Research

Understanding how natural brain chemicals with pain-relieving properties interact with administered opioids may guide personalized approaches for pain management.

The protein kinase STK17A plays a novel role in epithelial cells and its loss may contribute to colorectal cancer invasion and metastasis, Vanderbilt researchers report.

A team of Vanderbilt researchers mapped out the genomic landscape of a metastatic malignant proliferating tricholemmal tumor and identified a targeted treatment for this very rare cancer.

Biochemistry investigators at Vanderbilt have discovered a new DNA repair mechanism that prevents gene mutations during DNA replication.

An international team involving Vanderbilt researchers has discovered that a new “checkpoint” protein on immune system cells is active in tumors, and that blocking it — in combination with other treatments — is a successful therapeutic approach in mouse models of cancer.

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.

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