Vanderbilt researchers have received $5 million in funding from a new initiative by the National Cancer Institute that aims to define how gastric and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinomas form and evolve at the cellular level.

A protein that transports water, called aquaporin 5, is expressed by cells undergoing changes that may increase risk for gastric cancer development, Vanderbilt researchers discovered.

The motor protein MYO5B, a cause of the congenital intestinal disorder microvillus inclusion disease, does more than move cellular cargo, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have identified a key factor that coordinates the body’s repair response to severe injury in the stomach caused, most commonly, by infection by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori.

VUMC researchers have created the world’s first laboratory model of precancerous changes in the lining of the stomach, a scientific tour de force that is helping to unlock the mysteries of gastric cancer development.

Researchers at four institutions, including Vanderbilt, have been awarded a five-year, $9.4 million federal grant to tackle undiagnosed congenital diarrheas caused by a single gene mutation.