclerosis in humans, according to researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

New tools to study bioactive lipids

Jul. 14, 2020—Vanderbilt researchers have identified and characterized inhibitors of an enzyme that synthesizes lipid signaling molecules with roles in energy balance, inflammation and addiction.

Single mutation causes seizure disorder

Jun. 22, 2020—A single mutation in one gene can impair inhibitory signaling in the brain and cause multiple types of seizures and behavioral abnormalities.