Author

Kate Clowes Moster wins the 2026 Dr. Anne Karpay Award in Structural Biology

Nov. 13, 2025—By Karen Davis Congratulations to Kate Clowes Moster, of the Sanders lab, on being named the 2026 recipient of the Dr. Anne Karpay Award in Structural Biology. “I’m really honored to be selected for the Karpay Award,” Clowes Moster said. Kate began her scientific journey in West Virginia, where she grew up fascinated with nature...

A new spin (label) on Alphafold2: DEERfold guides Alphafold2 modeling with DEER distance distributions

Nov. 6, 2025—By Shelby A. Harris No one can argue that the development of AlphaFold2 (AF2) has been one of the greatest achievements in the realm of protein structure prediction. However, AF2 has been plagued by two major limitations: (1) The quality of the predicted models depends on the quality of the multiple sequence alignment (MSA) input...

Sometimes space is a good thing: uncovering the structural determinants of cold adaptation in cellulases

Oct. 29, 2025—By Cameron I. Cohen Cellulases are enzymes responsible for the hydrolysis of glycosidic bonds in cellulose, a polysaccharide which serves as the main structural material in plant cell walls. The efficient breakdown of cellulose is therefore necessary in industries such as paper and pulp manufacturing, food and juice production, textile processing and biorefining. By 2026,...

Stopping cancer in its tracks: the discovery of a new pan-KRAS inhibitor

Oct. 16, 2025—By Cameron I. Cohen KRAS is an enzyme which, when active, binds effector proteins and results in the activation of downstream pathways involved in cell proliferation, differentiation, and survival. Activating KRAS mutations are therefore common in many cancers, including cancers of the lung, colon, and pancreas, and are the most frequent drivers of malignancy. KRAS...

CSB Research Spotlight: Wankowicz Lab – From single snapshots to shapeshifting proteins

Sep. 29, 2025—A new collaborative project called diffUSE involving Vanderbilt University, Cornell University and the University of California, San Francisco is advancing scientist’s understanding of protein motion. The Wankowicz lab is a primary contributor to the $5 million, three-year project led by the Astera Institute. The project uses diffuse scattering, an overlooked signal measured by X-ray crystallography,...

Isomerization insights: a deeper understanding of Pin1-PPARγ dynamics

Jul. 11, 2025—By Cameron I. Cohen 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 acts as...

CSB Spotlight: Rachana Tomar, Stone Lab

Jun. 26, 2025—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 for road trips where the only mutations she’s concerned with are the ones in...

External speakers set for CSB/CAIPD symposium

Jun. 17, 2025—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 Biology on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 17–18, 2026, on the...

CSHL macromolecular crystallography course

Jun. 10, 2025—Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) is a leading international center for research and education. As part of its mission, each year CSHL organizes 30 advanced technical science courses, with organizers, instructors and participants from all over the world. CSHL is offering a course in macromolecular crystallography October 12 – 28, 2025. X-ray crystallography has been...

Call for Nominations: 2025 Vanderbilt Prize Student Scholar

Jun. 10, 2025—Nominations for the 2025 Vanderbilt Prize Student Scholar are invited now through June 27, 2025. Candidates for the Vanderbilt Prize Student Scholar are graduate students in biomedical sciences at Vanderbilt (Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D. track) who have completed the qualifying exam and have at least one year left to complete the Ph.D. degree. Competitive nominees are...

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