Reporter Sept 28 2018
Probing the genetics of fibroids
Oct. 1, 2018—A new study identified multiple genetic locations associated with the size and number of uterine fibroids — common non-cancerous uterine tumors.
Cytokine-cognition connection
Oct. 1, 2018—Targeting the immune system may provide a new avenue for therapeutic intervention in psychiatric diseases characterized by motivational and cognitive deficits.
Vanderbilt implants Tennessee’s first artificial heart
Sep. 27, 2018—by Craig Boerner Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Cardiac Surgery Team performed Tennessee’s first total artificial heart implantation Wednesday, Sept. 26, on a 56-year-old man with congestive heart failure. The team used a SynCardia Total Artificial Heart, a mechanical solution for a patient’s failing heart, whereby surgeons completely remove the patient’s heart and replace it with...
Stretch, inflammation and hypertension
Sep. 27, 2018—New research sheds light on how changes in blood vessel forces enhance immune cell activation and promote hypertension.
Fat tissue’s “iron sink”
Sep. 27, 2018—Alyssa Hasty and colleagues demonstrated that immune cells called macrophages act in fat tissue to store iron and prevent iron toxicity.
Cancer Moonshot award to help map tumor progression
Sep. 27, 2018—A trans-institutional team of researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt University has received an $11 million Cancer Moonshot grant to build a single-cell resolution atlas to map out the routes that benign colonic polyps take to progress to colorectal cancer, the third most common cancer among both men and women in the United States.
Flulapalooza 2018
Sep. 27, 2018—School of Medicine student Jennifer Marvin was among the 12,627 people who received flu shots at Wednesday’s Flulapalooza mass vaccination event.
VUMC’s Undiagnosed Diseases Network site gains NIH renewal
Sep. 27, 2018—by Nancy Humphrey Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN), part of a clinical research initiative of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has been funded by the NIH for another four years. The new funding cycle began Sept. 1. VUMC is one of seven sites around the country selected in 2014 that will...
Clinic helps adults clarify true status of penicillin allergy
Sep. 27, 2018—by Bill Snyder Two years ago when she was given a type of penicillin to fight off bacterial pneumonia, Kelly Cummins developed a rash, itching and shortness of breath. Suspecting she was having a reaction to the life-saving medication, her doctor stopped the penicillin and substituted a different class of antibiotic. Cummins recovered but now...
Johnson honored by Nashville Technology Council
Sep. 27, 2018—by Paul Govern Each year the Nashville Technology Council inducts a tech industry leader to the NTC Hall of Fame, and this year that honor will go to Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Kevin Johnson, MD, MS, professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics and Senior Vice President of Health Information Technology. Johnson will...
Team’s potential lung cancer therapy lands award from SBIR
Sep. 27, 2018—A potential cancer drug aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of ionizing radiation in lung cancer patients is a step closer to development with funding support from the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.
Hard hat tour
Sep. 27, 2018—From left, Kathryn Carell Brown, Julie Carell Stadler and Edie Carell Johnson, daughters of the late Monroe Carell Jr. and Ann Scott Carell, join John W. Brock III, MD, to view the progress of the four-floor expansion of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.