Research Archives

The team studying the regulation of innate immune response includes (front row, from left) Yang Zhao, Antiana Richardson, (back row, from left) John Karijolich, PhD, Xiang Ye and William Dunker.

Study finds that regulatory protein prevents signaling that triggers cell death

May. 6, 2021—A protein implicated in neurodegenerative diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis prevents the activation of an innate immune response that leads to cell death, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.

Regev receives Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science

Apr. 28, 2021—Aviv Regev, PhD, an internationally known computational biologist and executive vice president of Genentech Research and Early Development (gRED), is the recipient of the 2021 Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science, officials at Vanderbilt University Medical Center announced this week.

VUMC aids national effort to repurpose drugs for COVID-19

Apr. 19, 2021—Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has been named Data Coordinating Center (DCC) for a nationwide platform of studies aimed at “repurposing” existing drugs to treat mild to moderate symptoms of COVID-19.

Benjamin Brown, left, Jens Meiler, PhD, Zhenfang Du, PhD, and colleagues are studying the functional consequences of genetic mutations and how those changes can drive cancerous growth.

Personalized Structural Biology aids cancer treatment decisions

Apr. 8, 2021—Cancer specialists at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in partnership with biochemists and structural biologists across the Vanderbilt University campus, are taking “personalized” cancer therapy to a new level.

From left, Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD, Bradley Reinfeld, Matthew Madden and Jeffrey Rathmell, PhD, have discovered that immune cells — not cancer cells — are the major glucose consumers in the tumor microenvironment, upending a century-old observation.

Study revises understanding of cancer metabolism

Apr. 7, 2021—Tumors consume glucose at high rates, but a team of Vanderbilt researchers has discovered that cancer cells themselves are not the culprit, upending models of cancer metabolism that have been developed and refined over the last 100 years.

Deanna Edwards, PhD, left, Jin Chen, MD, PhD, and colleagues are studying a new therapeutic strategy for triple-negative breast cancer.

Breast cancer cells ‘steal’ nutrients from immune cells: study

Apr. 1, 2021—Triple-negative breast cancer cells engage in a “glutamine steal” — outcompeting T cells for the nutrient glutamine and impairing their ability to kill tumor cells, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.

Study shows new COVID target could improve vaccines

Apr. 1, 2021—Despite an impressive vaccination effort that exceeds 2 million shots a day, rates of COVID-19 are again on the rise in several parts of the United States, as is the spread of highly transmissible variants of the virus.

Physician-scientists Aliyu, Tindle elected to ASCI

Mar. 31, 2021—Vanderbilt’s Muktar Aliyu, MBBS, MPH, DrPH, and Hilary Tindle, MD, MPH, will be inducted this year into the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), an elite honor society of physician-scientists from the upper ranks of academic medicine and industry.

NYU’s Tsien to discuss brain plasticity at next Discovery Lecture

Mar. 29, 2021—Richard Tsien, PhD, director of the Neuroscience Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center, will deliver the next web-based Discovery Lecture.

Allison Norlander, PhD, R. Stokes Peebles, MD, and colleagues are studying an approved drug that enhances immune cells and might be useful for treating inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

Team studies new use for pulmonary hypertension drug

Mar. 25, 2021—An FDA-approved medication enhances the function of T regulatory cells (Treg), a class of immune cells that restrains the immune response, Vanderbilt investigators have discovered.

Study to assess allergic reactions to COVID vaccines

Mar. 18, 2021—Vanderbilt University Medical Center is recruiting volunteers for a randomized controlled phase 2 clinical trial to help determine the prevalence of systemic allergic reactions (SARS) to the two-dose COVID-19 mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

Vanderbilt research played key role in new lung screen guidelines

Mar. 18, 2021—The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has formally recommended two changes that will nearly double the number of people eligible for lung cancer screening by lowering the age from 55 to 50 and reducing the number of smoking history pack years from 30 to 20.