Reporter Aug 23 2013
Probing intestinal immune cell roles
Aug. 28, 2013—A new in vitro system will allow investigators to explore how immune system T cells develop specialized functions.
Tumor factor spurs blood vessel growth
Aug. 26, 2013—A newly identified factor regulates blood vessel growth in colorectal tumors and could be a promising target for cancer therapies.
Pregnancy promoter and protector
Aug. 23, 2013—Alkaline phosphatase enzymes appear to play roles in promoting pregnancy and in protecting the uterus from bacterial infection.
Affiliation links VU, Cumberland Pediatric Alliance
Aug. 22, 2013—Cumberland Pediatric Alliance (CPA) is joining the Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network (VHAN). The transition of operations is expected to be complete by October.
Heart Institute hits ventricular assist device milestone
Aug. 22, 2013—Cardiac surgeons recently performed Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute’s 100th ventricular assist device (VAD) implant.
Trauma surgical skills training course lands certification
Aug. 22, 2013—Vanderbilt University Medical Center is now certified as Tennessee’s only teaching site for an advanced trauma surgical skills training course offered at fewer than 50 hospitals worldwide.
Patel named chief medical informatics officer
Aug. 22, 2013—Neal Patel, M.D., MPH, has been named chief medical informatics officer for the Vanderbilt University Health System. Patel, professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, has served as the inpatient chief medical information officer since 2006.
Addiction science expert Volkow to speak Aug. 29
Aug. 22, 2013—Nora Volkow, M.D., director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, will begin the 2013-2014 Flexner Discovery Lecture Series next Thursday, Aug. 29, with a discussion of “Advances in Addiction Science.”
Initiative makes cesarean births a family affair
Aug. 22, 2013—Robert and Michele McClellan expected the experience of their infant son’s birth via cesarean section to be like that of other women who had had the procedure — unable to witness their son’s exit from the womb and for him to be immediately whisked away.
Burroughs Wellcome Fund lauds Bhave’s research
Aug. 22, 2013—Gautam Bhave, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of Medicine, is receiving the Burroughs Wellcome Fund 2013 Career Award for Medical Scientists (CAMS) for his research on the role of peridoxasin and protein halogenation in diabetic nephropathy.
VU investigators land ‘bridge grants’ from hematology society
Aug. 22, 2013—Utpal Davé, M.D., and Sandra Zinkel, M.D., Ph.D., have each received one-year, $100,000 “bridge grants” from the American Society of Hematology (ASH) to support research that has not been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) due to budget cuts.
Initiative allows remote hearing tests for newborns
Aug. 22, 2013—A telemedicine initiative in Vanderbilt’s Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences is working to make follow-up hearing tests for newborns more accessible in rural areas of Tennessee, while teaching young pediatric audiology and pediatric speech language pathology students to treat patients remotely.