All News

A C. diff bacterium (green) with iron particles in red, shown in a reconstructed electron tomogram from STEM-EDS. (image courtesy of James McBride)

November 15, 2023

Novel C. diff structures are required for infection, offer new therapeutic targets

Vanderbilt research discovers that iron storage “spheres” inside the bacterium C. diff — the leading cause of hospital-acquired infections — are important for infection in an animal model and could offer new targets for antibacterial drugs.

By Leigh MacMillan

November 13, 2023

Most can lower blood pressure by reducing salt, even those on BP drugs: study

New research shows nearly everyone can lower their blood pressure, even people currently on blood pressure- reducing drugs, by lowering their sodium intake.

By Bill Snyder

Nancy Cox, PhD, receives the American Society of Human Genetics Leadership Award from ASHG president Brendan Lee, MD, PhD. Photo courtesy of ASHG.

November 10, 2023

After 40 years, genetics still surprises VUMC’s Nancy Cox

As she looks back on her 40-plus year career, what surprises Nancy Cox, PhD, an internationally known geneticist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, is how much progress has been made, and yet how much more there is to learn about the role genetic variation plays in human disease.

By Bill Snyder

November 8, 2023

Dandan Liu to lead the Association of Clinical and Translational Statisticians

Vanderbilt’s Dandan Liu, PhD, has been elected president of the Association of Clinical and Translational Statisticians.

By Paul Govern

November 6, 2023

Powers receives prestigious Veterans Affairs Middleton Award

Alvin C. Powers, MD, Joe C. Davis Professor of Biologic Science and professor of Medicine, Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, has received the 2023 William S. Middleton Award, the highest honor awarded by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development Service.

By Jill Clendening

November 6, 2023

Children’s antibodies highly potent against COVID-19: study

Reporting Nov. 6 in Cell Reports Medicine, Ivelin Georgiev, PhD, and colleagues demonstrated that antibodies isolated from children’s blood samples displayed high levels of neutralization and potency against variants of the COVID-19 virus, SARS-CoV-2, even when the children had not previously been exposed to or vaccinated against those variants.