Research

February 18, 2019

VUMC study finds helping patients breathe during intubation prevents life-threatening complications

Thousands of Americans die each year during a dangerous two-minute procedure to insert a breathing tube. Now a Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) study in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is showing that using bag-mask ventilation, squeezing air from a bag into the mouth for 60 seconds to help patients’ breathing, improves outcomes and could potentially save lives.

By Craig Boerner
February 14, 2019

Probing H. pylori cancer protein

Understanding how a bacterial protein that influences the risk of stomach cancer is produced could guide new strategies for treatment.

By Leigh MacMillan
February 14, 2019

The yin and yang of cell signaling

Larry Marnett and colleagues have explored the role of two enzymes in metabolizing molecules associated with cell proliferation, inflammatory processes and neurological diseases.

By Sanjay Mishra
February 14, 2019

Modulating stress circuits

Danny Winder and colleagues demonstrate an interaction between two signaling pathways — and its impact on the activity of neurons that respond to stress.

By Leigh MacMillan
February 14, 2019

Adhesion protein optimizes border

Matthew Tyska and colleagues have found that an adhesion protein plays a key role in building the intestinal brush border that is essential for absorbing nutrients.

By Leigh MacMillan
James Crowe Jr., MD, and colleagues are exploring how the body’s immune system gears up to fight off infection.
February 13, 2019

Researchers push forward frontiers of vaccine science

Using sophisticated gene sequencing and computing techniques, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the San Diego Supercomputer Center have achieved a first-of-its-kind glimpse into how the body’s immune system gears up to fight off infection.

By Bill Snyder
February 7, 2019

PheWAS Core helps researchers make sense of electronic health record data

Some biomedical researchers may be unsure about routine electronic health record (EHR) data and how useful it ultimately may prove for drawing meaningful, actionable associations that warrant changes to clinical practice and lead to improved clinical outcomes.
By Paul Govern
February 7, 2019

Vanderbilt Prize lecturer Amon driven to solve genetic mysteries

For much of her career, Angelika Amon, PhD, recipient of the 2018 Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science, has pursued a mystery with life-or-death consequences.
By Bill Snyder
January 31, 2019

Destructive ‘telegrams’ in asthma

Vanderbilt investigators have discovered that certain microRNAs — "telegram"-like signals — increase after the induction of allergic airway inflammation.
By Bill Snyder
January 31, 2019

In utero antibiotics and obesity risk

Maternal antibiotic use during pregnancy was not associated with childhood obesity at age 5, according a national study led by a Vanderbilt pediatrician.
By Leigh MacMillan
January 31, 2019

Designing antibodies to fight the flu

Vanderbilt investigators said their work shows that computational design can improve the ability of naturally occurring antibodies to recognize different flu strains and may hasten the development of more effective flu therapies and vaccines.
By Bill Snyder
January 31, 2019

Study explores genetic risk for suicide attempt

Using data from the UK Biobank and Vanderbilt’s BioVU, a new study in the journal Molecular Psychiatry finds that approximately 4 percent of suicide attempt risk is captured by genotype data.
By Paul Govern
January 31, 2019

New target for chronic kidney disease

Preventing the formation of secretory structures that promote scarring in the kidney could offer new therapeutic options for a disease that affects millions of people worldwide.
By Leigh MacMillan