Research

October 26, 2020

COVID treatment studied by VUMC gains FDA approval

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center played a key role in the development of remdesivir, the first drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of COVID-19.

By Bill Snyder
October 22, 2020

New tool to probe genetic mechanisms of disease

Vanderbilt Genetics Institute investigators have added a new method to the computational genetics toolbox. Their approach, described in the journal Nature Genetics, integrates vast genomics datasets to predict gene expression and facilitate discovery of genetic mechanisms underlying human diseases.

By Leigh MacMillan
October 22, 2020

Lindsley to direct Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery

Craig Lindsley, PhD, the William K. Warren Jr. Chair in Medicine and University Professor of Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Chemistry, will become director of Vanderbilt University’s Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery (WCNDD), effective Dec. 1. Lindsley assumes the director position from Jeffrey Conn, PhD, Lee. E. Limbird Chair in Pharmacology and professor of Pharmacology.

By VUMC News and Communications
bacteria microbiome
October 20, 2020

Preserving gut mucus architecture

A new method that keeps microbes and gut cells together will be useful for studies of complex host-microbe interactions and for analysis of clinical specimens.

By Leigh MacMillan
October 19, 2020

Depression and the brain-age gap

Older depressed adults show accelerated brain aging, according to a new study from Vanderbilt researchers, who suggest that the effects of depression may speed the decline in cognitive functions in older individuals.

By Sarah E. Glass
October 15, 2020

Possible COVID-19 “decoy”

It might be possible to use vesicles carrying the receptor for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to bind the virus and prevent infection.

By Bill Snyder
October 15, 2020

Factor involved in stomach injury response identified

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have identified a key factor that coordinates the body’s repair response to severe injury in the stomach caused, most commonly, by infection by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori.
By Bill Snyder
October 15, 2020

Brain blood vessel response to hypoxia

The brain’s response to low oxygen — growth and remodeling of blood vessels — involves certain cell types and molecular pathways, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.
By Leigh MacMillan
October 13, 2020

COVID-19 long-acting antibodies discovered by Vanderbilt University Medical Center move to phase 3 clinical trials

AstraZeneca is advancing into phase 3 clinical trials with an investigational COVID-19 therapy of two long-acting antibodies discovered by Vanderbilt University Medical Center and optimized by AstraZeneca.
By Bill Snyder
October 8, 2020

Researchers create molecular ‘atlas’ of GI tract neurons

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have generated the first comprehensive molecular “atlas” of genes expressed by the neuronal cells within the intestine that coordinate the functions of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.
By Bill Snyder
October 7, 2020

Vanderbilt Prize winner Doudna awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry

University of California, Berkeley, biochemist Jennifer Doudna, PhD, recipient of the 2020 Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science, has been awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
By Bill Snyder
October 6, 2020

Bick receives NIH Director’s Early Independence Award

Alexander Bick, MD, PhD, a new faculty member in the Division of Genetic Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has received a 2020 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Early Independence Award.
By Bill Snyder
October 6, 2020

Early steps in reovirus replication

Conformational change in a reovirus surface protein modulate the virus’s attachment to host cells, Vanderbilt researchers have found.
By Leigh MacMillan