PLOS Pathogens (journal)

September 20, 2024

VUMC method tracks down rare, broadly reacting antibodies: study

The discovery, reported in the journal PLOS Pathogens, could help open the door to the development of effective vaccines and antibody therapies with an “exceptional breadth of pathogen coverage.”

By Bill Snyder
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
HIV cell
February 8, 2021

Key factors in HIV-1 replication

HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS, exploits inositol phosphates in T cells to aid its own assembly and maturation — suggesting that targeting inositol phosphate binding could inhibit HIV-1 replication.

By Anivarya Kumar
January 28, 2021

Study’s findings may help eventually close the door on COVID-19

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston have discovered what may be the Achilles’ heel of the coronavirus, a finding that may help close the door on COVID-19 and possibly head off future pandemics.

By Bill Snyder
May 14, 2020

Antibodies eye Pacific Island “fever”

Vanderbilt Vaccine Center team isolates monoclonal antibodies against Ross River virus, which causes rash, fever and debilitating muscle and joint pain lasting three to six months.

By Bill Snyder
January 23, 2020

Antibody isolated at VUMC found to halt dengue virus

Using part of an antibody isolated at Vanderbilt that “broadly neutralizes” the human dengue virus, biologists at the University of California San Diego and colleagues have disarmed the mosquito that transmits the disabling and potentially deadly tropical infection.

By Bill Snyder
February 23, 2018

Hope for an RSV vaccine

Newly discovered features in an RSV protein may be useful for rational structure-based vaccine design.
By Bill Snyder
December 11, 2014

Bacterial secretion machinery: 3-D view

New structural findings reveal how "gatekeeper" proteins participate in the secretion systems bacteria use to infect host cells.
By Leigh MacMillan
November 21, 2014

Host sequesters zinc to control stomach bug

Understanding how zinc and the host’s immune response control H. pylori’s cancer-causing potential could suggest new therapeutic strategies to reduce infection and cancer risk.
By Leigh MacMillan
April 15, 2014

Anthrax bacteria’s signaling systems

Vanderbilt researchers have identified a new signaling system that anthrax bacteria uses to infect its host.
By Leigh MacMillan
September 12, 2013

‘Proofreader’ key to coronavirus growth

A coronavirus protein is required for replication of the viral genome and may be a good treatment target for SARS and other diseases caused by coronaviruses.
By Leigh MacMillan
January 17, 2013

Zinc: a new antibiotic target?

It may be possible to fight hospital-acquired pathogens like Acinetobacter baumannii by targeting the bacterium’s need for the nutrient metal zinc.
By Leigh MacMillan