Science Immunology (journal)

September 20, 2024

Fever drives enhanced activity, mitochondrial damage in immune cells

The mechanistic understanding of how cells respond to heat could explain how chronic inflammation contributes to the development of cancer.

By Leigh MacMillan
August 16, 2024

Rare diseases point to connections between metabolism and immunity

Science Immunology study suggests a new class of inborn errors of immunometabolism and could improve care for patients with these complex diseases.

By Leigh MacMillan
The study team included, from left, Linh Tran, Ruben Barricade, PhD, Jaren Perez, and Xin Zhen. (photo by Susan Urmy)
January 20, 2023

Study reveals new genetic disorder that causes susceptibility to opportunistic infections

An international consortium co-led by Vanderbilt’s Rubén Martínez-Barricarte, PhD, has discovered a new genetic disorder that causes immunodeficiency and profound susceptibility to opportunistic infections including a life-threatening fungal pneumonia. 

By Bill Snyder
Jeffrey Rathmell, PhD, left, and Kelsey Voss, PhD, led a multidisciplinary team that identified iron metabolism in T cells as a potential target for treating lupus.
January 13, 2023

Study identifies potential new approach for treating lupus

A Vanderbilt study found that targeting iron metabolism in immune system cells may offer a new approach for treating systemic lupus erythematosus — the most common form of the chronic autoimmune disease lupus.

By Leigh MacMillan
Research assistant Mahsa Majedi loads reagent used in DNA sample preparation in the genomics lab. She is part of a team of more than a dozen people at VUMC who are “sprinting” to develop — within 90 days — an antibody-based treatment to stop the spread of the Zika virus.
July 3, 2020

Research team isolates antibodies that may prevent rare polio-like illness in children linked to a respiratory infection

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Purdue University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have isolated human monoclonal antibodies that potentially can prevent a rare but devastating polio-like illness in children linked to a respiratory viral infection.

By VUMC News and Communications
June 14, 2019

New method tested to block chikungunya infection

Scientists are testing a new way to fight chikungunya virus that involves injecting genetic material into the bodies of infected and at-risk individuals to trigger rapid production of potent, virus-neutralizing antibodies.

By Bill Snyder