Louise Rollins-Smith

February 20, 2023

Probing hellbender health

Understanding how hellbenders — large, fully aquatic salamanders — fight fungal pathogens and disease is important for protecting these unique stream predators; Vanderbilt researchers add new insights.

By Leigh MacMillan
March 8, 2021

Temperature, newts and a skin-eating fungus

Salamanders are more sensitive to a skin-eating fungus at colder temperatures, pointing to locations of North America where pathogen invasion is most likely.

By Leigh MacMillan
November 2, 2020

Frog peptides as anti-HIV microbicides

Peptides derived from the antimicrobial peptides secreted by frogs could function as microbicides to limit HIV transmission, while sparing protective vaginal bacteria.

By Leigh MacMillan
May 9, 2019

Frog fungus fights back

Louise Rollins-Smith and colleagues are exploring how a deadly fungus counters the amphibian immune response and contributes to declining worldwide amphibian populations.

By Leigh MacMillan
Louise Rollins-Smith, PhD, right, Laura Reinert, MS, and colleagues are studying how amphibian populations are impacted by climate change.
February 21, 2019

Research shows frogs can adapt to traffic noise

Frogs don’t like living near noisy highways any better than people do, but research from Vanderbilt suggests that frogs, like hardened city-dwellers, can learn to adapt to the constant din of rumbling trucks, rolling tires and honking horns.

By Nora Foegeding
April 5, 2018

Study reveals frogs bouncing back in Panama

A new study reports that some Central American frog species are recovering from a deadly fungal epidemic, perhaps because they have better defenses against the pathogen.

By Leigh MacMillan
November 23, 2015

Ten Vanderbilt faculty members elected AAAS fellows

Ten members of Vanderbilt University’s faculty have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
By Bill Snyder
July 25, 2014

Treatments for frog fungus

The fungicide amphotericin B may be a useful treatment for a frog fungus that is killing amphibians worldwide.
By Leigh MacMillan
July 9, 2014

Study finds ‘hot’ frogs fight off fungal pathogen

Simple heat treatments may give the frog immune system a boost and help it fight off a deadly fungal pathogen, according to a new study published July 10 in the journal Nature.
By Leigh MacMillan
October 17, 2013

Frog-killing fungus paralyzes amphibian immune response

A fungus that is killing frogs and other amphibians around the world releases a toxic factor that disables the amphibian immune response, Vanderbilt University investigators report Oct. 18 in the journal Science.
By Leigh MacMillan