Karen Davis

Biological membranes are highly dynamic and varied structures which contain compact ordered domains or “rafts” of lipids and proteins within the otherwise disordered membrane “sea.” These lipid rafts serve as functional microdomains that cluster specific receptors and signaling molecules to influence membrane trafficking, signaling pathways, neurotransmission, and membrane fluidity. However,… Read More

Every day, the DNA of living organisms is exposed to damage from normal cellular processes, environmental toxins, and even some medicines. Among the most dangerous forms of damage are interstrand DNA crosslinks (ICLs), chemical bonds that effectively staple the two strands of DNA together and prevent cells from reading, copying,… Read More

Green Team members left to right: Borden Lacy, Georgia Caso, Karen Davis, Gabrielle Fortier, Lily Van Ye, Sam Insignares (photo by Chelsea Hamilton) For most labs, lunch is the most sacred part of the day—a time to fuel up after a long morning of experiments, rant about the latest failed… Read More

The use of computational tools to provide a clinical diagnosis of genetic variants of unknown significance (VUSs) of rare diseases, in which the diagnosis is mainly informed by gene-phenotype association databases and DNA scoring methods, has been limited. Tools such as GERP, SIFT, and Polyphen have been shown to differentiate… Read More

Alex Waterson, PhD, Research Professor, Pharmacology and ChemistryFesik Lab Targeted protein degradation (TPD) represents an emerging class of therapeutics that selectively degrades disease-relevant proteins. For example, targeted degradation of oncoproteins in a tumor can inhibit tumor growth while minimizing the toxic side effects of traditional chemotherapy. The degradation relies… Read More

Martin Egli, the Richard N. Armstrong, Ph.D. Professor of Innovation in Biochemistry and a professor of biochemistry, delivered the Kairos Lecture on May 28. His scientific accomplishments have resulted in over 300 publications and two influential nucleic acid textbooks, and he has received major honors and extensively served… Read More

Brandt Eichman, PhD Congratulations to William R. Kenan, Jr. Chair, Professor of Biological Sciences and CSB researcher Brandt Eichman on being the first Vanderbilt faculty member to be awarded the prestigious Royal Society Wolfson Visiting Fellowship. The fellowship, jointly funded by the the… Read More

Amino acid peptides can exist in cis and trans conformations, with most heavily favoring the latter. Proline, however, is unique among amino acids in that its peptide bonds can stably populate both conformations. The exchange, or isomerization, between cis and trans proline conformations is a relatively slow process which… Read More

Rachana Tomar, Research Assistant, Stone Lab Rachana Tomar is a research assistant in the Stone lab. She spends her days unraveling the mysteries of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and its knack for causing mutations that can lead to cancer. When she clocks out, Rachana trades her lab coat… Read More

The Vanderbilt Center for Structural Biology and the Center for Applied AI in Protein Dynamics invite you to Bridging Atoms and Algorithms: A Symposium on AI and Structural Biology. The symposium promises exciting research, collaboration and networking that navigates the intersection of AI and Structural… Read More