Research

March 23, 2020

Cellular factor helps package flu genome

New insights on influenza genome packaging could guide strategies for interfering with the virus’s life cycle and ability to cause infection.

By Leigh MacMillan
March 19, 2020

Race, hormones and diabetes risk

Variation in the levels of hormones called natriuretic peptides may contribute to racial differences in susceptibility to diabetes, suggesting that this hormone system may be a target for reducing risk of the disease.

By VUMC News and Communications
March 19, 2020

Blocking stress-induced relapse

Danny Winder and colleagues are teasing apart the actions of neurotransmitter receptors in a brain region linked to anxiety and addiction, with a goal of finding treatments for substance use disorders.

By Bill Snyder
March 18, 2020

UC Berkeley’s Doudna named to receive Vanderbilt Prize

Jennifer Doudna, PhD, who led development of the revolutionary genome editing technology known as CRISPR-Cas9, is the recipient of the 2020 Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science, officials at Vanderbilt University Medical Center announced this week.

By Bill Snyder
March 12, 2020

Triple-negative breast cancer drug therapy shows promise

Researchers from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) discovered a role for MYCN in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), a particularly aggressive form of the disease, and identified a potential intervention for further clinical investigation.

By Tom Wilemon
March 12, 2020

Clinical investigation society lauds Vanderbilt scientists

Five faculty members of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine are among 80 physician-scientists who will be inducted this year into the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), an elite honor society of physician-scientists from the upper ranks of academic medicine and industry. They are:

By Bill Snyder
March 10, 2020

Loss of ‘Jedi’ alters neuron activity

This is not the Jedi you're thinking of. This Jedi is a receptor that helps clear away dead neurons during development, and its loss changes the activity of dorsal root ganglia neurons, which could have implications for treating chronic pain.
By Leigh MacMillan
March 9, 2020

Meat intake and colorectal polyps

Red and processed meat intakes are strongly associated with increased risk of sessile serrated polyps, which are not as well studied as conventional adenomas.
By Leigh MacMillan
March 5, 2020

Clues to lung injury in preterm babies

Jennifer Sucre and colleagues have discovered a factor that contributes to the pathological changes of bronchopulmonary dysplasia, the most common complication of preterm birth.
By Leigh MacMillan
March 5, 2020

One-two punch for cancer

A drug combination effectively killed aggressive blood cancers in cell and animal models; now it’s being tested in patients.
By Sanjay Mishra
February 27, 2020

Study finds certain genetic test not useful in predicting heart disease risk

A Polygenic Risk Score — a genetic assessment that doctors have hoped could predict coronary heart disease (CHD) in patients — has been found not to be a useful predictive biomarker for disease risk.
By Matt Batcheldor
February 27, 2020

Breast cancer study may help predict treatment response

Researchers at VUMC are reporting another advance in the understanding and treatment of triple-negative breast cancer, which is particularly aggressive and difficult to treat.
By Bill Snyder
February 27, 2020

Grant bolsters research on subjective cognitive decline

Katherine Gifford, PsyD, MS, assistant professor of Neurology, has been awarded a five-year, $4.3 million research grant from the National Institute on Aging to study what subjective cognitive decline can reveal about underlying pathology.
By Paul Govern