Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) (journal)

July 20, 2020

Study points to potential new approach to treating neurodegenerative diseases like glaucoma and Alzheimer’s disease

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have shown for the first time that when one optic nerve in the eye is damaged, as in glaucoma, the opposite optic nerve comes to the rescue by sharing its metabolic energy.

By Bill Snyder
July 13, 2020

“Nur” target may aid arthritis treatment

Vanderbilt immunologists have discovered that the protein Nur77 is part of a control mechanism that guards against autoimmunity in natural killer T cells.

By Bill Snyder
Jim Cassat, MD, PhD, and colleagues are studying enzymes involved in metabolism that are particularly important for Staphylococcus aureus to survive in host tissues.
June 3, 2020

Study explores how staph bacteria can survive in bone

A comprehensive evaluation of the metabolic pathways that support Staphylococcus aureus (“staph”) growth during invasive bone infections could offer new targets for treatment.

By Leigh MacMillan
May 5, 2020

A dual-purpose metabolic switch

John York and colleagues have demonstrated that the protein Vip1 is a rare type of bifunctional enzyme: it can both synthesize and destroy key cellular signaling molecules.

By Leigh MacMillan
January 29, 2020

Protein research seeks to induce tumor regression

Understanding how MYC interacts with WDR5 and other cofactors could lead to the development of new drugs that can effectively block MYC and stop many cancers in their tracks.

By Bill Snyder
October 31, 2019

Imaging host-pathogen battle for metal

An unprecedented view of bacterial products within infected tissues opens new opportunities to explore infection biology and devise novel therapeutic strategies.

By Leigh MacMillan
October 17, 2019

Less inflammation = better healing

Immune cells that produce an anti-inflammatory factor are enriched in fat tissue around the heart and may be good targets to improve heart attack outcomes.
By Bill Snyder
October 3, 2019

A step toward gastric cancer

New research findings provide insight into the detrimental events that develop in response to H. pylori infection.
By Sanjay Mishra
April 25, 2019

Low oxygen and antibody responses

Mark Boothby and colleagues are exploring the factors that contribute to antibody production and quality, which are key to our defense against pathogens and response to vaccines.
By Leigh MacMillan
March 28, 2019

Cancer prevention drug also disables H. pylori bacterium

A medicine currently being tested as a chemoprevention agent for multiple types of cancer has more than one trick in its bag when it comes to preventing stomach cancer, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.
By Leigh MacMillan
January 31, 2019

Designing antibodies to fight the flu

Vanderbilt investigators said their work shows that computational design can improve the ability of naturally occurring antibodies to recognize different flu strains and may hasten the development of more effective flu therapies and vaccines.
By Bill Snyder
January 17, 2019

Signals from the “conveyor belt”

Vanderbilt researchers propose that cellular signaling pathways are amplified by a “conveyor belt” mechanism that exchanges active and inactive enzymes.
By Bill Snyder
January 17, 2019

DNA’s on/off switch

DNA-binding “switches” represent a fundamentally new method of communication between DNA-processing enzymes, Vanderbilt researchers propose.
By Bill Snyder
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