News

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

Douglas Mitchell, Biochemistry A new study from the Mitchell Lab reveals that even the ribosome, one of the most intensively studied molecular machines in biology, still holds hidden surprises. They have uncovered a previously undetected chemical modification in a key ribosomal protein, uL16, in which a single… Read More

PROteolysis TArgeting Chimeras, known as PROTACs, are a recently developed group of therapeutics that utilize the ubiquitin-proteasome system to target and degrade disease associated proteins by recruiting E3 ligase. Of the many different E3 ligases found in human cells, over 600 are known to be expressed and only a few… Read More

Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) is the leading cause of health care– and antibiotic–associated infection. It causes diarrhea and colitis (inflammation of the colon) and nearly half a million C. diff infections in the U.S. each year and about 29,000 deaths, resulting in an estimated $4.8 billion in health care costs. Read More

Long QT syndrome (LQTS) is a hereditary or acquired cardiac disorder that affects the electrical system of the heart, which causes a delay in the heart’s repolarization or reset time. This delay means the heart takes longer to reset between beats. LQTS is a fatal disorder linked to syncope, arrhythmia,… Read More

Heme is vital for life. It is needed for oxygen transport, drug detoxification, and many other biological functions. Regulation is key, too much or too little heme can cause a host of problems in the body. Aminolevulinic acid synthase (ALAS) is heme’s rate-limiting enzyme that functions by the condensation of… Read More

The Georgiev lab recently led a multi-institutional study, published in the journal Cell, that focused on the development of antibody therapeutics against existing and emerging viral threats, including RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) and avian influenza viruses. The study showed that a protein language model could design functional human antibodies that… Read More

Martin Egli, PhDBiochemistry Martin Egli, professor of biochemistry, has been awarded the Richard Armstrong Professorship of Innovation in Biochemistry. “Martin is an internationally recognized scholar and highly deserving of this honor,” said Biochemistry Department Chair David Cortez. Dr. Egli earned his undergraduate and doctoral degrees in Chemistry from… Read More