October 7, 2025

Human milk pasteurization method impacts preterm infant microbiome

Researchers used whole-metagenome sequencing to assess the composition, diversity and functional enrichment of the preterm infant gut microbiome — the microorganisms that aid digestion, immune function and metabolism.

By Leigh MacMillan

January 5, 2023

Three elected to the American Pediatric Society

Three physicians in the Vanderbilt Department of Pediatrics have been elected to the American Pediatric Society.

By Christina Echegaray

July 2, 2018

Mother knows best

The first demonstration of bacterial DNA in mammalian fetal intestinal tissue suggests that the mother’s microbiome moves into the fetal intestine.

By Leigh MacMillan

October 9, 2014

Immune cells that guard against ingested pathogens discovered

Vanderbilt investigators have discovered a new type of immune cell residing in the intestinal epithelium that may function as a first line of defense against ingested pathogens.

By Leigh MacMillan

March 27, 2014

Gut woes of preemies focus of microbiome effort

A multidisciplinary team of microbiome researchers at Vanderbilt University is shedding light on necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a disease of prematurity that kills hundreds of babies and costs the U.S. health care system an estimated $5 billion a year.

By Bill Snyder