Suman Das Archives

ELVIS team leaders include, from left, Jane Freedman, MD, project leader Suman Das, PhD, Simon Mallal, MBBS, Ravi Shah, MD, John McLean, PhD. (photo by Erin O. Smith)

$52 million NIH grant brings ELVIS to VUMC

Sep. 19, 2023—Vanderbilt University Medical Center scientists are launching a research platform called ELVIS that is devoted to molecular underpinnings of early-childhood determinants of health.

COVID alters respiratory microbiota

Apr. 25, 2023—COVID-19 infection alters the microbes of the upper respiratory tract for at least several weeks, and such disturbances could impact disease severity and be targets for therapeutic interventions.

Study finds RSV may evade vaccines via rapid mutation

Mar. 9, 2023—A Vanderbilt study concluded that RSV’s ability to mutate rapidly to escape detection by the body’s immune system makes it more challenging to design and develop vaccines that can stop it from spreading.

COVID-19 battle begins in the nose

Feb. 2, 2023—A high upper airway concentration of the virus that causes COVID-19 was associated with changes in gene expression that could impact disease progression, Vanderbilt researchers discovered.

Microbiome reflects COVID-19 severity

Mar. 14, 2022—Characterization of the upper respiratory tract microbiome could help predict outcomes for COVID-19 infection, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.

Who’s who in the respiratory landscape

Nov. 15, 2021—A metatranscriptomics method developed by Vanderbilt researchers simultaneously characterizes viruses, microbiome and host response in nasal swabs, opening opportunities to explore molecular interactions directly in clinical samples.

Contributors to the COVID-19 microbiome study include (front row, from left) Julie Bastarache, MD, Meghan Shilts, MS, MHS, (middle row, from left) Jodell Jackson, PhD, Suman Das, PhD, Angela Jones, MS, (back row, from left) Jonathan Schmitz, PhD, MD, Simon Mallal, MBBS, and Jordan Best, PhD.

‘Friendly’ bacteria may impact COVID severity

Mar. 11, 2021—The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded Vanderbilt University Medical Center a two-year, $3.7-million contract to determine genetic and bacterial factors that may increase the risk for severe illness and death from COVID-19.

RSV transmission in the Middle East

Nov. 14, 2019—Understanding how RSV is transmitted, which strains dominate and how new strains emerge around the globe will guide better vaccine and anti-viral drug design.

From left, Alexander Gelbard, MD, Suman Das, PhD, and Simon Mallal, MBBS, are among a team of researchers searching for the cause of a rare airway disease that almost exclusively affects adult, Caucasian women.

Study seeks to expand treatment options for rare airway disease

Jun. 13, 2019—Armed with $1.2 million in funding from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are searching to understand the cause of a rare airway disease in hopes of developing better treatments.