Discovery Lecture

The human brain consists of perhaps as many as 1,000 trillion synapses, which transmit signals from one nerve cell to another with amazing speed, precision and plasticity. Read More

A mere 30 months since it was first described in the online edition of Science magazine, a new genome editing technique has, by many accounts, revolutionized the study of genes and disease. Read More

Bernard Lo, M.D., president of the Greenwall Foundation and director emeritus of the Program in Medical Ethics at the University of California, San Francisco, will deliver the next Flexner Discovery Lecture on Thursday, Sept. 25. Read More

Ron Vale, Ph.D., co-discoverer of the molecular “motor” kinesin, spent the first 10 minutes of his Flexner Discovery Lecture last week talking not about science, but about science communication. Read More

The director of the National Cancer Institute, Harold Varmus, M.D., told an overflow crowd at this year’s Orrin Ingram Distinguished Lecture that he is concerned about the climate for discovery research in the United States. Read More

Jennifer Puck, M.D., an expert on human primary immunodeficiencies at the University of California, San Francisco, will deliver the next Flexner Discovery Lecture on Thursday, Dec. 12. Read More

The occasional failings of science tend to draw big headlines — findings that can’t be replicated or increasing numbers of papers that are retracted because studies were improperly or even fraudulently conducted. Read More

Viruses are among the most confounding creatures on the planet. Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is celebrating its women scientists with five events this month that feature inspiring women sharing their research achievements and lives. Read More

The question of whether new discoveries about the human genome will cause racism to fizzle or flare was the topic of the two recent discussions at Vanderbilt. Read More