Biochemistry

Martin Egli, the Richard N. Armstrong, Ph.D. Professor of Innovation in Biochemistry and a professor of biochemistry at the School of Medicine Basic Sciences, delivered a Kairos Lecture on May 28. Egli’s work, which has resulted in over 300 publications and two influential nucleic acid textbooks, has advanced strategies to stabilize RNA for therapeutic applications, including siRNA. He has received major honors and extensively served his department and the university. Read More

Everything you touch was developed by basic science, says Ian Macara, chair of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology. From food varieties and new crops, to your phone, your computer and the plastics we use every day, everything originally came out of a basic research lab. Macara's department, within the School of Medicine Basic Sciences, aims to train the next generation of scientists to advance basic biomedical research at the cellular, molecular and organismal levels. Read More

Crucial research by Neil Osheroff and his lab led to FDA approval of the first new class of antibacterial drugs in decades. The drug, gepotidacin, developed by GlaxoSmithKline under the brand name Blujepa, is now approved to treat uncomplicated urinary tract infections and gonorrhea. Read More

Yi Ren’s most recent paper, published in eLife, describes the structure of a protein complex involved in mRNA export that sheds light on the underlying molecular mechanism of mRNA export and the role it plays during infection by herpes viruses. Read More

Carterra Inc. and the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Basic Sciences announced the addition of the Carterra LSAXT label-free interaction analysis platform to the Center for Structural Biology. Vanderbilt and Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers will be able to discover and characterize large molecules including antibodies. Read More

Research from the lab of Bill Tansey and other collaborators tested protein inhibitors called WINi against a panel of cancer cells and found that they have strong action against blood cancers and synergize with an FDA-approved cancer drug. Read More

Jeffrey Spraggins, associate professor of cell and developmental biology, biochemistry, and chemistry, has been named director of the Mass Spectrometry Research Center. He succeeds Richard Caprioli, Stanford Moore Chair in Biochemistry, who established the MSRC in 1998 and who is retiring this summer. Read More

Richard Caprioli, Stanford Moore Professor of Biochemistry at the School of Medicine Basic Sciences, is retiring from Vanderbilt in August 2024. Caprioli’s work has created new possibilities for understanding the relationships between molecular and cellular organization in tissue microenvironments, ultimately providing a precision medicine toolbox for uncovering the molecular underpinnings of normal aging and disease.Caprioli is best known for developing matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization imaging mass spec. Read More

The prestigious fellowship program assists exceptional graduate students pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees across various fields, including science, technology, engineering, mathematics, STEM education and social sciences supported by NSF. Read More

Researchers in the lab of Stephen Fesik, Orrin H. Ingram II Chair in Cancer Research, have added BI-0474 as the second molecule co-discovered by Vanderbilt to the open science portal opnMe.com, an initiative being driven by biopharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim. Read More