JCI Insight (journal)

March 5, 2026

Thyroid cancer ‘atlas’ points to cell types that contribute to disease progression

A multi-institutional study led by Vanderbilt Health investigators provides a spatial understanding of thyroid cancer evolution and identifies cell types that may predict aggressive disease in both children and adults.

By Evan Dorian
From left, graduate student Taylor Nagai, Ela Knapik, MD, senior research scientist Dharmendra Choudhary, PhD, and research assistant Cory Guthrie in Knapik’s lab surrounded by tanks of zebrafish, the model organism that drives their research. (photo by Erin O. Smith)
June 12, 2025

Tiny zebrafish aid discovery of rare, fatal genetic disease

The children were born in Turkey with a smaller-than-normal head size, cataracts, severe developmental delay, intellectual disability and epilepsy.

By Bill Snyder
From left, Nick Negretti, PhD, Bryan Millis, PhD, Jennifer Sucre, MD, and Chris Jetter co-led a research team that achieved a new view of lung development — one that could improve outcomes for premature babies. (photo by Donn Jones)
February 24, 2025

Bottling a mouse ‘superpower’ may heal lungs damaged by premature birth: study

Watch the video to hear Jennifer Sucre, MD, talk about how this study upends what people are taught about how the lung develops.

Using a four-dimensional microscopy technique, researchers at Vanderbilt have created 3D video images of mouse lung tissue grown in the laboratory.

By Bill Snyder
The study team included, from left, Raymond Harris, MD, J.P. Arroyo, MD, PhD, and Gautam Bhave, MD, PhD.
January 5, 2023

VUMC researchers upend dogma about vasopressin production

Vanderbilt investigators have discovered that vasopressin, which has long been thought to be produced only in the brain, is also produced in the kidney.

By Leigh MacMillan
August 30, 2022

A new mechanism for lupus

Vanderbilt researchers describe a new mechanism for the most common form of lupus and suggest a new treatment approach to this autoimmune disease.

By Leigh MacMillan
VUMC faculty members attending the meeting of the American Society for Clinical Investigation included, from left, Wesley Ely, MD, MPH, Patrick Hu, MD, PhD, Lorraine Ware, MD, Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD, Consuelo Wilkins, MD, MSCI, Christopher Williams, MD, PhD, Lori Jordan, MD, PhD, Natasha Halasa, MD, MPH, ASCI Council Member Julie Bastarache, MD, Eric Tkaczyk, MD, PhD, and James Crowe Jr., MD.
April 21, 2022

VUMC a national leader in physician-scientist training

Physician-scientists from Vanderbilt University Medical Center were well represented at the recent annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), Association of American Physicians (AAP) and the American Physician-Scientist Association.

By Bill Snyder
February 2, 2022

VUMC study raises hope for improving treatment of kidney disease

Vanderbilt research has revealed an important mechanism in the kidney by which a cell surface receptor known as DDR1 fans the flames of inflammation and fibrosis that ultimately lead to kidney failure.
By Bill Snyder
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
September 16, 2021

‘Pre-conditioning’ restores immune tolerance

A treatment targeting T-cell metabolism could reinvigorate immune tolerance mechanisms to combat autoimmune disease and transplant rejection, Vanderbilt researchers discovered.
By Bill Snyder
August 5, 2021

Motor protein linked to intestinal cell differentiation

The motor protein MYO5B, a cause of the congenital intestinal disorder microvillus inclusion disease, does more than move cellular cargo, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.
By Sarah E. Glass
August 20, 2020

A “torque” for tumor blood vessels

Vanderbilt scientists have discovered a new target for normalizing tumor blood vessels to improve cancer immunotherapies.
By Bill Snyder
June 4, 2020

Protecting the injured kidney

Leslie Gewin and colleagues have upended conventional dogma about Wnt/beta-catenin signaling in the kidney, finding that it protects against chronic kidney disease rather than promoting it.
By Leigh MacMillan
February 6, 2020

Team tracks integrin’s role in lung function

Beta-1 integrin, a critical component of epithelial extracellular matrix receptors, is essential for normal lung function in adulthood, researchers at VUMC have discovered.
By Bill Snyder