2005 News Stories Featuring
VICB Members

Liebler Named To Take Ayers Institute’s Reins: Daniel Liebler, Director of Vanderbilt's Proteomics Laboratory, has been tapped to head the new Jim Ayers Institute for Pre-Cancer Detection and Diagnosis. Liebler and his team will initially focus on identifying molecular markers for colorectal cancer. The incidence and mortality rates associated with colorectal cancer are higher among African-Americans, and Liebler will draw upon Vanderbilt-Ingram's expertise in addressing disparities in colon and other cancers through the Southern Community Cohort Study, the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance and other programs. Read entire article

November Grants: Two VICB members were recently awarded grants. David Piston, Free Electron Laser Center, received two awards of $349,368 and $59,776 by the Department of Defense for "Vanderbilt Free-Electron Laser Center for Research in Surgery, Medicine, Photobiology and Materials Science." Charles A. Brau, Marcus Mendenhall, and Frank Carroll are co-principal investigators. Prasad Shastri, Biomedical Engineering, received a "98,641 grant by Bioplant, Incorporated for "Photocurable Poly(anhydrides)."

VUMC brain research on tap at neuroscience meet: Randy Blakely, Ph.D., Allan D. Bass Professor of Pharmacology, will address an international crowd of brain researchers next week at the 35th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Washington, D.C. Read entire article

Accidental Find to Signal "Lights Out" for Incandescent Bulbs?: Microscopic crystals called quantum dots, which measure less than a millionth of a meter wide, might soon replace technology that has existed largely unchanged since 1879—the incandescent lightbulb. New research at Vanderbilt University shows that applying a thin layer of these dots over light emitting diodes (LEDs) causes the diodes to emit white light with the warm hue of a typical household bulb. The work might be the final step in helping replace today's incandescent bulbs with LEDs, which can last longer and use much less electricity. Read entire article

McLean Joins Chemistry Department: John A. McLean, Ph.D. will be joining the Vanderbilt University Department of Chemistry as Assistant Professor of Chemistry and as a member of the VICB in July of 2006.  Dr. McLean will be moving to Nashville from Texas A&M University where he is a Postdoctoral Research Associate under Professor David H. Russell.  Dr. McLean’s research area is in bioanalytical and biophysical chemistry. His research interests include chemical biology, gas-phase ion mobility, and structural mass spectrometry. His research is specifically aimed at the development of novel hybrid ion mobility-mass spectrometry instrumentation for rapid structural proteomic and biophysical characterization of peptides, proteins, RNA, and macromolecular complexes. Dr. McLean has received a number of prestigious awards including the Bunsen-Kirchhoff Prize for outstanding achievements in the analytical spectroscopy of atoms or molecules, an R&D-100 Award, a number of esteemed fellowships, and more recently the Excellence Award from the International Conference on Laser Probing. His research has resulted in 8 patents and has been featured on the cover of several leading Journals. Dr. McLean holds a B.S. from The University of Michigan and a Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from The George Washington University where he worked under the direction of Professor Akbar Montaser. 

Fanning Wins 2005-06 Chancellor’s Cup: The Chancellor’s Cup for contributing to good relations between faculty and undergraduates was awarded to Ellen Fanning, the Stevenson Professor of Biological Sciences. Established as a homecoming tradition by the Nashville Vanderbilt Club in 1963, the Chancellor’s Cup is given annually to a full-time faculty member for “the greatest contribution outside the classroom to undergraduate student-faculty relationships.” Read entire article

Jeffrey N. Johnston, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry at Indiana University, will be joining the Vanderbilt University Department of Chemistry as Professor of Chemistry and a member of the Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology beginning in January of 2006. Dr. Johnston’s research area is organic chemistry. His research interests include asymmetric synthesis, chemical catalysis, and the total synthesis of alkaloid natural products, including the potent antitumor agent mitomycin C. Dr. Johnston has received a number of prestigious awards including an Eli Lilly Grantee Award, an Amgen Young Investigator Award, and a Astellas USA Faculty Award. In 2004, Dr. Johnston was given the Outstanding Junior Faculty Award at Indiana University. Dr. Johnston holds a B.S., summa cum laude, from Xavier University and a Ph.D. degree in synthetic organic chemistry from The Ohio State University where he worked with Professor Leo A. Paquette. He was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University with Professor David A. Evans.

Conn To Edit Pharmacology Journal: P. Jeffrey Conn, Ph.D., professor of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has been named editor of Molecular Pharmacology, considered to be the most prestigious scientific journal in its field. During his three-year term as editor, Conn said he would like to see the journal publish more papers that apply new understanding about molecular biology to complex systems including animal models of disease. Read entire article

VICB Retreat: The first annual Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology's 2005 retreat attracted over 120 students and faculty. The event included speakers and poster sessions. See photos

Innovations in mass spectrometry land pair of awards for Caprioli: The Second University of Naples, Italy, recently honored Richard Caprioli, Ph.D., with an honoris causa (honorary degree) in Biological Sciences for his achievements in mass spectrometry and its applications to the study of bio-molecules and biological processes. In May, Caprioli also received the 11th annual Donald S. Coffey Award from the Society for Basic Urologic Research at the society's annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas. Read entire article

Cancer research champion Waddell Hancock dies at 90: Waddell Walker Hancock, widow of A.B. "Bull" Hancock Jr. and founder of the A.B. Hancock Jr. Research Center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, died June 17 at her home in Paris, Ky. She was 90. The center was the first named laboratory dedicated to cancer research until the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center was developed in 1993. Read entire article

NIH “Roadmap” Grants To Establish Nine Screening Centers in Seven States: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced it is awarding $88.9 million in grants to nine institutions over three years to establish a collaborative research network that will use high-tech screening methods to identify small molecules that can be used as research tools. The Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology houses one of those screening centers. Read entire article

Marnett’s research garners MERIT Award: Lawrence J. Marnett, Ph.D., has received a MERIT (Method to Extend Research In Time) Award from the National Cancer Institute in support of his research on DNA mutation and carcinogenesis. Less than 5 percent of National Institutes of Health-funded investigators are selected to receive MERIT awards, which recognize superior competence and outstanding productivity. Read entire article

Bornhop to serve on molecular imaging steering committee: Darryl Bornhop, Ph.D, has been selected to served on the steering committee for the 4th annual meeting of the Society for Molecular Imaging to be held in Cologne, Germany, September 7-10, 2005.
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Sulikowski earns 2005 American Chemical Society teaching award: Dr. Michelle Sulikowski, a senior Lecturer in Chemistry and Director of Education for the VICB, is the 2005 recipient of the Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society Excellence in Teaching Award. The award was presented by Kristin Cederquist, President of the Affiliate Chapter, at the Spring annual meeting. Each year students nominate and select one outstanding teacher in the area of chemistry. Dr. Sulikowski taught Organic Chemistry lecture and laboratory this past academic year with Chemical Biology as a focus for the spring course. Several members of the VICB gave lectures on their research, and each student was required to write a research paper on an area loosely related to chemical biology or medicinal chemistry. Dr. Sulikowski joined the Vanderbilt University community in Fall 2005 with 13 years of college teaching experience.

Rosenthal receives excellence in undergradute teaching award: Associate Professor of Chemistry, Sandra J. Rosenthal, was recently awarded the Madison Sarratt prize for excellence in undergraduate teaching. Read entire article

Lee awarded research scholar grant:
The American Cancer Society recently awarded Ethan Lee, Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, a Research Scholar Grant. The grant will support Dr. Lee's "Biochemical Reconstitution of Wnt Signaling" research project. Read entire article

Conn selected to serve on Michael J. Fox foundation advisory board: Dr. Jeffrey Conn has been selected to serve on the Michael J. Fox Foundations' Scientific Advisory Board, which is composed of leading Parkinson's researchers from across North America. Its members help direct the Foundation's overall research programs. Read entire article
Please see these links to other awards and honors for Dr. Conn:
One Of Top 100 Cited Scientists In Pharmacology & Toxicology
NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Award Recipient

Link promoted to senior editor of Proteomics: Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Andrew Link, was recently promoted to senior editor for the journal Proteomics. Dr. Link has also been invited to served on the advisory editorial board for the journal Moleclar Systems Biology.
Proteomics Senior Editors
Molecular Systems Biology Editorial Board

DeFelice organizes international biophysics workshop: Louis J. DeFelice, Professor of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt, is organizing a workshop in Erice, Italy to teach the fundamentals of ion channels and Na- and H-coupled co-transporters for nutrients, ions, and neurotransmitters. Read entire article

Armstrong receives Stanley Cohen award: Richard Armstrong, professor of Biochemistry, Chemistry, has been selected as the 2005 recipient of Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Stanley Cohen Award. This award recognizes research that brings diverse disciplines together to solve biology’s most fundamental problems. Armstrong was selected for this award for his application of cutting-edge technology and chemistry to elucidate biological processes. He is internationally known as a superb mechanistic enzymologist. His research efforts focus on the elucidation of the mechanisms of action of enzymes involved in the metabolism of foreign or xenobiotic molecules. Recently, Armstrong has applied a new technology, amide hydrogen/deuterium exchange mass spectrometry, to the study of dynamic processes in membrane proteins to map, for the first time, conformational changes in functioning membrane proteins.

Porter recipient of Ingold award: Ned A. Porter, the Stevenson Professor, Chair of the Chemistry Department and Associate Director of VICB, is the 2004-05 winner of the Christopher Ingold Award from The Royal Society of Chemistry. As the recipient of this award, Porter participated in the Christopher Ingold Lecture Tour in May, lecturing at many universities throughout the United Kingdom, including the University of Warwick, the University of Manchester, the University of St. Andrews, the University of Bristol and University College London. Read entire article

Guengerich receives the ASBMB’s William C. Rose Award: F. Peter Guengerich was recently recognized for his outstanding contributions to biochemical and molecular biological research and a demonstrated commitment to the training of young scientists. His investigation into the functions of the cytochrome P450 enzymes, (proteins that metabolize toxic compounds like drugs, steroids and carcinogens, making them easier to clear from the body) is mentioned. A recipient of numerous awards, Guengerich was recently ranked as the third most-cited scientist in Pharmacology and Toxicology (1993-2003). Read entire article

Biochemistry group tabs Hamm as president-elect: Heidi Hamm, Ph.D., Earl W. Sutherland Jr. Professor of Pharmacology and chair of the department, was named president-elect of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the society's annual meeting in San Diego earlier this month. Read entire article

New high-throughput screening facility opens: The Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology unveiled its new high-throughput screening (HTS) facility, designed to aid drug discovery and studies of basic biology. The facility includes a “library” of 160,000 small molecules and about $1.5 million worth of computer-controlled, robotically accessible instruments that can test tens of thousands of samples per day for their ability to bind and/or modulate the activity of “target” receptors or enzymes.
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Agreement enhances drug discovery efforts: Vanderbilt University Medical Center has signed a “master research agreement” with Amgen, the world's largest biotechnology company, to aid the discovery and development of new drugs. Under the agreement, Amgen will provide funding this year for two projects at VUMC investigating a potential new class of drugs. Other projects can be added in the future.
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Cliffel receives 2005 young investigator award: David E. Cliffel, assistant professor of chemistry, received the 2005 Young Investigator Award at the Pittsburg Conference in Orlando, Fla. This award is presented annually by the Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry and is sponsored by ESA, Inc.
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Articles Highlighting VICB Members
And Their Research

Surgery Hope For "Bone On Demand"
Scientists believe a breakthrough may lead to bone being grown on demand for people with bone diseases and breaks. The findings were published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Vanderbilt University lead researcher Prasad Shastri said: "We have shown that we can grow predictable volumes of bone on demand."

Where Are The New Drugs?
Last year only 23 truly new drugs, called “new molecular entities,” were approved in the United States. That’s less than half of the number approved in 1996, even though annual research-and-development spending by the pharmaceutical industry more than doubled – to nearly $40 billion – during the same eight-year period.

High-Throughput Screening Facility To Boost Drug Discovery Efforts
Scientists at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have joined a major federal effort aimed at developing innovative chemical tools for drug discovery and biological research. A high-throughput screening (HTS) facility, which opened recently within the Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology, is one of nine pilot centers chosen this spring to participate in the Molecular Libraries Screening Centers Network (MLSCN), an initiative of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Drug Discovery In The 21st Century
Recent years have seen a steady decline in the number of new drugs approved for clinical use, and many of the recent approvals represent subtle changes to existing medications, providing incremental rather than fundamental advances in therapeutic strategies. The decrease in introduction of fundamentally new drugs into clinical practice during a time of increased knowledge and increased research spending stems in part from a fundamental shift in the basic paradigms used for drug discovery.

Nanotechnology System Faster, More Sensitive In Detecting RSV
A chemist and a physician who specializes in infectious childhood diseases have joined forces to create an early detection method for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the most common cause of hospitalization among children under age 5.

Thinking Outside The Cell
While most researchers plumb the depths of the cell to find drug targets for modern day ailments, Billy Hudson, Ph.D, advances into the great expanse beyond the cells’ margins to uncover drug targets hidden in this extracellular netherworld. All cells exist in a sea of amorphous protein called the extracellular matrix. Composed primarily of insoluble collagens and proteoglycans, the matrix is more than just filler. It shapes tissues and supports and influences a multitude of cellular processes.

The Search For Better Drugs
The humane genome may encode a million distinct protein targets, yet only about 500 of them have been "hit" by small molecule drugs. Scientists are only beginning to understand how drugs aimed at a single target may affect diverse physiological pathways and systems.

Tissue Imaging Determines Drug Metabolism
Distribution tools for spectrometry are in a constant state of evolution, and many in the field believe that MS-based tissue imaging is one of the more interesting and promising technologies now emerging. A new tissue imaging approach developed by Richard Caprioli, director of the Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics Research Center at Vanderbilt University, can be used to examine drug metabolism and drug distribution in tissue to determine if a drug is effectively reaching its target.

Discovery Sheds Light On Neurotransmitter Release Mechanism
Researchers have discovered an important mechanism controlling the release of neurotransmitters and hormones that could lead to new ways to treat pain, Parkinson's disease and perhaps even diabetes. “This is a fundamental discovery,” said one of the lead researchers, Heidi Hamm, chair of the Pharmacology Department at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Research Team Pieces Together DNA Replication In "Nature"
Although DNA replication is one of the most fundamental, defining characteristics of life, the enigmatic molecular details of the process have eluded scientists for decades. By studying DNA replication in simian virus 40 (SV40), a virus that infects monkeys, an interdisciplinary team of Vanderbilt scientists recently demystified part of this process.

Alcohol Drug's New Dose Shows Promise
A once-a-month injection of an FDA-approved medication used for treating alcohol dependence may improve long-term outcomes, according to a study published in the April 6 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The drug, naltrexone, has been proven effective in the treatment of alcohol dependence, but it is often difficult for patients to adhere to daily oral doses, says Peter R. Martin, M.D., professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology and director of the Division of Addiction Psychiatry.